Newton (right) took Olympic bronze behind Spaniard Llaneras in Beijing

Olympic bronze medallist Chris Newton returns to Beijing for this weekend's Track World Cup event, aiming to step up his World Championship preparations.

Newton, from Middlesbrough, is part of a five-man Great Britain endurance squad competing in the event, the fourth of the five-leg World Cup.

"I've got good memories of this place - it's a nice facility and a nice track - but I'm here to do a job," he said.

"It's a good opportunity to get a run-out before the World Championships."

Newton, who took bronze in the Olympic points race in Beijing last August, is the only Great Britain medallist returning to the Laoshan Velodrome for this event.

Rob Hayles - an Olympic medallist in Athens - and Peter Kennaugh will compete together in the Madison on Sunday, after coming sixth in the last World Cup event in Columbia.

We're preparing full-on for the worlds but travelling around the world takes quite a lot out of you Chris Newton

In Friday's points race Newton, 35, is likely to face competition from 19-year-old Kennaugh, who came second in Columbia.

Newton will also compete in Saturday's scratch race, while youngsters Mark Christian and Luke Rowe will form a second Madison duo, racing as Team 100% ME.

Many of the rest of the GB squad, who won 12 Olympic medals, including seven golds, rode in the World Cup opener in Manchester last October but chose to miss the three events that followed.

They are expected back in action in the final event in Copenhagen in February, a month before the World Championships in Pruszkow, Poland.

"We're preparing full-on for the worlds, we're training as normal," Newton told BBC Sport.

"But travelling around the world takes quite a lot out of you, with the extra time involved and the jet lag so the idea was to just do some events."

Newton just missed out on selection for the team pursuit, in which Team GB took gold in Beijing, but he is hoping to rejoin that team for the World Championships.

However, he has so far refused to commit to competing at London 2012, even though Spaniard Joan Llaneras - who took the 2008 Olympic points title aged 38 - has now retired.

"I'll do the World Champs this year and the Commonwealth Games the year after then see where I'm at and if I'm still enjoying it," Newton explained.

"You can still compete in endurance events at a high level when you're older because tactics and experience are important.

"You may lose the speed and power for a single sprint but the points race has 16 sprints and endurance doesn't go as quickly."

Newton's first daughter Grace was just nine months old when her father won his Olympic bronze.

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"As you get older there are other commitments eating into your time that make it difficult to be as selfish as you need to be to compete at Olympic level," he said.

"I missed bits [of my daughter's early months], although in the end the sacrifices were worth it. If I'd come fourth it would have been different."

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