Sir Bradley Wiggins says GB pursuit team are not in a 'Chelsea situation'

Sir Bradley Wiggins has shrugged off Great Britain’s disappointing result in the men’s team pursuit at last weekend’s UCI Track Cycling World Cup by insisting that the squad is not in a “Chelsea situation”.

Wiggins and team-mates Andy Tennant, Steven Burke, Owain Doull and Jon Dibben qualified only fourth fastest in Colombia and were then knocked out of medal contention in the first round.

They recovered with a blistering performance in the race for fifth place, catching opponents Germany after covering the first 3km more than three seconds faster than any of teams contesting the medal finals, and Wiggins believes that display was more significant than the overall outcome.

He told Sky Sports: "There were a lot of positives to take. In the final ride, we were riding off for fifth and we were on world-record pace for 2.5km with the line-up we had.

"Things like that you take more from, so it wasn't really about the colour of the medal or the position. The main one was the European title, which we won a few weeks ago, and travelling out to Colombia, with the time difference and everything, was more of an experimental project.

"We are not racing now until the World Championships in March, so in competition, there aren't too many chances to try different things, which is what we did last week, so we're not really looking too much into the result. We haven't got a Chelsea situation on our hands."

Wiggins, 35, returned to track cycling full-time this summer as he looks to crown his career with a fifth Olympic gold medal in Rio next summer in the team pursuit.

He initially said he would retire after the Games but is enjoying being back on the track so much that he now intends to keep racing until the end of 2016.

He added: "It's been really refreshing, being able to come from the road programme and come into a completely different world, one I started out on 15 years ago in Sydney at the Olympics.

"It's like starting all over again. It's refreshing to be able to do that. I'm very fortunate that I was able to do that because it breathes new life and motivation into you."