Great Britain’s Liam Phillips says he will continue to work hard to try and win the UCI BMX Supercross overall title this year.
The 25-year-old won both the elite men’s time-trial and racing at the opening round at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester.
The results leaves Phillips top of the world cup standings with 225 points after the first of five events.
Papendal, Berlin, Santiago del Estero and Chula Vista will host the remaining rounds and Phillips is ready to make his bid for the crown.
“I’m certainly working hard to retain my (world champion’s) jersey and I really want to win the world cup overall,” Phillips said.
“I put myself in contention last year and raced really well in Chula and clipped out in the final so the chance was gone.”
Phillips ended the 2013 series in third overall, his highest ever finish in the competition. American Connor Fields took the title after the final round in Chula Vista.
“Connor would have had to potentially finish last or maybe not even made the final (in Chula Vista) for me to have won," Phillips said.
“I’m going to keep looking to stay injury-free, keep working hard and keep enjoying what I’m doing and hopefully continue to race well. I love working hard and pushing myself to the limits.”
Phillips also praised teammate Kyle Evans. The 20-year-old reached his first UCI BMX Supercross World Cup final in Manchester, finishing fifth, and Phillips believes he will take confidence from the result.
“I love working with the people I work with and we all thrive off each other,” Phillips said. “As you’ve seen Kyle is 20 years old and making a world cup final.
“To do that here in front of a home crowd, forget the whole advantage of it being somewhere where we train - you still have to get up on the top of that hill and deliver.
“That doesn’t matter whether it’s here, Papendal, Berlin, Chula or wherever we race, that’s the most important part of the race. The fact he can get up there and do that it should give him a massive amount of confidence going into the next few rounds.”
The next stop on the world cup series is in Papendal, Netherlands from 10-11 May.
