We have the technology

News that the French track cycling team at the London Olympics are suspicious as to whether Team GB is using stock Mavic wheels on their bikes is not just sour grapes.
Technology lies at the heart of modern cycling and those marginal gains which the whole of British pro cycling is built around, leave no stone unturned in the pursuit for 1000th of a second advantages.
Of course, all bikes, no matter how old, are technology but the development of new materials and new ways of thinking has ballooned over the past couple of decades.
Competitive cyclists have always used the very best machinery available to them.  Reading about Merckx recently, it's striking the lengths he went to to ensure he had the best kit available.  Outside of the infamous saddle tinkering, his bikes and other kit were all top of the range.
Take one of his bikes from 30-odd years ago out now - 10 speed, gear shifters brazed on to the down tubes, none of the benefits of hyper-glide cassettes and it's like travelling back in time - exactly like it in fact, because it is!  The image is of Merckx's hour record bike which is on display in a train station in Belgium I think.

But for the French, and everybody else, they must be racking their brains as to how the British team manage to peak in the correct week every four years.  The finger pointing at the technology must be out of sheer exasperation rather than bitterness.

Ride safe