North-East Sport
Need for speed is evident for Team GB at Track Cycling Event
10:32pm Thursday 16th February 2012
GERAINT Thomas admits more speed is needed as Great Britain's team pursuit squad rode through a wall of noise to book a gold medal ride at the UCI World Cup in London.
World champions Australia will be the ones to beat after posting the quickest qualifying time, covering the 4km distance in 3:57.885, nearly six tenths of a second faster than their arch-rivals.
Australia have dominated the team pursuit since Great Britain won Olympic gold in a world record, winning two of the last three world titles.
They've made no secret they were arriving in London to claim some pre-Games bragging rights on their rival's turf, before they host next month's World Championships in Melbourne.
Thomas admitted to being stunned by the noise generated by a sell-out 6,000 crowd at the Olympic Velodrome but is determined to give them something to really cheer about in Sunday's final.
"It was a great feeling to be out there with all that support but we're a bit disappointed with the time," he admitted.
"Even after we set the world record in the Olympics we always thought we could go quicker, so we are never really satisfied.
"We made a flying start in the first kilometre but we faded and that is something we need to work on."
Thomas insists he has no regrets about returning to the track after making giant strides on the road since Beijing, with two top three stage finishes at the Tour de France, a national road title and a points jersey at the Tour of Britain to his name.
With Thomas in the quartet there is no doubt Great Britain - who have mustered just a silver and bronze at world level since 2008 - are a stronger outfit.
After striking gold in China Thomas made no excuse for several days hard partying with team-mate Ed Clancy, although now they are the sensible heads in a team that also includes Steve Burke and Pete Kennaugh.
"We are four years older now but we're just as determined," he added.
"Riding here will take some getting used to because the crowd are so loud it's difficult to communicate, that is something we can take from this event and work on before the Olympics.
"Normally we only get that kind of support at the start and finish. For a qualifying race it was just bizarre, it was mental, it was just a wall of noise all the way around."
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