British team hoping to work on winning formula in Bulgaria

Great Britain will head to next weekend’s European Track Cyc l ing Championships hoping a change of format in the women’s team sprint can help their own reset in a discipline which has proven a weakness.

Britain failed to qualify for the event at both the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, but a major project to address that could begin to bear fruit in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, next week.

While the bulk of the British squad making the trip is focused on next year’s postponed Games, the women team sprinters will be looking to Paris 2024 as a new three-rider format makes its debut.

A young group made up of Milly Tanner, Lusia Steele, Lauren Bate and Blaine Ridge-Davis has been selected for the team sprint while senior riders Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell focus on the individual events and Tokyo.

“This is really the start of our Pa r i s c y c l e ,” women’s sprint coach Jan van Eijden said. “We’ ll see where we’re at and give young riders the opportunity to get on the startline for a major championships.”

The current two-rider format will be used in Tokyo, but with these championships effectively signalling the start of the Paris cycle as reshuffled calendars overlap during the pandemic, the women’s team sprint will expand to use the same three-rider format as the men’s competition.

It could prove fortuitous timing for British Cycling given the arrival of a new crop of riders.

Laura Kenny, Elinor Barker, Katie Archibald, Neah Evans and Josie Knight defend their team pursuit title whle Ethan Vernon, Matt Walls and Ollie Wood will race the men’s endurance events.