Joanna Rowsell

THE Track World Cup is held in London this week and pursuit cyclist Joanna Rowsell is keen for Great Britain to make the most of home advantage.

Britain have won three out of four Track Cycling World Championships since the three-woman, three kilometre event was launched in 2008 and have a good chance of making the podium this time around.

The hosts have a chance to make their mark on their home territory on Thursday and Friday and Rowsell is keen to make the right impression.

“It’s important to go out there and set a good standard and show the rest of the world that we’re still on top,” said the 23-year-old.

“We’re going there to perform well, but with the view of stepping up another level for the World Championships and then the Olympics.”

Rowsell will be in a four-strong British team pursuit squad for the London World Cup, alongside Wendy Houvenaghel, Laura Trott and Dani King.

The competition is the first of three key competitions this year and doubles as the Olympic test event. The World Championships in Melbourne in April and August’s Olympic track competition are also on the agenda.

Rowsell hopes her squad can successfully defend their world champion’s rainbow jerseys in Melbourne.

“It would be a great thing to do ahead of the Olympics,” she added.

“They (Australia) are a big rival, but so are the Americans, the New Zealanders and the Canadians.

“We’ve got a lot of rivals but we definitely want to go into the last few months before the Olympics being the best in the world.

“It would be quite a boost psychologically. I don’t think it’s essential - if I had to pick one thing this year to win it would be the Olympics - but winning on the way would help us get the momentum to carry it on to the Games.”