Ed Clancy still using marginal gains to keep British Cycling track team on top of the world

At three Olympic Games in Beijing, London and Rio, Clancy turned up with a British team pursuit squad given the best possible chance to succeed by a programme of aerodynamic innovations that were industry leading.

Combined with the fierce work ethic of he and his team it resulted in gold medals at all three Olympics.

Rival nations had closed the gap by the time of his Olympic swansong in Tokyo but three summers on, the Yorkshireman with an unwavering love for riding his bike is still working to keep Team GB on the top step of the podium.

“I’ve become a lab rat,” beams the 39-year-old, who with three gold medals and a bronze is Yorkshire’s most decorated Olympian.

“A lot of what I do now is being a test rider. I’m jumping on the zoom calls, working with the manufacturers, Renishaw and Hope Technology, Lotus Engineering, making sure everything is done right.”

British Cycling launched their Paris Olympic track bike last month.

According to the governing body’s website: “notable developments of the bike include its 3D-printed optimised Renishaw titanium crank, unique Lotus trailing-edged fork and handlebars that support increased aerodynamic positioning, and the Hope HBT Paris frame with refined Renishaw split seat post and headstays.”

Clancy smiles, knowing a lot of that will be lost on the man in the street. “We’ll not go down a massive aero wormhole.”

The nuts and bolts of it are that even in retirement, he is still searching for those marginal gains. Having been involved in the British Cycling “family” as he calls them since he was talent scouted as a teenager in Huddersfield back in 2000, he was always going to find a way to stay involved.

“It’s a great privilege to still be in this sport, particularly developing the technical aspect of the bike, I absolutely love that,” says Clancy.

“I do a lot of work for the commercial team, and that comes natural to me to speak so passionately about the positive aspects of cycling, sport and active travel.

“When I do these talks, people are still so interested in marginal gains, all the work we did with the bikes, ball bearings, air pressure, helmets, skin suits and everything we did to find those incremental gains.

“I know I’m biased but that’s what makes this the best sport in the world, there’s this beautiful marriage of human performance and technical performance and I don’t think there’s another sport like that where you’ve got such an equal weighting of both.

“You see it in motor sport, you’ve got a technical component and a human element, but Lewis Hamilton can’t win if he’s not got the best car.

“Whereas cycling the balance is pretty 50-50. You can’t neglect the human performance element but the technical side of things is massively important, this marginal gains programme.

“It’s what put us a long way ahead of the game in Beijing, London and it’s a fight now to stay ahead of the world. As other nations close the gap on us, these marginal gains become even more marginal.

“As long as you’ve got creative designers and engineers and a desire to keep learning (this whole marginal gains thing is about a curiosity and a willingness to learn and try things differently) then you’ll stay competitive.

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“Looking ahead to the Olympics, I’m convinced this is going to be our best result ever across BMX, mountain bike, track racing, time-trial.”

Away from the intensity of helping design and test an Olympic track bike, Clancy remains as busy as ever post-international cycling career.

He has ambassadorial roles for cycling companies that have health and safety at their core and he is the Active Travel Commissioner for South Yorkshire, working to get more people walking and cycling.

There is some leisure time in there too, but even that consists of riding a bike. This July, Clancy is taking on a week-long residency at the exclusive Club Med resort at Alpe d’Huez in the French Alps.

Clancy will be taking guests on four rides including one up the 21 switchbacks of the famous Alpe d’Huez climb, as well as hiking, mountain biking and a spot of yoga. People have until June 7 to book.

“It’s the most beautiful place in the world and there’s no place better to ride your bike,” says Clancy.

“I could never understand why people with busy jobs, busy family lives would want to spend their holidays slogging themselves on a bike but I get it now. It’s a release, it’s a break from life. There’s this inextricable link between mental health and wellbeing, we don’t talk about it enough sometimes.

“And this is a great opportunity to escape from work for a week.”

To book visit www.clubmed.co.uk/l/ed-clancy-cycling-residency