Advanced Composites Group Ltd. (ACG), part of the Composites Division of Umeco plc, is pleased to have played its part in the GB cycling team's success at the 2008 UCI World Track Cycling World Championships, in Manchester, UK, where a number of its nine gold medals can be attributed, in part, to bikes manufactured from ACG's pre-impregnated (prepreg) composite carbon fibre materials.

Several of the Great Britain Cycling Team's stealthy black carbon fibre machines are constructed exclusively from ACG's MTM® prepreg materials and manufactured in the Group's engineering facility Advanced Composite Engineering (ACE). Each component of every bike has been hand-crafted to extremely tight engineering tolerances so that the riders can give their best, knowing that their bikes will not let them down.

For strength and lightness, composite carbon fibre offers the highest performance material for these Olympic, world-beating bikes. They have been expertly designed to reduce the drag co-efficient, achieving optimum performance. Everything on the bike, including the frame and the handlebars, has been fine-tuned to improve the aerodynamics and clinch that essential millisecond advantage over the competition.

However, it is not all down to the bikes, the GB, Olympic-standard riders, top class athletes in their own right, take much of the credit for their own remarkable attitude and ability, making the impossible possible - a philosophy that is synonymous with ACG's approach to the product of our tomorrows.

The five day event illustrated the quality of the British team in terms of determination, stamina, style and expertise, with medals coming fast and furious on a near-daily basis.

On nine occasions, the crowd raised the roof as the GB cycling heroes stepped up onto the podium to claim gold medals at Manchester's velodrome. Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Victoria Pendleton returned as conquering heroes, but perhaps more importantly, a new generation of riders, namely: Ross Edgar, Mark Cavendish, Shanaze Reade, Jo Rowsell and Rebecca Romero, also tasted championship glory. Surely, this is an indication of the real depth of British Cycling's prowess.

Notably, Chris Hoy enjoyed perhaps his finest win of a stellar career by claiming the world sprint title, completing the full set of sprint titles in his career. In the Women's 3000m Team Pursuit, the gold medal final saw a rampant British team complete a clean sweep of all four titles with an emphatic win over a brave Ukraine team.

ACG is no stranger to the sports and leisure market and, in particular, the manufacture of championship standard, world-beating racing bikes. ACG followed Great Britain's Cycling Team's successes in the 1992 Summer Olympics by designing and building racing bikes for the 2004 British Olympic Team, which won gold, silver and bronze medals at the Olympics in Athens, Greece, after which they continued to succeed at many other Championships.

ACG offers its congratulations to the champions of Manchester and wish them well for Beijing where, once again, they will ride bikes made using ACG materials.

Images courtesy and copyright of British Cycling (www.britishcycling.org.uk).