August 15, 2008	Friday	Sha'aban 12, 1429

BEIJING, Aug 14: If the world championships are any guide, Britain should expect a gold rush when the Olympic track cycling begins on Friday at the Laoshan velodrome.

Britain won nine golds out of 18 events at the worlds in March on home turf in Manchester, northwest England, but France and the Netherlands aim to spoil their party in the sprint events.

“It’s absolutely the best British team that’s ever left British shores,” said Britain’s Performance Director Dave Brailsford.

At the track the cyclists will compete in speed and endurance disciplines in seven men’s and three women’s events.

Competition begins on Friday and ends on Tuesday.

Britain will have ex-Olympic medal rower Rebecca Romero and Victoria Pendleton anchoring the women’s side and Bradley Wiggins and Chris Hoy spearheading the men.

Mark Cavendish, winner of four stages of this year’s Tour de France, is also a medal hope for Britain in the madison event.

Sprinter Hoy will face tough competition in the sprint and keirin from Athens sprint silver medallist Theo Bos of the Netherlands and his team-mate Teun Mulder.

French sprinter Kevin Sireau hopes to prove that Britain’s strong showing in March was partly due to home field advantage.

Defending Olympic team sprint champions Germany will try to repeat their performance but will face tough competition from Britain and the Dutch squad.

In the distance events, world champion Wiggins is the strong favourite in the 4,000 metres individual pursuit, along with Australia’s Bradley McGee.

American Tayler Phinney, the 18-year-old son of Olympic road race gold medallist Connie Carpenter-Phinney and Olympic bronze medallist Davis Phinney, has shown stellar results since roaring onto the cycling circuit in 2007 and has an outside medal chance.On the women’s side, Romero hopes to create history in Beijing by becoming the first British woman to win Olympic medals in two summer sports. Romero, who won a silver medal in Athens in the quadruple sculls, is a two-time world track champion in the individual and team 3,000-metre pursuit.

But she faces tough competition from American Sarah Hammer, who just lost out to Romero in the world championship.

“Rebecca Romero is, I feel, one of my strongest competitors,” Hammer said. “I have so much respect for her. I realise that she is a second time Olympian so she has experience from the Games.”

Britain’s Pendleton will battle against American Jennie Reed in the sprint.

Track cycling has gone high-tech, with teams trying to find the most aerodynamic equipment to give their cyclists and edge.

Several teams have invested in new bicycles and some are testing out new skinsuits, similar to the suits the swimmers have been wearing in the pool.—Reuters