British expecting to top the track cycling

posted 16 hrs ago | 3 Views | View Source: By NAOMI KOPPEL Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) _ Britain team manager Shane Sutton said he will be disappointed if his cyclists don't come out on top at the track at the Olympics.

If the results of this year's world championships are repeated over the next week, Britain can expect to come away with seven gold medals and one silver in the 10 events. However, those championships were held on the team's home track in Manchester, and some other countries have also suggested that the British have peaked too early.

"I think we would be disappointed as a team if we didn't get close to what we did in Manchester," said Sutton, a former Commonwealth Games gold medalist for Australia who is one of the topflight coaches brought into Britain's well-funded cycling program.

"Things are going well. We are the best we can be. Whether that is good enough we won't know. But everything is ready to go and we just want to go in there tomorrow and get on with it."

Success has come quickly in cycling since Britain started pouring money into programs aimed at getting results at the 2012 London Olympics. But Sutton said there was still much work to do in the next few years.

"If you stop looking for marginal gains in any area, you're going to get caught," he said.

Canadian team manager Dan Proulx said he believed that Britain would be the standout nation in track cycling, but there was still room for doubt.

"Countries have known that that would be the case for a while now, and so they have really upped their game," he said. "But the Brits have shown that they are going to be a tough act to beat."

Proulx said there's also a good reason why the British are concentrating on track cycling rather than the other Olympic disciplines of road racing, BMX and mountain biking

"It has the most medals available," he said.

Despite the emphasis on track, Britain already has two cycling medals, a gold and silver in women's road racing, and 19-year-old Shanaze Reade will start as the hot favorite for the inaugural women's BMX title.