Great Britain track cycling team head to Munich much-changed since Tokyo

Great Britain’s track cycling team head to Munich for the European Championships barely recognisable from the squad that topped the medal table at the Tokyo Olympics 12 months ago.

Only five of the 18 riders who travelled to Germany competed at the Izu velodrome while three of the four sectional head coaches have changed in the last year and the one remaining – women’s endurance coach Monica Greenwood – will be at her last event before stepping down.

Fresh faces at the mid-point of an Olympic cycle are not unusual and several big names missing here – Dame Laura Kenny, Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker and Ryan Owens among them – are expected back. But the overhaul in the coaching ranks points to bigger changes.

Sir Jason Kenny’s appointment as men’s sprint coach made the most headlines, while Australia’s four-time world champion Kaarle McCulloch has taken over the women’s sprint team and Monica’s husband Ben Greenwood has replaced Iain Dyer as men’s endurance coach. Monica’s replacement has not yet been named.

“It’s been busy!” performance director Stephen Park said of the turnover. “As with athletes, there are certain times where you kind of have a change in the guard.

“There are some people within our team who we’ve maybe felt were getting longer in the tooth, maybe they’ve got a way of working that we don’t think is necessarily appropriate with the direction of the culture that we want. Equally… there are others who have taken other opportunities to move on.”

Speaking to riders during the Commonwealth Games it was clear several appreciated hearing fresh voices, though the women’s endurance squad will be sorry to lose Monica Greenwood, only appointed last year but already stepping back as she continues to race on the road