Tokyo 2020 - Bradley Wiggins: ‘Other nations have caught up’ as Britain’s era of pursuit dominance under threat
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Updated 02/08/2021 at 12:31 GMT
Could Team GB miss out on a medal completely in the men's team pursuit at the Tokyo Olympics 2020? Bradley Wiggins, who has won gold twice in the event, says other countries have caught up with the once-dominant Brits in the track cycling discipline. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.
Britain's Ethan Vernon prepares to compete in the men's track cycling team pursuit qualifying event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Izu Velodrome in Izu, Japan, on August 2, 2021.
Image credit: Getty Images
Eight-time Olympic medalist Bradley Wiggins says that Britain are unlikely to make it four straight golds in the men’s team pursuit.
The Team GB quartet finished fourth in qualifying for the team pursuit and will face world record holders Denmark in their next ride, a match-up that Wiggins does not expect to end in a win.
“The Danes lived up to the expectation - they broke the world record let’s not forget in March 2020. They’ve come back and backed-up that performance from last year and broke the Olympic record here by well over five seconds.
The Brits will probably get beaten by the Danes I think it’s fair to say, two and a half seconds over a 4km team pursuit is quite a distance to make up.
“They’ve got time to recompose now, is it enough to find something a bit special? When you have two teams on the track as opposed to the one today, conditions are a bit faster, you get dragged along by the other team.
“I think it’s a bit beyond them, but they are still in the game.”
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'Oh, disaster!' - Australian rider suffers awful crash as handlebars snap off
Wiggins was a member of the team pursuit team who won gold in Beijing in 2008, and he returned to the track in 2016 to add another team pursuit title to his collection of five Olympic golds and eight medals in total.
The British cycling team have dominated the event and have been the main force in track cycling in general over the last decade and a half.
But Wiggins says that the last Olympic cycle has seen a major change in the sport.
“It’s not what we’re used to,” Wiggins said.
“Historically over the last three Olympiads we’ve won the men’s team pursuit, so we’ve got a great pedigree in this race.
But a lot of the other nations have really caught up with us over the last couple of years, particularly on the technology side – there’s been some real classy and shiny bikes flying around here today.
Britain will face Denmark on Tuesday, but will be looking for a better performance after failing to reach their best in their opening ride of the Games.
“It was pretty tough,” said Ethan Vernon moments after coming off the track. “We had an ambitious schedule that we thought we could hold and we were a bit down on it, that track’s fast.”
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Britain's Ethan Hayter, Britain's Edward Clancy, Britain's Ethan Vernon and Britain's Oliver Wood compete in the men's track cycling team pursuit qualifying event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Izu Velodrome in Izu, Japan, on August 2, 2021
Image credit: Getty Images
The British squad were scheduled to ride last, but had their start brought forward at late notice after Australian rider Alex Porter crashed mid-ride after his handlebars fell off.
However, Ed Clancy told Eurosport that the change did not overly impact their performance.
“You never want to see that, but it’s not easy to sit in the holding chairs at the best of time and it got the nerves going, but honestly I don’t think it affected us,” he said.
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Australia's Alexander Porter falls during the men's team pursuit qualifying cycling track event during the 2020 Summer Olympic Games at the Izu Velodrome
Image credit: Getty Images
“In the five seconds we’ve had between getting off the track and getting here to debrief it, I just don’t think we quite had what we were hoping for," Clancy added.
"We were going really well in Newport, our traditional holding camp, but that hasn’t translated into speed just yet.
“The good news is that we’re still in the game.”
The men’s team pursuit finals will be held on Wednesday.
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