Britain looks to keep momentum at track worlds

PRUSZKOW, Poland (AP) — Coming off a dominant 2008, Britain enters this week's track cycling world championships as the team to beat despite the loss of three big-name riders.

The talented and deep British squad took home nine of the 18 gold medals at last year's world championships on their home track in Manchester before claiming seven of the 10 track golds at the Beijing Olympics.

Repeating those performances will be tough at the March 25-29 competition in Pruszkow, Poland, where New Zealand, Australia and France have brought solid squads to challenge Britain's recent run of titles.

"I think we'll do pretty good but I wouldn't expect the same sort of domination as 2008 worlds and the Olympics," said Britain's Ed Clancy, who won gold in the men's team pursuit in Beijing. "It's kind of a development year. ... The British cycling program on the track is based around the Olympics. This is the first year in a four-year cycle, so there's not the big pressure of the Olympics and the world championships that we've had for the last two years in the buildup to the Games."

Britain will be without three of its top stars in Poland. Triple Olympic gold medalist Chris Hoy, who was given a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II, is out after injuring his right hip in a high-speed crash at the Track World Cup Finals in Copenhagen last month. Bradley Wiggins, who won three golds a year ago, is pursuing a road career, and women's pursuit champion Rebecca Romero is taking a break from the track to ponder her career options.

Clancy called Hoy's absence "a massive loss ... not just in terms of what he'll win on the track, but in terms of what he does for team moral and presence in the team."

"He's always been a good guy, even before he got his knighthood and became a superstar. He was always great for moral and good at the dinner table and he's a good guy to have around. It's a bit of a loss to the team, but I'm sure we'll be doing our best either way."

Still, Britain boasts a bevy of talented riders that figure to fight for gold in Pruszkow. Steven Burke and Wendy Houvenaghel, who took silver in the men's and women's individual pursuit behind Wiggins and Romero, respectively, have strong hopes of winning those events in Poland.

And Britain has the added bonus of Mark Cavendish, who won four Tour de France stages in 2008, as a surprise inclusion on the team. Cavendish is expected to ride in the scratch race and madison.

Clancy, meanwhile, leads a retooled men's pursuit team that expects a stiff challenge from New Zealand and Denmark.

In the individual sprint, Britain's Jason Kenny should contend for a title with Frenchmen Gregory Bauge and Kevin Sireau.

But the bulk of the attention in Poland may fall on American prodigy Taylor Phinney. The 18-year-old Phinney, who is the son of 1984 Olympic medalists Connie Carpenter-Phinney and Davis Phinney, posted strong wins in the 0.63-mile time trial and the individual pursuit at the World Cup in Copenhagen last month, and is the favorite in both events here.

On the women's side, Britain's Victoria Pendleton looks to continue her domination of the sprint and keirin. Australia's Anna Meares, who took silver behind Pendleton in the sprint in Beijing, looks to upend Pendleton.