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Jon Dibben is hoping to establish himself in Great Britain’s team pursuit squad by next year’s track world championships.
The 19-year-old begins his second track season as a senior athlete at the 2013 European championships in Apeldoorn this weekend.
Dibben, a British Cycling Olympic Podium Programme athlete, finished eighth in the omnium at the 2013 world championships in Minsk, in what was his debut in the competition.
And he has now made earning a spot in the four-man pursuit at next February’s meeting in Colombia his priority ahead of the winter’s racing.
“It’s always quite tough coming back on to the track,” said Dibben, who spent the summer competing on the road at events including the Tour of Britain and the road world championships.
"The team pursuit is what everyone is aiming for."
Jon Dibben
“The road gives you a lot of fitness but just the cadence, the higher leg speed, the higher intensity of the efforts is quite hard to get in to.
“Coming into this second winter now, performances will be stepping up. I would like maybe to get in to the team pursuit team by the end of winter.
“That would be my goal, to get in to the team pursuit starting four by the worlds. Obviously at the moment that is quite a big step up but it’s the aim to build up towards that.”
Dibben will be joined by Olympic champions Steven Burke and Ed Clancy in the men’s endurance squad for the trip to the Netherlands along with former world champion Andy Tennant, Sam Harrison and Owain Doull.
Burke, Tennant, Harrison and Clancy were selected to ride the team pursuit in Belarus and took silver behind Australia.
While the points race and Madison are included in the European competition programme, it is the Olympic disciplines and in particular the team pursuit that has been the focus in training.
“At the minute we’re all doing the same team pursuit training and trying to bring on the team pursuit, working together as a group, getting used to riding with each other,” Dibben, a European champion at junior level, said.
“So that’s all the training we’re doing for that. Then whoever rides the other events tends to filter off.
“The team pursuit is what everyone is aiming for, then if you don’t make it having the points and other races to ride is almost a bonus.
“The road gives you a lot of strength at the back end of a bunch race on the track. I think certainly it would be easier to come from the road into a bunch event on the track rather than the team pursuit.”
Great Britain won gold in the team pursuit at the Beijing and London Olympic Games, on each occasion setting a world record.
The European championships start on Friday at the Omnisport arena and are followed by the opening round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Manchester on the 1-3 November.
