Olympic champions Ed Clancy and Steven Burke no longer have their fellow London 2012 gold medallists, and now Team Sky stars, Geraint Thomas and Pete Kennaugh, alongside them, but they arrive in Colombia backed by a young, but strong, men’s endurance squad. Rising Welsh star Owain Doull has made an almost seamless transition to the team pursuit squad since making a winning debut in the European Championship final in Apeldoorn. Fellow Welshman Sam Harrison returns after forming part of last year’s World Championship silver medallists, while Jonathan Dibben rounds off the squad.

Though the four who will compete for World Championship gold have yet to be confirmed, European gold coupled with gold and bronze medals from the UCI Track World Cup show the squad is in good form. Their biggest rivals for top honours will be defending champions Australia. Glenn O’Shea and Alex Edmondson won in Minsk last year, and arrive fresh from winning the national title in a time of 3.58. Though they lost to Great Britain in the Manchester World Cup round, Australia finished with two golds in the final two rounds. Last year’s bronze medallists Denmark also return with a strong squad, led by Garmin-Sharp rider Lasse Norman Hansen who impressed on his road debut at the Dubai Tour.