Great Britain's stranglehold on track cycling within the "Pringle" is so stong that other teams are clearly struggling for an explanation. The French team's director, Isabelle Gautheron, fuelled speculation here with the claim that the British have "magic wheels" which they keep hidden from the opposition and which are not those issued by their official sponsor, the French company Mavic.
"We are looking a lot at the kit they use," Gautheron told the French newspaper L'Equipe. "We are asking a lot of questions: how have they gained so many tenths of seconds? Have they found a new training process based on certain energy pathways? I am not talking about any illicit product, because anti-doping tests are so strong. Honestly, we are looking a lot at the kit they use. It is not yet time to analyse, though. It's all over for these Games."
She added that the French were suspicious about Great Britain's wheels: "They hide their wheels a lot. The ones for the bikes they race on are put in wheel covers at the finish [of a race]. Do they really have Mavic wheels?"
L'Equipe contacted Mavic, who officially supply France, Great Britain, Australia and France with wheels, and were told that, as far as the company was concerned, "all the teams have the same wheels".
Asked about the French claim that the British had a "magic" item of kit that made them go faster, and the speculation that might be wheels "We know that they work with McLaren", said Gautheron the head of marginal gains at British Cycling, Matt Parker, would say only: "We make sure the riders have the very best equipment available to them." Parker is a leading member of the "Secret Squirrels" led by Chris Boardman, who have the job of perfecting the technology used by the British team.
The British Cycling performance director, Dave Brailsford, said: "It's interesting that people are starting to ask questions. It's no different from when we raced the last three and a half weeks at the Tour de France. It's the same method, the same philosophy and essentially fantastic coaching which is the only secret weapon we possess. As far as the Olympic Games go, only two weeks are important: one week in Beijing, one week here. And we've peaked for both."
British Cycling's collaboration with UK Sport to produce a range of equipment for the team is widely known. To meet UCI rules, the kit has to be commercially available and the British Cycling kit can be bought through the UK Sports Institute website.
However, while the range of equipment listed on the website includes the distinctive red helmets used by Team GB in the velodrome, and the special aerodynamic wide forks that feature on their track bikes, one item does not appear: carbon-fibre disc wheels, indicating that contrary to French doubts, Great Britain could well be using standard kit.
all over them in Cycling. Its been like this ever since 91 when I been into Cycling.
