Liam Phillips has marked the second round of the UCI BMX Supercross World Cup series as a key moment in his preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games, identifying Papendal as the first proving ground of his credentials.
The outdoor tracks which typify Olympic competition have challenged Phillips on previous outings and the world champion confirmed his training was focussed on Olympic success and “making gains in all the areas necessary.”
Phillips continued to define what that would mean come race day when the competition begins on 10 May.
“The Olympics are going to be outdoors on a big track and I really want to prove my worth on those big open tracks and to date haven’t been able to do that.”
There will be further opportunities for Phillips to race outdoors in 2014, with rounds at Chula Vista and Santiago del Estero, leaving the two-time Olympian in confident mood.
“This season is going to be great for me personally to work on what I deem to be a weakness at the moment.”
Such weakness was invisible at the opening round of the world cup where Phillips won both the time-trial and supercross events uncontested – something he puts down to his everyday environment in Manchester as part of the Great Britain Cycling Team setup.
“I’ve got a great group of people that I work with and I’m really enjoying my training.
“As a squad we want to be the best in the world and if you’ve got that internally, when we go and race other guys from around the world it should put us right up there. It’s certainly an exciting time to be a part of the BMX programme at British Cycling.”
