GREAT BRITAIN’S track cycling team head to Munich for the European Championships barely recognisable from the squad that topped the medal table at the Tokyo Olympics 12 months ago.

Only five of the 18 riders who travelled to Germany competed at the Izu velodrome while three of the four sectional head coaches have changed in the last year and the one remaining – women’s endurance coach Monica Greenwood – will be at her last event before stepping down.

Fresh faces at the mid-point of an Olympic cycle are not unusual and several big names missing here – Dame Laura Kenny, Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker and Ryan Owens among them – are expected back. But the overhaul in the coaching ranks points to bigger changes.

Sir Jason Kenny’s appointment as men’s sprint coach made the most headlines, while Australia’s four-time world champion Kaarle McCulloch has taken over the women’s sprint team and Monica’s husband Ben Greenwood has replaced Iain Dyer as men’s endurance coach. Monica’s replacement has not yet been named.

Speaking to riders during the Commonwealth Games it was clear several appreciated hearing fresh voices, though the women’s endurance squad will be sorry to lose Monica Greenwood, only appointed last year but already stepping back as she continues to race on the road herself.

The new coaching team is an inexperienced one. Ben Greenwood spent three years working in British Cycling’s academy before stepping up in March, but both Kenny and McCulloch are in their first coaching roles since retirement.

With qualification for the Paris Olympics starting next year, they must hit the ground running.