Sutton’s Jo Rowsell insists her days of walking into the British cycling team are well and truly over following a year of comings and goings in the sport.

A wind of change swept through cycling last October, when the International Olympic Committee and the International Cycling Union opted to reassess the gender balance in Olympic events.

It was good and bad news for Rowsell, with the women’s individual pursuit dropped but the team pursuit installed.

The former Nonsuch High School pupil has a proven track record in the team event, having claimed gold twice as well as silver since its introduction into the World Championships in 2008.

However, since it became the only event open to endurance cyclists, Rowsell admits she has seen a spike from British women interested in the three coveted places.

“Originally, it was myself, Wendy Houvenaghel and Rebecca Romero in the team pursuit but Lizzie Armitstead has come in and really booked herself a place,” said Rowsell.

“And this year was the first time we have had five riders competing for three places.

“The event has definitely moved on – it is hard for those who miss out, but great in long run because we know whoever is at an Olympics or World Championships is the best in Britain.

“The more we can get up to that level, the better the national team will be and, in turn, the more those on the fringe will improve.”

Rowsell was bidding for a third straight team pursuit world title in Copenhagen last week but fell to a ruthless Australian trio in the gold medal ride-off.

The Sutton cyclist, alongside Houvenaghel and Armitstead, had her heart firmly set on gold and Rowsell insists any changes set to be made following their performance will be far from wholesale.

“Obviously the team pursuit has become of more importance since the changes to the Olympic programme were announced,” she added.

“That has made us change most of our programme, we work on an Olympic programme and training around the Olympics and the individual pursuit is now something to do off the back of the team pursuit.

“We have decided to really focus on the team pursuit and that has really brought us together.

“And I think we have to do that because other countries will look at the changes and want to do equally as well as us.

“There has been a whole shift in our programme and we have spent a lot of time really getting to know each other so no other country gets in between us.”

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