Kneisky ready for return at Six Day London

The 30-year-old was forced to pull out of next week's European Championships after breaking his thumb, leaving him with a cast on his hand and unable to train properly.

Kneisky spoke of frustration at his injury as he and Thomas would almost certainly have made it onto the European podium, having claimed world gold in April ahead of fellow Six Day London riders Callum Scotson, Cameron Meyer and Moreno de Pauw and Kenny de Ketele.

Now with three world Madison titles to his name, you could argue that Kneisky is made for Six Day racing and, rather than be disheartened by his injury, he plans to use the time away from competition to study his Six Day London rivals.

"One of our objectives for the season was the European and World Championships so it's awful and infuriating to miss it," he said.

"But because the European Championships take place just before, I'll watch the results of that to see who's in form.

"The Belgians de Ketele and de Pauw won Six Day last year, they're in good form and the Spaniards Torres and Mora Vedri are very strong.

"The Brits as well will be motivated on home soil and I think Mark Cavendish has found a good teammate in Peter Kennaugh.

"I did my first World Championships with them, so they're riders I already know a bit and they'll be strong from the beginning."

This will be Kneisky's second consecutive Six Day London with Thomas and the pair finished seventh on their debut last year.

The four-time European medallist admits this could be something to do with their slow start in the competition, but Kneisky hopes he can bounce back from injury to challenge for a higher placing this time.

"It will be a difficult return to Six Day London because I'm returning to competition and that's never easy," he added.

"It's a Six Day, so lots of things can happen. We can have a bad start and finish strong, there's plenty that can change – for us, I hope it won't get going too quickly.

"But I've already recovered from the injury, I started training on the road again three weeks ago.

"I'll get my legs back very quickly, it won't be possible to get back to the level I was at for the World Championships but I'm working very hard to return to that.

"I've lost some time, but I'm going to at least be in good form for Six Day London."

Sportsbeat 2017