The Great Britain cycling team said yesterday that they may have to rein
back Bradley Wiggins in tomorrow’s individual pursuit finals; they will
advise him against attempting to break Chris Boardman’s absolute world
record for the 4,000m in order to conserve his strength for the team
pursuit on Sunday and Monday.
Wiggins easily broke his own Olympic record today in qualifying at the
Laoshan velodrome, clocking 4min 15.031sec, and later revealed that he had
backed off from his schedule. Boardman’s record for the distance is 4min
11.114sec, but that was set using a pair of aerodynamic handlebars which
have now been banned.
“The record is on the cards, but Brad has a heavy programme here,” said the
GB cycling Performance Manager Shane Sutton. “I’ve said to him to forget
the record and worry about winning. That is what he did today, he set out
to do a good time to give himself a shake, put a few seconds into the
opposition to give him confidence and he is confident now.
“To be honest I don’t want him to go for the record. He wants to get three
gold medals so why would he empty the tank? If it happens, though, it
happens.”
