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Dave Brailsford is eager for the Great Britain team to improve upon recent displays at next week's track cycling world championships in Melbourne in a competition which will have a key say in the final make-up of the Olympic team.
In the final competition before the Olympic track programme in August and following a successful London World Cup in London in February, Britain will seek to prove they are timing their Games bid to perfection.
British Cycling performance director Brailsford told Press Association Sport: "The key thing now is racing this particular championships as hard and as well as possible and then taking stock after that.
"We'll have a lot more information in two weeks' time than we have now. The key thing will be to go to Australia, put in some good performances and then look to the final 16 weeks to put the final parts into the performances for London."
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"The key thing will be to go to Australia, put in some good performances and then look to the final 16 weeks to put the final parts into the performances for London." Dave Brailsford |
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The information garnered from the 16-rider squad competing at the Hisense Arena will contribute to the final selection of the Olympic team, with some issues still to be resolved, particularly as only one rider is permitted in each individual event.
Four-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy is vying for the men's sprint berth with Jason Kenny, the current world champion and Beijing silver medallist. Both Hoy and Kenny have stated their belief that Melbourne will be a major factor in the selection and Brailsford concurred.
"It won't be the final chance, but it will be a significant chance," Brailsford added. "We won't pre-empt anything. We'll see where the guys are at and we'll debrief that when we get back."
The final composition of the men's team pursuit squad is still to be determined, with six riders - Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas, Steven Burke, Pete Kennaugh, Ben Swift and Andy Tennant - vying for selection in Melbourne, while the men's team sprint has proved troublesome.
Britain have struggled to replace Olympic gold medal winner Jamie Staff since his retirement and Kenny is set to ride in the crucial starting spot next week, with Hoy and Matt Crampton filling the remaining berths. It is possible 19-year-old German-born rider Philip Hindes, like Staff a specialist starter, could be given a chance to stake his claim. Brailsford is happy there is strength in depth in those events and throughout the squad.
He said: "It's very pleasing. The team really has stepped up. Some of the times and performances we're seeing in training now are fantastic. There are still a few issues to be sorted out - men's team sprint is one. In the men's team pursuit there's still potentially six riders for four places. There's still some fine-tuning to be done and I think that's what we'll be looking at."
At the Manchester World Championships in 2008 Britain showed their potential with nine gold medals (seven in Olympic events); five months later, Britain won seven of the 10 Olympic titles on offer in Beijing. The Olympic programme has since been overhauled, with five male and five female events, rather than seven and three, and Britain appear competitive across the board.
As is customary, Brailsford's goals are performance, rather than results-based. He added: "It will be our final competitive outing before the Olympics. There's always going to be a desire to try to compete as much as possible. I think it's more a question of fine-tuning rather than specific targets.
"We'll never talk about medal targets. We want to make sure all the riders perform to the best of their ability."
You can follow all the action from the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships on the British Cycling website and on Twitter @BCreports.
