Wednesday sees the start of the 2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Hong Kong with Great Britain one of those countries chasing success in the first global Championships since the Olympic Games. The five-day event takes place at the Velodrome Park with the 20-strong British squad featuring a blend of youth and experience.
Four Olympic Champions – Katie Archibald, Elinor Barke, Steven Burke and Callum Skinner – will take to the boards for Great Britain as well as a host of up and coming names.
Last year the World Championships were held in London with Great Britain finishing top of the medal table with five golds and nine podium finishes in total.
Let’s take a look at some of the key names to look out for and how you can catch all the action.
Al five of Great Britain’s gold medallists from 2016 – Jason Kenny, Jonathan Dibben, Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Laura Kenny (then Trott), are absent for a variety of reasons.
But fortunately there are plenty read to step up to the mark in Hong Kong, including those listed below.
As well as being crowned Olympic Champion in the women’s team pursuit in Rio last year, Archibald is a former champion in the same event at the World Championships (2014) and European Championships (her debut in 2013 and then again in 2015).
The 23-year-old has also encountered individual success too, after becoming European champion in the elimination race (2015), omnium (2016) and retained her title in the European individual pursuit for three consecutive years from 2014-2016.
Although relatively young, Katie was named as a senior member of the women’s endurance team, along with 22-year-old Elinor Barker, and will also contest the scratch race, omnium and individual pursuit.
Before winning gold in team pursuit at the Rio 2016 Olympics, Elinor Barker had already tasted podium success, with double World titles in 2013 and 2014 before silver and bronze respectively in the following two years.
A three-time European Champion in the team pursuit, Barker has increased her focus on the individual events since Rio, winning gold in the Track World Cup points race in the Netherlands in November.
Part of a new-look team pursuit squad in Hong Kong, Barker is also set to compete in the points race and Madison.
Steven Burke is an experienced rider, having competed in three Olympic Games. He won his first Olympic medal in the individual pursuit at Beijing 2008 before following that with team pursuit gold in 2012 and 2016.
The 29-year-old returns to the Great Britain team for the first time since the European Championships in October where he won bronze in the team pursuit.
A six-time World Championship medallist, the senior rider will be chasing his first gold since triumphing in the team pursuit in 2012.
While the other three Olympic Champions in the GB squad are endurance athletes, Callum Skinner is a successful sprint cyclist.
He won two medals at last year’s Olympics – a gold in the team sprint and silver in the individual sprint.
Despite medalling at Olympic and European level, Skinner is yet to climb the podium at a World Championships – something he will be looking to put right in Hong Kong this week.
Former heptathlete Katy Marchant was another to climb the medal rostrum at Rio 2016 after sealing bronze in the individual sprint.
She made her debut World Championship appearance in 2015 before finishing fifth in the team sprint at the 2016 edition.
Marchant has already tasted success in Hong Kong having taken team sprint silver at the 2016 World Cup event there.
While not yet an Olympic Champion like the above quartet, Ryan Owens did get a taste of Rio last summer after being named as a reserve for the Games.
Then aged 20, the call came just nine months after he joined the British Cycling’s senior spring programme.
He has since given up his university studies to concentrate on his cycling career and last summer was part of the British sprint team which took gold at the European Under-23 Championships.
Wednesday 12 April: 12pm-2pm Medal moments: women’s scratch race, men’s team sprint
Thursday 13 April: 8am-2.50pm Medal moments: men’s team pursuit, women’s team pursuit, men’s scratch race, men’s keirin Friday 14 April: 6.30am-3.10pm Medal moments: women’s omnium, men’s points race, men’s individual pursuit, women’s sprint Saturday 15 April: 5.30am-3.25pm Medal moments: women’s 500m time trial, men’s omnium, women’s Madison, women’s individual pursuit, men’s sprint
Sunday 16 April: 3am-10am Medal moments: women’s keirin, men’s 1km time trial, women’s points race, men’s Madison
Live blog of the evening session on the British Cycling website, reports, galleries and interviews All evening sessions are live on Eurosport and the BBC Sport website, with selected sessions live on BBC Two and BBC Red Button
Sportsbeat 2017