Brailsford perplexed by decision to not run London test event as national titles

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Dave Brailsford has criticised the decision of the London World Cup organisers to run the event in the Olympic velodrome as the official test event for the 2012 Games, commenting that it gives an unneccessary edge to the British team's competitors come August.

"I'm a little bit miffed, if I'm honest, if I'm really, really honest," Brailsford told the BBC. "To have a fully-blown World Cup as a test event when a lot of the other venues [in other disciplines] are using national championships as test events - we're basically inviting the rest of the world - and the opposition in."

The World Cup has been given extra significance because of its position in the calendar, less than two months ahead of the World Championships and on the same boards as the Games in August, making it a compulsory attendance for the top tier track squads.

Australia, New Zealand, the US and the Netherlands have all confirmed to sending full strengths teams to the event.

Previous test events on the road and track that occurred before the Beijing and Athens Olympic Games have all been open invitation.

Aside from his complaint, the Brit was simply excited to see how the state-of-the-art velodrome would ride.

"Let's have a look at what the track is like and the nuances of how the track runs and the differences between the London track and any other track."

The London World Cup starts on Thursday, February 16.