“It wasn’t nice to lose but we know the reasons why,” said GB’s Geraint Thomas.
“[Defeat at the Track World Cup] was the first team pursuit I’ve lost in a while – probably since before the Beijing 2008 Olympics. I can’t remember the last team pursuit I lost, to be honest.
“I felt like I had a lot more to come and I’ve definitely been moving in the right direction since. Now that we’re starting to go fast, it’s a lot better.
“We’ve been working on having more strength for that final kilometre, which is where we came off it a bit in London. That will glue the ride together.”
Thomas is likely to team up with Ed Clancy, Ben Swift and Pete Kennaugh while Australia will again be led by Jack Bobridge, the individual pursuit world record-holder, who has helped turn the Australian team pursuit into a near-invincible force.
“He’s phenomenally strong, by far their strongest rider in the team pursuit. He’s got that engine that makes him super-powerful over that distance,” admitted Thomas.
That clash is one of two world-class battles between Britain and Australia that the crowd in Melbourne’s Hisense Arena can anticipate on Wednesday. In the other, Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch could race against Pendleton and Jess Varnish with the women’s team sprint world title on the line.
Australians Meares and McCulloch are the defending world champions but Pendleton and Varnish set a world record as they raced to gold at February’s World Cup inside London’s Olympic Velodrome.