British Cycling have appointed Dan Hunt as its new Women's Endurance Coach, to work with the GB team's Women's Endurance Programme. A keen cyclist, Dan has an background in sports science and conditioning and is currently working with the Welsh Institute of Sport as a Senior Sports Physiologist. He is a conditioning expert and is expected to improve the fitness of the team. He has worked extensively with elite level triathletes including Leanda Cave, and has done some work with Nicole Cooke in the past.
Dan will also be heavily involved in the re-structuring of the Women's programme, allowing the team to finalise its performance strategy for the women's endurance programme from identifying talent to the Olympic podium.
Sports Scientist Louis Passfield is to join the GB Cycling Team's support staff on a one-year secondment from his academic commitments at the University of Glamorgan. He has worked with Head Coach Simon Jones and the elite men's endurance squad on a number of occasions over the past seven years and had during this time formed good links with the cyclists and a rapport and understanding of current work with Andrea Wooles, who has filled the Sports Science post for five years and is now leaving to start a family.
Recently retired pro Road rider Max Sciandri has been given an important new role in helping some of the brightest young British riders make an impact on the professional road scene. The team's Under-23 Olympic Academy riders are going to spend the majority of their summers in Italy, with Sciandri acting as both a guide to the road scene for the riders and as a go-between to help secure them contracts within the pro team network.
The Academy riders will live and train in Italy, close to Max's own base and benefit from his vast experience gained in 16 years as a professional. The team will continue to be coached by Rod Ellingworth and managed and supported by the GB Team's usual support staff network. They will race throughout Europe on the road in the summer, before returning to the UK as a base for their winter programme of track competition and training.
Steve Cummings and Bradley Wiggins are two recent examples of rider who have graduated from the GB team to professional teams, yet they are both committed to continuing to race on the track for GB at major championships. The tie-in with Sciandri is seen as a way to accelerate this process of placing riders with pro teams.
