In the film In Bruges, Colin Farrell's hit-man character is bored to tears after just a few hours in the eponymous city; Huddersfield-born Clancy has to be in Belgium for weeks on end, and he is not based anywhere as picturesque as Bruges.

When he spoke to the Yorkshire Post, he was in a supermarket, buying spaghetti. He made it sound as though that was a social highlight of his time in the Low Countries.

As part of the British pursuit team that set a world record in winning the World Championships for a second successive year in Manchester in March, the 23-year-old represents one of Yorkshire's best chances of gold in Beijing.

Across the Channel, he trains with a commercial road-racing team, Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner. A track specialist, he does not particularly enjoy life on the road but it is something he has to put up with. Being in Belgium is a means to an end, a hoop he has to jump through to facilitate his ambition.

"I hate stage racing, but it's good for your track racing," says the Warrington-based rider. "You have to look at it as an investment. There have been some horrible days here in Belgium, and you want to be at home, but it comes good – I've got two World Championship medals and a world record.

"Cycling is the only thing I know at the moment – I wake up and I ride my bike. I eat, drink, sleep and (expletive deleted) cycling.

"Winning things is not supposed to be fun all the way. I do a lot of moaning, but I'd rather be doing this than anything else."

Gold is the goal, and the British team will travel to China as favourites, having beaten all of their main rivals at the World Championships.

Clancy, whose place in the cycling squad was confirmed yesterday – alongside Rotherham-born road racer Ben Swift and Middlesbrough's points racer Chris Newton – says: "Sometimes, particularly in the year or two after the Olympics, the World Championships aren't that hotly contested. This year, they were.

"The guys we have to beat at the Olympics were all there. The young Danish team and the Australians are going to be the ones to beat again, but there's no reason why we can't hold them off.

"Has the pressure gone up because of the World Championships? Not really. There was already pressure on us after we won the Worlds in 2007. We are the favourites, but that won't change what we do. We just ride as fast as we can."

Clancy spent much of his adolescence in Holmfirth on bikes, but came to competitive racing relatively late before turning down a place to read engineering at Loughborough University so that he could concentrate on cycling.

"I was quite a late starter – I didn't really get going until I was 18 or 19," he says. "I used to play on my mountain bike – I still love bikes, I'm always messing around on my mountain bike or motor bike.

"But it was only lately that I started to take racing seriously. My design technology teacher at Huddersfield Technical College challenged me and my mountain-biking friends to come to a time trial when I was about 17. It kicked on from there. At 19 or 20, I went to the British Cycling academy in Manchester.

"I did the Commonwealth Games two years ago, but I wasn't up to speed then. I'm 23 now, and I'm starting to come good. Since I was 20, I started to believe that gold could be a reality at these Olympics."

Cycling's most famous and lucrative event is the Tour de France and Clancy is often asked how Olympic gold would compare with emulating the celebrated likes of Eddy Merkyx and Lance Armstrong.

He patiently explains that pursuit and long-distance, multi-stage road-racing are worlds apart.

"On the track, it's over in four minutes," he says. "On the road, it can be more than four hours. It's like the difference between a marathon and a sprint.

"I've always been a better track rider than a road rider. I knew straight away that I was more of a gifted track rider.

"People ask me if my ambition is to win the Tour de France, and winning the Tour is a nice thought – if I could choose between the Tour de France and winning Olympic gold, it would be a close call. But you've got to accept what you're given in life. I'm not going to win the Tour de France, but I've got a good opportunity to win Olympic gold."

Clancy is unlikely to make millions from his sport, but nor does he struggle to get by like some world-class athletes.

"A lot of cyclists do make a good living," he says. "I'm Lottery-funded and I ride for a professional team, so for the last couple of years, I've made quite a good living. Before that, it was a bit of a struggle."

Gold in Beijing would certainly boost his earning potential, although Clancy appears to be motivated by glory rather than cash.

One thing he is not motivated by is politics. To him, China's human rights record, the situation in Tibet and the country's environmental problems are issues better left to those who are better informed and better qualified to comment.

"Beijing seemed like a nice place, with nice people," he says, having visited the city with his team-mates last year. "It reminded me of Russia in some ways. They seem to be making a big effort.

"It's a shame about all these protests. I'm no politician – my only concern is that the demonstrations draw attention from what we're going over there for.

"I don't know why other athletes bother making comments – those are best left to the Government. I'm just going to try to do the best job I can."

And that 'best job' could make him a household name.


Olympic factfile

Ed Clancy

Age: 23.

Born: Huddersfield.

Sport: Cycling, team pursuit.

2004 Olympic champions: Australia.

Honours: 2005, 2007, 2008 World Track Champions, 2006 European Under-23 Track Championships bronze medallist.

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