OLYMPIC cyclist Julian Winn has started his build-up to the Melbourne Commonwealth Games - 14 months before they take place!

And the Abergavenny 32-year-old reckons he has every chance of winning the medal he missed out on in Athens last summer in March 2006.

Winn is training hard for the new road campaign and will either go to Malaysia with the GB squad this month or to Majorca for Welsh team training.

He said: "It was great while I was at the Olympics but it's done now and the focus is the Commonwealth Games.

"There is no doubt whatsoever that winning the Commonwealth Games is well within my capabilities. I've been so near yet so far in the last two Games."

Long before then, though, his immediate focus in on tackling the toughest cyclo-cross riders in the country on Sunday and aiming for a second title in seven days.

Winn won the Welsh Championships in Brecon last Sunday by a street but the line-up for this weekend's British Cyclo-Cross Championships in his home town is far tougher.

However, should he overcome the odds and be victorious, he will have a second national rainbow jersey in his collection, alongside the National Road Race Championships shirt he received for triumphing two years ago.

Winn said he was 'realistic' about his chances at Abergavenny Leisure Centre on Sunday.

"Anyone who can ride cyclo-cross to a good standard will be there and I'm not blase enough to say that I can win it. I ride cyclo-cross for fitness. I don't ride any of the big events and I'm only in the British Championships because they are in Abergavenny," he said.

"When I'm on that start line, I will try as hard as I can but there is a big difference between a cyclo-cross rider and someone who rides cyclo-cross."

Specialist riders such as Surrey's National Trophy Series champion Jody Cranforth and Matt Ellis, a triple runner-up in the British Championships, will be alongside Winn as well as last year's National Trophy king, Monmouth-born Steven Roach.

Winn added: "Cranforth and Ellis are specialists so I would be as surprised as anyone else if I got a medal. I will be looking for a place in the top ten."

But having the championships in Gwent was another boost for cycling here.

"It's another coup for Welsh cycling to have the British Championships on both the road and cyclo-cross," he said.

Wales' world star Nicole Cooke goes in the women's race on Sunday.

There are four races on Saturday from 10.30am involving the veterans, youth and under-23 riders. The under-12s, women, junior and senior/elite riders go from 10.15am on Sunday.