Flimsy frames force GB stars to use bikes that are 13 years old

GREAT BRITAIN’S allconquering cyclists will head to next week’s Track World Championships with bikes up to 13 years old because the ones they used at the Rio Olympics have all broken. As Sportsmail revealed before the 2016 Games, there was huge concern over the new Cervelo T5GB bikes because their speed was not allied with the strength to withstand the power being put through the pedals. Now it has emerged that the team, who were the toast of British Olympic sport after six golds, three silvers and a bronze across the 10 events in the velodrome, almost ran out of their £10,000 bikes in Rio because the superlight carbon frames kept breaking. Jason Kenny, who won three golds in the sprint events to join Sir Chris Hoy as Britain’s greatest Olympian, is said to have gone through up to five bikes. Sources say the British Cycling mechanics had to work at almost the speed of their Formula One counterparts when Laura Kenny broke a bike as she was preparing to contest one of her events in the omnium. On other occasions, coaches and mechanics chose not to tell riders a bike had broken, changing it for a new one before they had realised. As well as problems with the frames, which rendered the bikes unsafe as well as less effective, the state-ofthe-art handlebars often cracked or even snapped. Some riders chose not to use the Cervelo bikes at all in Rio. Philip Hindes, the fastest front man in the history of the team sprint, opted for the UKSI bike he had ridden to glory four years earlier in London. Elinor Barker opted for a UKSI bike in the team pursuit because of the style in which she rides, with knees fractionally closer together. British Cycling designers are now working with Cervelo to develop a more robust Mk II machine but the team will head to Hong Kong next week with the UKSI bikes that were unveiled in 2004 and updated over the next two Olympic cycles.