We’re less than a week away from the UCI Track Cycling World Championships at Lee Valley VeloPark and it’s set to be an incredible five days in London.

50,000 tickets have been sold making this the biggest track cycling world championships in the modern era.

We know that the majority of cycling fans inside the velodrome in London will be backing the Great Britain Cycling Team and that support means the world to all of our riders, coaches and support staff – it really does make a difference.

We’re taking a strong team to London and with rainbow jerseys and Olympic qualification places up for grabs, we know we have to be at our best.

Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish make their return to the UCI Track Cycling World Championships and will pair up in the Madison – looking to regain the title they won at the last home worlds in Manchester in 2008.

Mark will also compete in the omnium while Sir Brad is part of a strong endurance squad which will contest the team pursuit.

Six gold medallists from London 2012, including Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell Shand, Jason Kenny and Phil Hindes will return to the site of their Olympic success while there is also a first elite world championship call-up for Emily Nelson and Chris Latham – richly deserved after their form at this season’s world cup.

If you’ve not been lucky enough to get tickets for the world championships, there’s live coverage and highlights across the week in the UK on BBC and Eurosport.

Looking ahead in March, the 2016 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships take place in Montichiari, Italy and the Great Britain Cycling Team squad has been named. The team are in great shape and hungry for success ahead to the championships.

Montichiari is becoming a home-away-from-home for the Great Britain Cycling Team – we’ve set up our new European training base for our endurance academy riders there and I’m really excited about the potential this site can create for our young riders.

Finally, the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships took place in Belgium last month – and what a result for young Evie Richards!

The teenager won the first ever under-23 women’s world championship jersey with an incredible performance – winning gold by 35 seconds. A terrific performance – and a great start to 2016 for the Great Britain Cycling Team with the first set of rainbow stripes won.

Shane