Jon Dibben may have seen his place in Britain’s team pursuit quartet at the Track World Championships hit by Ed Clancy’s return but that isn’t stopping him turning to the double Olympic champion for advice.
The 19-year-old is set to make his senior World Championship debut in Minsk next week where he will compete in the omnium while being in contention for one of four places in the team pursuit.
Dibben is the youngest of the seven British endurance riders selected but has enjoyed a fine past 12 month winning silver at the junior worlds and two medals of the same colour at the junior Europeans.
He also made his Track World Cup debut in Glasgow in November finishing fifth in the omnium with coach Chris Newton, who won points race bronze at Beijing 2008, helping nurture him in the event.
Dibben is also determined to take in the knowledge passed down by double Olympic team pursuit champion, and omnium bronze medallist from London 2012, Clancy ahead of the World Championships.
Clancy’s switch back to the team pursuit after a spell riding the team sprint has demoted Dibben from being man four to man five however he insists the 27-year-old’s help is too good to pass up.
“Ed’s just dropped back into the team so I’m man five at the minute,” Dibben told British Cycling. “You can see he has got so much experience, he knows exactly what he is talking about coming back into the team pursuit.
“A lot of things he has said have helped. For the omnium I am sure I will speak to him more about it and get a few tips from him.
“The points race [in the omnium] is where I suffered in Glasgow, that was such a different race to the junior level because it was stop and start whereas the juniors are a lot more consistent.
“So hopefully I can make an improvement there. After that Glasgow points race Chris told me a lot of things, I watched it back on the video and he has pointed out little things that will make a big difference.
“He knows exactly what he is doing so it’s good to have him as almost the textbook.”
© Sportsbeat 2013