Aussies win war of words on track

JACK Bobridge and the rest of Australia’s men’s pursuit team have made themselves right at home at the London Olympic velodrome.

The foursome of Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Alex Edmondson and Michael Hepburn set up a tantalising showdown with Britain on Monday morning by topping qualifying at the Olympic test event.

“We want to race the Brits, for sure, on their home turf,” Bobridge said.

“Get the controversy out there – stir each other up.”

In a teaser before the Games start in July, the noise from the home crowd was deafening as the British men’s team completed its 16 laps in 3 minutes and 58.446 seconds.

A chunk of the crowd left after the host nation’s pacesetting performance.

Not surprisingly, the Australians didn’t have anywhere near the same backing.

But a handful of supporters made their allegiances clear by cheering heartily as Australia’s time of 3:57.885 was registered on the big screen.

Geraint Thomas, a member of Britain’s Olympic champion and world record team in Beijing, said this week they wanted to “take out the Aussies and just smash them”.

He was more circumspect after the qualifying ride.

“I think we did a decent ride there,” he said.

“We’re a bit disappointed with the time. We’re always striving for more.”

Bobridge was reasonably content with the team’s first competitive ride in London.

“We can’t complain with that ride,” he said.

“It was smooth, fast and in control the whole time.”