Exclusive: Olympic hero Clancy in hot pursuit of forming GB dream team for Rio

Yorkshire’s most decorated Olympian has invited the two leading lights of British cycling to join forces with him in a star-studded team pursuit squad.

Both Wiggins and Cavendish have hinted in recent weeks of a return to the boards with each having achieved all they can on the road.

Wiggins announced his intention in August to retrain his focus on the track for his Olympic swansong in Brazil.

And Cavendish made a first appearance at a velodrome for two years in Belgium last month, which suggests he is contemplating a return.

Clancy, who won team pursuit gold at the last two Olympics – the first alongside Wiggins – would welcome the prospect of reuniting with the two to take on the world again three years from now.

Such a mouthwatering prospect would mean the unifying of three of the most successful cyclists in British history.

Between them they have 10 Olympic medals, 15 world titles, two Tour de France jerseys and 27 stage wins.

“I’d welcome them both back. They’re the two biggest names in cycling at the moment and they’re both talking about track, which is great stuff,” said Barnsley-born Clancy, 28, who rode regularly with the two in his formative years.

“Brad was awesome riding the track in 2008; he’s a great rider and he’s brilliant for morale.

“He’s a good upbeat person and it would be fantastic for him to finish his career back in team pursuit where it started for him,

“I’d love to see him back and the same for Cav. If he wanted to give it a crack it would be awesome.

“Potentially Cav could be the best team pursuiter of all time; when you look what he’s got on the road, he hits the nail on the head time and time again.

“He is as fast as me and Steven Burke (team pursuit rider) in terms of peak power, but aerobically he’s an awful lot stronger.

“It does take time, there’s a lot of specifics with the track. Yyou have to pedal at a high cadence and you’ve got to get a big gear off the line, and so on, so it might take time.

“But if you look at what he’s already got physically I think Cav could be brilliant.

“And he’s got a great sense of humour, so he would be good for the team.”

Clancy goes back a long way with Cavendish, the two having come through the junior ranks together before making their international breakthrough at the track world championships in Los Angeles in 2005.

As a portent of things to come, Cavendish won gold in the madison and Clancy topped the podium with the team pursuit squad.

Clancy won two team pursuit world titles with Wiggins and Olympic gold in Beijing in the space of 18 months, before Wiggins went on to break new ground for British cycling on the road.

To reunite the three in time for Rio, a lot of elements would have to fall into place, with neither superstar of the road likely to be willing to commit to the track for the full duration.

Clancy said: “They’ve got a lot of commitments on the road and expectations on their shoulders so it would be hard for them to sacrifice the road for the best part of four years to give the track a real good go in 2016. It’s all about how much they’ve got going on, and we’d understand that.”

There would also be a fourth seat to fill in that dream team, and with a strong squad from London 2012 and an up-and-coming class pushing Clancy and his honour-laden team-mates, the Huddersfield-raised track maestro is not even certain of a seat himself.

“If everyone commits to team pursuit we could have as much as 10 riders going for it in 2016,” he said. “Geraint Thomas is edging towards not doing the team pursuit and concentrating on the road for the next few years.

“Pete Kennaugh was very much up for coming back when I last spoke to him.

“But don’t rule out Steven Burke; he’s very much a smaller name in the grand scheme of things, but a bit like me he’s specialising in the team pursuit and he’s really good at it.

“Then there’s Andy Tennant and lots of young guys coming up through the ranks. We’ll just have to see where life takes everyone.”

Clancy leads some of those youngsters into competition today at the European Championships in Apeldoorn, Holland, with the Yorkshireman seeking a fourth continental title.

His experiment with the team sprint last year was shortlived, with the decision to continue with the pursuit fitting better with a training regime that allows him to continue doing the multi-discipline omnium and road racing at a national level.

Clancy chose not to ride the omnium this weekend, leaving that to rising star Sam Harrison, which means his participation in a third European Championships is restricted to a flying visit today.

“I’m racing on Friday then I’m on a plane home on Saturday,” laughed Clancy, who rides with Burke, Tennant and Harrison in qualifying this morning and, hopefully, the final this evening.

“It’s relatively low-key after the 2012 stuff, but we’ve got to be professional, do our best and think of it as part of the bigger picture on the road to Rio.”