The burden of expectation has been lifted off the shoulders of cyclists Kris Hedges, Julia Hawley and Melanie Claude for today's time trial event.

For coach Greg Hopkins has told the trio to just go out and enjoy the experience of competing in the Commonwealth Games and if they come away with a top performance then that will be a bonus.

The Bermuda team, consisting of those three plus Geri Mewett and Steve Millington, have been focused on next weekend's road race but Hopkins said he was keen for them to get an early feel for the competition.

"In relation to the girls, it's something that up until a couple of weeks ago we were not going to enter," said the coach from their base at the Games village in Manchester. "All of our preparation had been towards the road race but they have both been showing such good form on the bike and, with a week between the two events, they were both very keen to do it.

"It will be more psychological than anything in that it will give them the opportunity to get some competition in and will take some of the edge off the nerves before the road race."

Hopkins said there were no "great expectations" as far as he was concerned. "It's not something that we have geared towards or put any emphasis on, certainly as far as the training aspect is concerned," he said.

"It's more of an exercise as opposed to anything else. It will be good for them because the course is extremely technical. It's quite hilly, there are no long, arduous inclines but the ones that are in there are going to be very tough.

"We have ridden the course a couple of times already in training but for them to get out there in competition in the time trial will be good so they can see how it is laid out under competition circumstances."

For Hedges, the pep talk was almost identical.

"For Kris we have had a similar sort of approach to the girls, although he has known he has been doing the time trial pretty much since we started planning for the Games. But again his emphasis in training with his team Snow Valley and his coach Brian Walton has been geared towards the road race," said Hopkins.

The coach said the field would be very strong today and the race would be a good test of his riders' capabilities.

"We have to be realistic in that a lot of the time trialists who will be out there tomorrow are time trial specialists," he said. "We were riding yesterday and I was speaking to the British champion, Stuart Dangerfield, and he is doing the time trial and is a reserve for the road race, so there will be a lot of specialists out there and you have to be realistic about your expectations when you look at the competition you are up against and the preparation that you have done.

"Really, the emphasis again for Kris and the girls is on a strong performance in the road race next week. But having said that you know that having got to know them over the last couple of years that when they go into the competition that won't be on their minds - they will be focused 100 percent on giving the absolute best performance they can."