Rebecca Romero has been left out of the Great Britain team for the forthcoming Track Cycling World Championships.
Beijing gold medallist "up against it" for London 2012
Rebecca Romero's hopes of competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games have suffered a blow after she was left out of the Great Britain team for the forthcoming Track Cycling World Championships.
Romero won one of Britain's seven gold medals in Beijing but has not competed on the track since after her individual pursuit event was scrapped in a revamped Olympic programme.
While fellow gold medallists Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Ed Clancy form part of the 17-strong squad for the World Championships, which begin in Holland on March 23, the likes of Jason Queally, Shanaze Reade and Paralympic champion Sarah Storey join Romero in missing out.
In Romero's case, an experiment with the road time-trial did not go as well as hoped and she returned to the three-kilometre, three-woman team pursuit in which she won the world title in 2008.
With Britain enjoying an ever-increasing abundance of talent at its disposal since the event gained Olympic status, the 31-year-old has been overlooked for Apeldoorn.
However, British Cycling performance manager Shane Sutton still believes that Romero, who won rowing silver in the quadruple sculls in Athens, has the ability to fight her way back into the reckoning in time for the London Games.
Sutton said: "Rebecca is very much up against it, but she's got a big heart, she's a true fighter and if anyone has got the will, grit, guts and determination and all the things you're going to need to make London, she has.
"I wouldn't rule her out at this moment in time. Hopefully she'll push on and get back to her best."
Debuts
Hoy, Pendleton and Clancy are poised to defend their world Keirin, sprint and omnium titles, respectively, at the penultimate World Championships prior to London, while Sam Harrison, Dani King and Laura Trott will make their senior World Championships debuts.
The women's team pursuit line-up includes two-time world champions Wendy Houvenaghel and Joanna Rowsell alongside King and Trott, with Lizzie Armitstead set to compete in the six-event omnium.
Storey won team pursuit gold at last month's Track World Cup in Manchester and twice emerged triumphant at last weekend's Para-cycling Track World Championships, but has been overlooked this time - her workload being a factor.
Olympic team pursuit champion Clancy is set to ride in the four-man, four-kilometre event and defend his omnium title, with Harrison, who won the six-event discipline at the Beijing Track World Cup earlier this season, able to step in if necessary.
Clancy has limited experience in the event, but won the world title in Copenhagen last March, finished third in the Track World Cup in Melbourne and won the equivalent event in Cali, Colombia.
Sutton added: "Ed's a super talent. I can't see him foregoing the opportunity to do the omnium in London and we do want to put our best riders on the line."
Among such riders the likes of Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins certainly figure, but the pair have instead decided to return to their road careers with Team Sky.
Clancy and Steven Burke, who combined with Wiggins and Thomas to win gold in Manchester last month, are joined by Pete Kennaugh, Andy Tennant and Harrison in the endurance squad, four of whom will line up in the team pursuit.
There was no place for Team Sky's Ben Swift or Queally, who was a non-competing member of the team at the 2010 World Championships.
Talent
Like Romero, the wealth of talent available has placed him out of contention, although the Sydney Olympic kilometre champion is poised to return to the three-man, three-lap team sprint.
Sutton said: "We're looking to beef up in that area and we believe Queally has something to offer."
Hoy, Jason Kenny, Matt Crampton and Ross Edgar have been selected for the men's sprint events - the sprint, Keirin and three-man, three-lap team sprint in Apeldoorn.
The women's sprint squad comprises Pendleton, Jess Varnish and Becky James.
Reade, twice a world champion in the team sprint alongside Pendleton, was vying with Varnish for the starting spot in the two-woman, two-lap event but having missed out, she will now switch her focus to the forthcoming BMX season.
"The time frame wasn't enough for her to get back to her best but I think we've got a real star in the making in Jess," added Sutton.
Sutton also believes that Trott and Harrison have the potential to emulate Kenny, who was an unknown prior to Beijing but returned from his first Olympics with a gold and a silver medal.
He added: "They are two people who can push forward and possibly medal in London."
