King dropped from team pursuit for Olympic test event

By Sportsbeat staff

DANI King has been dropped from the British team pursuit squad for this weekend's UCI World Cup in London in a major blow to her Olympic hopes.

King enjoyed a 2011 to remember, returning to the British Cycling set-up after two years on the sidelines and joining Laura Trott and Wendy Houvenaghel to win the team pursuit world and European titles.

However, selectors have preferred the claims of Joanna Rowsell, a two-time world champion, in the three-strong line up for this week's Olympic test event at the London 2012 velodrome.

King will instead ride in the scratch race, a non-Olympic event, but knows that should the team, considered one of Britain's best medal prospects, be successful they are likely to be selected again for next month's World Championships, where another victory would make their London 2012 claims hard to ignore.

"The next few days really does feel like we are starting this Olympic process for real," said Houvenaghel, who won individual pursuit silver - no longer an Olympic event - behind team-mate Rebecca Romero in Beijing.

"I think we will go into this competition fully prepared and we will ride to the best of our ability and produce a very good performance.

"Whether that means the win or not is really not something that we're too concerned about at the moment, as we are focusing on a win in August."

Meanwhile, Olympic champions Ed Clancy and Geraint Thomas will be joined by Steven Burke and Peter Kennaugh in the men's team pursuit with Ben Swift selected in the omnium.  

© Sportsbeat 2012