Sir Chris Hoy says trips to Australia and Colombia next month are key to qualifying for London 2012 places.

Olympic champions Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Jason Kenny and Ed Clancy will compete for GB at the track World Cup meetings in Melbourne and Cali.

GB traditionally use these World Cup events to blood younger riders.

But Hoy told BBC Sport: "This year we are really keen to gain as many Olympic qualification points as we can as early as we can, they are really important."

Hoy added: "If you don't get the points you don't get to ride at the Olympics, it's as simple as that.

"The strategy now is to get as many in the bag as possible so that next season and heading into London we don't have to worry about travelling on long-haul flights across the globe, which can be quite exhausting, but also breaks up your training routine.

"Ideally we want to get it done as early as possible so we can pick and choose the races we want to do in 2011 and 2012.

"We've got until straight after the World Championships in 2012 to get the points we need, but we hope to have enough points by the end of next season or the start of 2012."

GB performance manager Shane Sutton added: "It is likely that other nations will be taking the same approach which is why we've decided to send a full strength squad.

"The recent European Track Championships has given us an indicator of what is required to be competitive at the World Cups."

606: DEBATE Discuss the British team here

Great Britain finished top of the medals table at the championships in Poland, winning three gold medals amongst a total of seven. Jason Kenny won gold in the men's keirin while both the men's and women's teams won their pursuit events.

But Hoy suffered an embarrassing exit in the first round of the sprint event and has struggled for form this season.

Earlier in the year, Hoy exited at the quarter-final of the World Championships when his opponent attacked him from the start line and opened an unbridgeable gap.

Qualification for London 2012 will be decided by the Olympic Track Ranking, compiled by world governing body the UCI using the best results from all eligible riders at the 2011 and 2012 World Championships, World Cup series in 2010-11 and 2011-12, and the last two Continental Championships.

The event in Melbourne will be held from 2-4 December, with Cali hosting the second round later in the month.

Further World Cup events take place in Beijing in January and Manchester in February before March's World Championships in Apeldoorn, Holland.

Speaking of his hopes for 2011 Hoy said: "I think the most important race will be the World Championships which are in Holland in March, that's the one that I'm personally looking to be going well at.

"All of these World Cups are very important but they're stepping stones towards the World Championships.

"So I'll be looking to be hitting top form for March next year and then that'll be a big test because that's your pre-Olympic season World Championships, if you win a gold medal there, then you automatically get a place in the world championships the following year, so that makes your whole qualification much easier.

"Psychologically and for your confidence it's important to be winning gold medals too."

GB squad to compete at the Track World Cup meetings:

Riders for Melbourne

Male: Steven Burke, Ed Clancy, Matt Crampton, Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, Jason Queally, Luke Rowe, Andy Tennant.

Female: Victoria Pendleton, Jess Varnish.

Riders for Cali

Male: Ed Clancy, Matt Crampton, Sir Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny.

Female: Katie Colclough, Wendy Houvenaghel, Laura Trott, Victoria Pendleton, Jess Varnish.

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