In part 1 of our interview, Great Britain’s men’s endurance coach Dan Hunt speaks about the selection dilemma for the team pursuit.

Great Britain men’s endurance coach Dan Hunt has spoken of the difficulty in choosing the four riders that will ultimately represent the nation’s hopes in the team pursuit at London 2012.

After gold in the European Track Championships in Apeldoorn in October, preparations for London are ongoing with an intensive training block for the group of riders which includes Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas and Andy Tennant. The team’s efforts in Holland represent the start of the final journey to next year’s Games and for Hunt a pleasant but ultimately difficult predicament.

“[Selecting the team] is the dilemma I go through every day, at every training session. You’ve got in your mind the core four but obviously there are seven of them training so you want to make sure you are drilling and settling the core team whilst also giving other people the opportunity to put themselves in the shop window a bit.

“What we’re doing at the moment isn’t selection camps; all this phase is about is hard work. These guys are working really hard, in some cases possibly harder than they’ve ever worked before and I think that’s just reflective of the challenge that’s in front of us.”

The foursome of Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh and Andy Tennant won by over 10 seconds in the final in the Apeldoorn Velodrome back in September, the last competitive event for the men’s pursuit. And whilst Hunt accepts the result was pleasing, he stressed the need for constant improvement.

“I think this environment is a critical environment. It’s always good but there is always the next thing you are chasing. We were happy with the results [at the European Track Championships] because we won, in terms of the performance it was where we were at but we need to be moving on from that.

“That’s a nice situation to be in, we are working with a squad that even when they win they can be disappointed. That’s perhaps not a very comfortable environment but it’s a healthy elite environment, it’s that constant thing that we have achieved what we have achieved, but we want to be moving on now and achieving more. ‘So what can we do better?’ That is often the critical reflection on what individuals are doing and what teams are doing to get where they need to get to.”

With the UCI London Track World Cup the ‘next main competition’, opportunities are limited for riders to state their case for a spot. Whilst times understandably form the basis for people’s selection criteria Hunt undermined the importance that building a successful team involves more than individual performances and mindsets, something that has been made clear to the riders.

“By its very definition this is a team event. We are looking for people who will ultimately stand on the start line at London will not only be the best team pursuiters but the best team players as well. If you can imagine that you had a selection dilemma, for instance, taking five guys to the Olympic Games and you’ve got a dilemma as to who to take as your fifth man.

"One of those guys that you are choosing between is great to have around, he’s good for morale, he’s good for the team and thinks about the team above himself. The next guy is a selfish rider who only looks after himself and gives nothing to the team, from a selection point of view who do you go with? It’s obvious. They know that, not only has it been spelled out to them but they have been in this environment for long enough to know that in order to survive you have to be able to rely on your teammates and they have to be able to rely on you.

“The settling of the team is important, the important thing from a team point of view is that that they endure this period of training time together, that they pull together and help each other through. That ultimately is what’s going to create the best team, a lot goes into building teams. This block is so hard that they’re helping each other through, morale is good and they are enjoying it - that is important to me, that whilst they are getting the work done they are enjoying themselves and they want to be here.”