Great Britain sprinter Dave Daniell is targeting a UCI Track Cycling World Cup appearance in the new year with ambitions to play a part in the Olympic test event at the London Velodrome in February.
Daniell on his way to the Revolution sprint title
Daniell, from Middlesbrough, competed at the opening Revolution Track Series meeting of the 2011-12 season on Saturday in Manchester, overcoming Louis Oliva, Craig Maclean and Kian Emadi on his way to the sprint title before narrowly missing out in the keirin to Craig Maclean.
The 21-year-old, who was spotted through British Cycling’s Go-Ride scheme, missed out on the recent European Championships and the Kazakhstan World Cup squad, but has been buoyed by an impressive start to the season and is hopeful that more hard work will pay dividends come 2012. “I am aiming towards Beijing in January and hopefully I will perform there, I have a training schedule leading to it. If I can get there and put in a good performance it will put me in good stead for the future,” Daniell said.
| Audio - Dave Daniell on 2012 ambitions |
“[To compete at the London test event] would be awesome, that’s what I’m aiming for. It’s an Olympic test event with a home crowd so you can’t ask for any more than that. It’d be excellent to get there and to perform there would be awesome. I’m just 100% trying to get there so fingers crossed.”
Daniell also participated in the finale of the evening at the Manchester Velodrome, a team sprint alongside junior world champion John Paul. The pair was defeated by the French duo of Thierry Jollet and world team sprint champion Michael D’Almeida with the GB rider later advocating more dates for the series which he believes would benefit riders.
“You come here and the crowds are really good, they only put four on a year, why not put eight on? Why not get as many as you can of these? We need more racing during the year, more practice, more tactics.
“It’s excellent. We come here, we get a really good training benefit from them and race against top guys, why not take advantage of something that is in our home country and which riders can gain experience for the Olympics and the future?”
