Cyclists face new nemesis

Cyclists face new nemesis

I KNOW a lot of people are talking about the Poms and they've certainly put some runs on the board but remember this: nothing's better for an Aussie than beating the Poms, at anything." Brett Lancaster, one of the Olympic gold medal-winning heroes in the team pursuit four years ago, doesn't mince words when it comes to facing Australia's newest nemesis in the Beijing velodrome.

After the Cyclones' stunning deeds in Athens - six gold medals in a haul of 10 - the expectations are higher in Beijing in a sport where Australia has always punched above its weight.

"I understand that the general punter feels four years on there's going to be a progression so therefore we should do better than we did in Athens," concedes Shayne Bannan, Australia's national performance director and head coach.

But since Athens, the Great Britain team has benefited from a massive injection of funding that comes when your country is going to host the 2012 Olympics.

Money can buy talent and the Brits lured Australian cycling legend Shane Sutton to the UK on a estimated $1million a year contract to be head cycling coach. Sutton was one of the four men to win gold for Australia at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in the team pursuit, along with his brother Gary.

Money can buy medals too and the impact of the funding injection became obvious at the world championships where Great Britain powered its way to a remarkable nine gold medal haul.

Naturally the British feel they have the Aussies' number after the Cyclones finished third at the world championships and went home with only a bronze in the team pursuit and a bronze to Katie Mactier in the individual pursuit.

But if the laconic Australians are feeling intimidated, they are not showing it.

"Their preparations are on track and I think you'll see us push the English, who've really raised the bar in the sport," Bannan said.

"But when you win nine (gold medals) at the world championships, there's a bit of pressure there, isn't there, so well see how they go."

The real fireworks between Australia and Great Britain in the velodrome are likely to fly in the team pursuit.

Ever since Michael Turtur, Kevin Nichols, Dean Woods and Michael Grenda overcame the hot favourite US team and its technological superiority at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, this event has achieved a special resonance for Australians.

The team of Graeme Brown, Bradley McGee, Lancaster and Luke Roberts - likely to also be the same team the Cyclones send out in Beijing - shattered their own world record on their way to gold in Athens, the first gold for Australia since Los Angeles in the event. "In everyone's eyes, me and the coaching staff here, Athens was viewed as a massive disappointment," British sprinter Bradley Wiggins conceded after the loss.

"We lost the team pursuit and we're gutted. We knew we could have won it."

Lancaster signals the Australians are in better shape now than four years ago. "We were not even at 100 per cent when we broke the world record in Athens," he said. "I think we can go even quicker.

"I think the team on paper's very, very good. But let's face it, Athens was a bit freakish. To repeat that would be incredible."

There are only 18 cycling gold medals in play in Beijing, so matching Athens would mean winning one out of every three.

Australia also did not qualify for the madison - the two-man track event which Graeme Brown and Stuart O'Grady won four years ago.

The 500m time trial, where Anna Meares won gold in Greece, has been dropped after the International Olympic Committee decided to allow BMX into the Games.

"I think it's really unfortunate that they've decided to get rid of (the men and women's time trials)," Bannan said. "It's a pity and frankly I've got no idea why they were dumped. I've come to appreciate BMX, it's very physical and it requires great athletes, but to me the time trials were a traditional Olympic event. I really hope that they're re-introduced in London."

Australia's Kamakazi - that's his name changed by deed poll - a 26-year-old boilermaker from Queensland has a legitimate shot at a medal in BMX after finishing third at a World Cup event in April.

Ryan Bayley, the sprint gold medallist in Athens, did not even qualify for the medal round at the worlds. The 26-year-old from Western Australia won two golds at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games but has struggled since.

"Ryan's form has been indifferent coming in," Bannan said. "But he's one of these guys who seems to come up for the big competition. We could get a surprise out of him, I think. He's fairly unpredictable.

"I don't mean that in the sense that he doesn't put in, because he gives 100 per cent in his training. He's a model athlete in every sense but his mind just seems to switch on more at the big moments."

In the women's sprint, Meares - whose win in Athens was unforgettable, smashing the world record which had been set just minutes before by China's Yonghua Jiang - could factor among the medals.

If Meares does win it will be one of the great moments of these Olympics for Australia as the 24-year-old from the Queensland fractured her neck and dislocated her shoulder after a crash at a World Cup event in Los Angeles earlier this year.

"Anna is really one of the great stories," Bannan said. "She had the fall in LA and there was some question as to whether she'd be back and she took a while to recover but she's out there now putting up PBs in training."

Mactier, who won silver in the individual pursuit in Athens, is looking to go one better in Beijing and has shown good form in her lead-up races.

The other Australian medal chance of the 10 track events is in the keirin, a race invented by Japanese gamblers half a century ago.

Road cycling offers four gold medal opportunities with Michael Rogers, a three-time world champion, expected to figure at the pointy end of the time trial.

Tour de France star Cadel Evans is Australia's hope in the road race while reigning Olympic champion Sara Carrigan will be back, too, and should be among the medal contenders.

Victoria's Dellys Starr is a favourite for gold in the women's mountain bike.

Bannan cautions that his squad's best may not be measured in medals.

"We have athletes and coaches who are driven and don't put people on the track to give a bad performance," he said. "If we don't have some people up to it on the day, so be it.

"I talk to (cyclists) about not thinking about the result but rather the process. Focusing too much on the result means that energy's not going into the process.

"Everyone remembers Athens and our great success there and so, yes, the pressure is really on us to perform. But what we say is the pressure's on as far as the process, not the medals.

"We're going (to Beijing) with an experienced team. Eighty per cent of them have been to an Olympics before, they're all pros, they know how to deal with it, and maybe more importantly, they love pulling on the national jersey.

"They really love it, racing for their country, and it seems to be, watching them, that they all lift when they're representing Australia."

And that becomes especially true when there's a Pom in the race.