How Great Britain’s cycling team ruled the Velodrome at the Rio 2016 Olympics

The conspiracy theorists have been in abundance at the Olympic Velodrome trying to explain away the British success.

Last night’s triumphs only added to the whispers as the golden performances of Jason Kenny and Laura Trott bringing a fitting end to another glorious Games on the track.

British fans in the Velodrome have seen their heroes win six of the 10 titles and every member of the squad will go home with at least one medal.

France’s Michael D’Almeida summed up the feeling of many as he said: “We are humans like them, we are made of the same stuff, we have a bike like they do so why are they better?”

And Germany’s Kristina Vogel said: “I don’t want to accuse anyone of anything but it’s certainly questionable. They come en masse at this high level and I have no idea how they do it.”

The inference there was of foul play, doping — mechanical or otherwise -— but British Cycling are mystified by the barbs and deny any wrongdoing.

In truth, there is an element of financial doping. The Olympic cycling programme, which also covers the road, mountain biking and BMX, gets £30.2million from UK Sport for every four-year cycle. In contrast, Australia — the next best funded — get around £18.5m.

Money, as Britain has found since National Lottery funding was introduced in 1997, clearly buys success.

For each sport, funding for the next four-year cycle is heavily reliant on achieving the UK Sport target in Rio. For cycling (across all the disciplines) in Rio that was eight to 10, which has already been achieved with the BMX and mountain biking still to run.

Photo: Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images
ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images

That funding feeds into the Olympic programme at every level from the teenagers entering the initial pathway to those in the academy and then the multiple medallists.

But it also provides the most cutting-edge equipment of any nation on the track from their £10,000 bikes unleashed just before Rio to the skinsuits worn by the riders that are so aerodynamic that British Cycling boffins argue it provides a five per cent performance gain on the equipment used at the World Championships in London this year.

PEDAL TO THE MEDALS

MEN'S
Team sprint

Gold (Phil Hindes, Jason Kenny, Callum Skinner)

Sprint
Gold (Kenny)
Silver (Skinner)

Keirin
Gold (Kenny)

Omnium
Silver (Mark Cavendish)

Team pursuit
Gold (Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Owain Doull, Sir Bradley Wiggins)

 

WOMEN'S
Sprint
Silver (Becky James),
Bronze (Katy Marchant)

Keirin
Silver (James)

Omnium
Gold (Laura Trott)

Team pursuit
Gold (Joanna Rowsell-Shand, Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker, Trott)

The mastermind of the bikes is Tony Purnell, the former team boss of the Jaguar F1 team.

With the help of 15 of his students at Cambridge University, all sworn to secrecy over the designs, he has in his his own words “pushed the envelope” with Team GB’s equipment with the bikes tested in a wind tunnel at Southampton University.

It led to reports of broken bikes - at least brittle handlebars — an issue rectified in time. Room X (as Purnell’s department is called) was spawned from the Secret Squirrel Club, which Chris Boardman headed to provide the bikes for the previous two Olympics.

Boardman argues: “The British team have always been at the head of the technology race and we’ve seen that again here.”

As well as a performance advantage, one British Cycling source said: “What it does is it makes the riders suddenly able to stick their chests out more and boost them mentally. And it has the opposite effect on their rivals, it gets into their heads that we have equipment they don’t have. In some cases they’re beaten before the line.”

Within the team, that psychological boost kicked in from the moment the men’s sprint trio of Philip Hindes, Kenny and Callum Skinner raced to gold on night one.

In Pictures: Team GB's medal run at Rio 2016 Olympics

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Elinor Barker, who rode to gold in the team pursuit, said: “That lifted the whole team and suddenly the thinking with everyone was that, if they can do it, so can we.”

The riders deserve the credit. The likes of Kenny had a dip after London 2012 while Trott admits that returning to the conveyor belt of daily training on the road and track in Manchester was difficult in terms of motivation.

But with no exception they have all peaked for Rio and much of that credit should go to their coaches, not least of all Shane Sutton.

The Australian resigned at the head of GB track cycling amid bullying, sexism and discrimination claims, which he vehemently denies, and Wiggins said he only returned to the track programme because of Sutton, essentially crediting him with the gold.

Even without Sutton, a stability remains with Iain Dyer, part of the programme since Athens, still as head coach. And under him the oft-used term of marginal gains is still played out. When Mark Cavendish was involved in a crash in the omnium, Dyer didn’t see it as he had, in his own words, his “head in a spreadsheet”.

The questions, though, will continue with British success. Perhaps the most apt explanation came from Justin Grace, a New Zealander who in his career had coached all nine riders on the team sprint podium.

He said simply: “When I was in New Zealand, I used to ask myself, ‘what’s special in Manchester?’ I can tell you. We do everything in every department a little bit better than the others, and that’s all. There’s no secret, no magic, just good training and great athletes.”

DFS is the official homeware partner for Team GB. Congratulations to cyclist and DFS ambassador Laura Trott in the velodrome on your gold medal in the omnium – you had us on the edge of our seats! #GreatBrits

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