Team GB’s ‘Crazy Grandad’ Ed Clancy goes for team pursuit gold ahead of tilt at fourth Olympic title… but needs help from ‘Chosen One’ Ethan Hayter
- GB’s ‘crazy grandad’ and ‘superkid’ race in Track Cycling World Championships
- The duo will compete with the nation’s men team pursuit reputation on the line
- Their performances will indicate how they are shaping up for the Olympics
Great Britain’s ‘crazy grandad’ and ‘superkid’ race together on Wednesday in the Track Cycling World Championships with the nation’s men’s team pursuit reputation on the line.
The four-man, 4km event is one of Team GB’s most successful in any Olympic sport – they won gold at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016. Veteran Ed Clancy, who is 35 next month, was the only ever-present in those teams and now rides with a different generation, including Ethan Hayter – a 21-year-old he compares to Neo, Keanu Reeves’ character from The Matrix.
Clancy and Hayter – plus two of Kian Emadi, Ollie Wood and Charlie Tanfield – form the team for the World Championships in Berlin. They will ride in qualifying on Wednesday afternoon ahead of Thursday night’s final. Their performance this week will indicate how they are shaping up for the Olympics in five months.
GB’s ‘crazy grandad’ and ‘superkid’ will race together in Track Cycling World Championships
And although they are only sixth in the Olympic rankings and victory here is unlikely, the hope is that their blend of youth and experience can peak in time for Tokyo 2020 this summer – and that Clancy can win a fourth gold.
‘I believe whatever we do at the worlds will be not quite as impressive as what we do in another five months’ time,’ admits Clancy. ‘We’re putting all of our eggs in the Tokyo basket.
‘To do it a fourth time is a big dream of mine. It would be my biggest achievement to date and it would be my toughest one as well because I ain’t getting any younger.
‘I wouldn’t say I’m past it yet, but you have to bear in mind that I’ll be 35 next month and I’m riding around with superkids like Ethan, who can literally do twice the workload I can.’
It was after they won the World Championships together in 2018 that Clancy described a then teenage ‘superkid’ Hayter – who has recently signed to ride for Team Ineos on the road – as ‘the next Bradley Wiggins’.
Clancy described teenage ‘superkid’ Ethan Hayter as ‘the next Bradley Wiggins’ in 2018
Asked if he stood by that statement two years on, Clancy says: ‘Absolutely, and the more I see of him the more I think it’s true.
‘In team pursuit terms, he’s already doing things which Bradley and Geraint Thomas were doing and more. I was watching The Matrix the other day and I sometimes remind myself a bit of Morpheus. Not so much in the way I look, but I reckon I know something good when I see it – and Ethan’s the Chosen One.
‘I’m telling you, he’s special. He’s really got something else. When I try to ride a bike around Portugal with him for two weeks, he is like in a different world.
‘For someone who is relatively small and lightweight and aerodynamic, he’s got a massive great cardiovascular system on him.
‘He’s a massive benefit to us in the team pursuit, but I think what he does beyond Tokyo, on the road, is going to be equally impressive.’
Hayter acknowledged he had been learning from the experience of Clancy (second from left)
The respect between team-mates is mutual, with Hayter acknowledging that he has been learning from the experienced Clancy.
‘You kind of forget sometimes that he has been doing it for so long,’ says Hayter, who will also ride in the Madison in Berlin but has been overlooked for the omnium.
‘He is great to have around for all kind of reasons. None of us have been to an Olympics before apart from him so I think he will play a massive part.’
Emadi, another of Clancy’s team-mates, is even more gushing in his praise for the man they call the ‘crazy grandad’.
Kian Emadi believes that Clancy is one of the most under-rated sportsmen in the country
And he believes the Yorkshireman is one of the most under-rated sportsmen in the country.
‘His lack of image proportional to his Olympic success is perhaps because cycling has been very successful, so the team as a whole maybe gets more recognition,’ adds Emadi. ‘But he is on a level with some of the rowers, Steve Redgrave potentially, who are huge names.
‘He is still at the top of his game. He is going to be very modest about himself and the young guys coming through are obviously very good. But Ed is still the cornerstone of the team.
‘He’s got the wealth of three teams’ knowledge in him. It’s like having a coach and a rider.’