Seven Olympic gold medallists have been selected to ride for Great Britain at the European Track Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, later this month.
Dani King, Joanna Rowsell, Laura Trott, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Phil Hindes and Jason Kenny are all part of the squad, which will compete from Friday October 18 to Sunday October 20.
The star-studded British line-up will be bidding for a successful weekend as they look ahead to next month’s Manchester World Cup – a World Championship qualifying event.
King, Rowsell, Trott and teenage sensation Elinor Barker are selected fresh from breaking the team pursuit world record at the National Track Championships. The 2013/14 track season sees the women’s team pursuit grow to four riders, and four kilometres in distance, to match the men’s event.
Alongside Scotland’s Katie Archibald, they will team up to form the women’s endurance squad as they bid to defend their title.
Meanwhile, Clancy and Burke will be joined by Jon Dibben, Owain Doull, Sam Harrison and Andy Tennant in the men’s endurance squad.
Tennant, who has just returned to the track after competing in the Tour of Britain with Madison-Genesis, told RoadCyclingUK this week he is confident of team success in Holland.
Coach Shane Sutton, British Cycling’s performance manager, is also cautiously optimistic, and said: “It’s the start of the season, so we don’t know where we’re at compared to the rest of the world at this moment in time.
“However, we saw some strong results at the National Track Championships last week and we’re looking to be in good shape as a team so it will be interesting to see how that stands up against some international competition.”
Matthew Crampton, who won bronze at last year’s European Championships in the team sprint, will join Kian Emadi and Olympic champions Jason Kenny and Phil Hindes in the men’s sprint squad.
And the British squad is completed by reigning two-time world champion Becky James, Olympian Jess Varnish, who bagged victories in all three of her events at the nationals, and Vicky Williamson for the women’s sprint events.
Great Britain squad for European Championships 2013
Men’s sprint: Matthew Crampton, Kian Emadi, Phil Hindes, Jason Kenny
Women’s sprint: Becky James, Jess Varnish, Vicky Williamson
Men’s endurance: Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Jon Dibben, Owain Doull, Sam Harrison, Andy Tennant
Women’s endurance: Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Dani King, Joanna Rowsell, Laura Trott
