According to Sir Bradley Wiggins the British team pursuit will be reaching for the stars at the Olympics later this year, aiming to secure gold and breaking the world record. The current team pursuit record of 3 minutes 51.659 seconds was set by British quartet Ed Clancy, Peter Kennaugh, Steven Burke and Geraint Thomas at the London 2012 Games, but the 2016 squad are aiming to retain their title and cutting the record to 3 minutes and 49 seconds.

Although the fastest time they have ridden so far this season was 3min 55sec on the way to being crowned European champions in October, they briefly hit world-record pace during the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Colombia later that month and Wiggins is confident in their progress.

Speaking at the Dubai Tour Wiggins told Skysports.com: "To win gold at the Olympics, we will have to break the world record. That's standard. At every Olympics it comes down, and that's the target we have set ourselves, that 3min 49sec, which will probably good enough to win it. You have got to reach for the stars. We are on course for it, at the moment. Definitely."

Britain's men's pursuit team go into the event without lucky charm Clancy, who has only just returned to training following back surgery, but Wiggins nevertheless expects a good performance.

"We will be on the track tapering. We will be all right. We haven't got Ed Clancy, but we have got enough firepower, I think."

Wiggins also confirmed that he will ride the Madison alongside Mark Cavendish at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, which take place in London from March 2-6.

The Madison is no longer part of the Olympics, but Wiggins and Cavendish both enjoy riding it and won the event at the Revolution Series meeting in Derby in August.

When asked about the partnership, Cavendish refused to acknowledge it was happening, but Wiggins said: "I don't think it's confirmed, but we're doing it, yeah."