by Justin Davis

BEIJING, Aug 14, 2008 (AFP) – Double Olympic champion Ryan Bayley has
picked the “unbelievable French” to draw first blood in the five-day track
competition which gets underway with the men’s team sprint on Friday.

Bayley, who added two golds from the men’s sprint and keirin to Australia’s
record six-gold haul from the velodrome in Athens, comes into the Olympics
more hopeful than confident of a repeat of his 2004 success.

Australia will be one of the teams aiming to battle reigning Olympic
champions Germany and world silver medalists Britain in the three-lap power
event.

But Bayley admits that France – the world champions from the past three
years who boast a disciplined mix of experience and youth – will be
practically unstoppable.

“We’re motivated and I think we want it more, but it’s going to be
difficult. The rest of the world seems to be going very fast,” Bayley said
Thursday after training.

“But I think team sprint-wise the French are going to be the ones to beat.
They’ve been doing everything right for … ever. They’re unbelievable.”

At the Olympics there is one more round than at the world championships,
meaning there is a first round to contend before the final.

Only if France disappoint their coaches with their times will an adjustment
be made to the team, with Mickael Bourgain on standby to step in if Arnaud
Tournant – racing his last Olympics – slips up.

Gregory Bauge is widely regarded as the fastest starter in the world, and
so his place is secured. Kevin Sireau is being tipped for individual sprint
greatness in the future, and is in a similar position.

Only Tournant, the world record holder in the kilometer and the man to take
his speed all the way over three laps of the 250-metre track, has his back to
the wall.

If he fails to perform in either qualifying or the first round, he could be
left out of an eventual final, meaning he would not win a medal.

For France team sprint coach Gerard Quintyn it’s the price to pay for
Olympic glory.

“They all the know the rules,” he said, though acknowledging that whoever
has to sit out the final race, even if he has raced the first round, will be
fighting his demons.

Britain are the reigning world champions in seven of the ten events and
whoever wins the first gold could settle, or unsteady, nerves for the rest of
the competition.

Quintyn is taking nothing for granted.

“We’ve got a chance, but we have to go out and take it,” he said Thursday.

Britain’s Chris Hoy dominated both the chaotic keirin and 21-year-old
Sireau in the sprint final at the world championships in Manchester in March.

But as part of a trio, Britain’s chance of winning gold is less sure.

While Jamie Staff is a definite to start and Hoy is certain to be the
anchor, the middle place – between Ross Edgar and Jason Kenny – has yet to be
announced.

Looking ahead to Friday, however, Hoy says their times will speak for
themselves.

“The team sprint is going very well. We know we’re in the best shape we
could be, and the rest is out of our hands,” he said.

“We know we’ll do the fastest time we’ve ever done, and that’s all we can
do.”