BRITS TO WATCH

LAURA KENNY

Going for three golds (team pursuit, omnium, Madison) for the first time in her career, 28-year-old Kenny remains one of the fiercest competitors on the track. She’s had limited chance to really show her best in the last couple of years due to some crashes though.

ALEX DOWSETT

The Essex tester’s search for a medal in Tokyo has been in the planning for a couple of years. He himself would admit he’s not in the league of Filippo Ganna or Rohan Dennis, but he’s very much in the fight with the rest.

ETHAN HAYTER

Currently winning on the road with Ineos, Hayter was instrumental in Britain winning the team pursuit at the Worlds in 2018. He’ll be crucial if the team is to do so in Tokyo, where they’ll likely need to ride more than eight seconds faster than they did that day.

LIZZIE DEIGNAN

The women’s road race eschews much of the climbing of the men’s – bad news for equality, but good news for Deignan, who suits this layout much better. If it comes to a small group sprint, as it might, she’ll be in prime position.

SIMON YATES

The Bury rider has long stated his aim of winning gold in the Tokyo road race. He’ll come in after both the Giro d’italia and the Tour de France and his attacking style should suit this climb-heavy one-day course.

GERAINT THOMAS

The Welshman showed at the Worlds last year he can come into a time trial off the back of the Tour de France and just missed out on the podium in fourth. If he can do that again he could be with a chance of a medal.

RYAN OWENS

One of the fastest men at rider one position in the sprint in the world, he’ll need to be on storming form for the team sprint trio to overhaul the Dutch, who have dominated the event in recent years.

ETHAN VERNON

Vernon has only done a small handful of major championships on the track at senior level. But he is tipped to be a secret weapon in the team pursuit – he once had the fastest time of any junior in the world at the individual event.

KATIE ARCHIBALD

The Scot has honed a reputation as one of the best Madison riders in the world since Rio 2016. Her fiercest competition, however, may come before getting on the plane and be with Kenny, Elinor Barker and Neah Evans for selection.