FEBRUARY 12 - SIR CHRIS HOY (pictured) will return to top-level competition after a whirlwind six-months when he rides for Britain in the World Cup in Copenhagen.

 

The Scot will turn his first crank in anger since winning three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in the last of this season's World Cup events.

 

A lot has happened to the 32-year-old since he stepped off the plane at Heathrow - not least that knighthood - and, while he has enjoyed most of it, he is glad to get "back to the day job".

 

He said: "You've only got a certain amount of time to live the life of a professional athlete so you've got to make the most of it.

 

"I'm enjoying being back and doing what I do best rather than standing in front of a TV camera or giving a speech or having my photo taken.

 

"This is back doing the day job and it's also the first step towards the Olympics [in London].

 

"To get back to a bit of normality is really welcome.

 

"I'm really glad to be back doing what I do and there's no lack of motivation."

 

Hoy will need to be close to his best to keep at a bay a new generation of excellent British sprint cyclists on his wheel, not least 20-year-old Jason Kenny, who won a gold and a silver in Beijing at an age when Hoy had not yet raced internationally.

 

Hoy is determined to ensure his knighthood is not the bookend of his sporting life.

 

He said: "I'm not the kind of person who needs a coach to stand there and shout at me to make me go fast.

 

"Just being away from it has made me realise how much I missed it."

 

Having only returned to serious training with a four-week spell in Australia last month, Hoy will not be at his peak and nor will many of the substantial British team dispatched to Denmark.

 

That is planned for the World Championships in Poland a month from now when there will be nine titles to defend.

 

Some of the big names from the endurance squad are missing, not least three-time Olympic gold-medallist Bradley Wiggins, as they are busy racing on the road rather than the track.

 

But one to watch will be Yorkshirewoman Lizzie Armitstead, who was a hit at the Manchester World Cup last autumn with a gold medal hat-trick of her own.

 

Still only 20 and still to graduate from the British Cycling academy, her great potential has been marked by the fact she already has one of the high-tech carbon-fibre bikes built for the elite squad.

 

After leaving school last summer, the Otley rider is now a full-time athlete and is feeling the benefits.

 

Armitstead said: "I have never really had a full winter on the bike before and it's been going really well this winter with no injuries or illness.

 

"The only pressure on me for this World Cup comes from myself as my coach has told me I am training through this World Cup so I'm ready for the worlds, so I have no pressure from the top.

 

"I want to win every single race I do, though, so it is difficult not to put pressure on yourself."