CYCLING: Hoy's deputy Clancy considering his sprinting options (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Ed Clancy may make permanent switch from team pursuit to team sprint

9:00am Thursday 22nd November 2012 in Sport

DUAL Olympic champion Ed Clancy may make his switch from team pursuit to team sprint a permanent one.

Clancy’s move to the sprint disciplines comes in anticipation of a possible Olympic return for the one-kilometre time-trial event Chris Hoy won in Athens in 2004.

Clancy rode the anchor leg of one lap – normally reserved for the absent Hoy – in the Men’s Team Sprint at the Track World Cup in Glasgow last week Despite riding a great race, Clancy and his team-mates Philip Hindes and Jason Kenny lost the gold to Germany by three-tenths of a second.

Clancy, whose family live in Tetbury, said: “It was frustrating to get so close. Stepping into Chris Hoy’s place is not going to happen overnight.

“Chris is a good guy and he has been helping me with the team sprint training.”

He added that he relishes any potential rivalry with six-time Olympic champion Hoy, who would ride for Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Clancy turns on the Christmas lights in York tomorrow (Friday) and has chosen not to join his Team GB team-mates for warm weather training in Australia in the run up to the New Year.

“I didn’t fancy another long haul flight and another suitcase, and I love the weather in Manchester,” he said.