And he confirms Madison link-up with Mark Cavendish at worlds
Friday 5 February 2016 13:46, UK
Sir Bradley Wiggins says Britain’s men’s pursuit team are “on course” to win gold in world-record time at the Olympic Games in Rio this summer.
The current team pursuit record of 3min 51.659sec was set by British quartet Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh, Steven Burke and Geraint Thomas at the London 2012 Games, but the 2016 squad are aiming to retain the title in 3min 49sec.
Although the fastest time they have ridden so far this season was 3min 55sec on the way to being crowned European champions in October, they briefly hit world-record pace during the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Colombia later that month and Wiggins is confident in their progress.
Speaking at the Dubai Tour, where the squad is currently racing on the road for WIGGINS, he said: "To win gold at the Olympics, we will have to break the world record. That's standard. At every Olympics it comes down, and that's the target we have set ourselves, that 3min 49sec, which will probably good enough to win it. You have got to reach for the stars.
"We are on course for it, at the moment. Definitely."
Wiggins also confirmed that he will ride the Madison alongside Mark Cavendish at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, which take place in London from March 2-6.
The Madison, which pits together teams of two riders, is no longer in the Olympics, but Wiggins and Cavendish both enjoy riding it and won the event at the Revolution Series meeting in Derby in August.
When asked about the partnership, Cavendish refused to acknowledge it was happening, but Wiggins said: "I don't think it's confirmed, but we're doing it, yeah."
The World Championships are the last top-level international track meeting before the Olympics.
Britain's men's pursuit team go into the event without talisman Clancy, who has only just returned to training following back surgery, but Wiggins nevertheless expects a good performance.
He added: "We have had a pretty tough winter on the track and in the gym. This [the Dubai Tour] is just a little block of road racing now - Mallorca last week and then here - and then we're into the final three and a half weeks.
"We will be on the track tapering. We will be all right. We haven't got Ed Clancy, but we have got enough firepower, I think."
