JESSICA Varnish has hit out at Team GB coaches after she failed in her bid to qualify for the Rio Olympics.

The Finstall rider and team sprint partner Katy Marchant posted an impressive time of 32.903 seconds at the UCI World Track Championships in London to take fifth place.

But they did not finish two points higher than the French duo of Sandie Clair and Virginie Cueff, who put in a strong ride to finish seventh and deny Great Britain their chance.

It’s a huge disappointment for former Halesowen CC rider Varnish, who was also disqualified at the London 2012 Games.

But the Bromsgrove slammed GB coaches when talking to The Guardan after the game.

The World Championships was the British duo’s final opportunity to quality for the 2016 Games.

Varnish blamed a lack of consistency in selection hampering the team’s progress.

“I feel sick,” Varnish said.

“We have been basically playing catch up through bad decisions and bad luck.

“How many more times can I keep putting my life on hold, making these choices for my career, if it’s not going to pay off, through no fault of our own?

“There’s been people put out for races, say the European Championships last year … it’s great they’ve been given an opportunity in major championships and to try to qualify the ‘A team’ for a place at Olympic Games but they’re not there yet.

“It should not be their job. To have to qualify for the Olympic Games, it should not be a development programme.

“It should be A team, A team, A team. It’s not happened. This is through absolutely no fault of our own.

“We’re fifth in the world, we’ve beaten so many of the teams, this is the best we’ve ever competed and we’re not going to the Olympics.”

But GB technical director Shane Sutton hit back, sayinh Becky James’ long-term injury was a big factor in the team’s slower than expected progress.

“That was a brilliant ride by them, a personal best, and it shows how they have progressed under their new coaches,” he told The Gurdian.

“But this programme is about taking ownership and looking at the group, they’ve collectively not qualified. They’ve not been good enough.

“A big factor in this is Becky James being out for so long, that’s been a drain on resources and in certain World Cups we’ve fielded different line-ups.

“I’d like to think every athlete on the programme would take responsibility for their performances.

“The resources put into them are unmatched and to shift the blame is unfair on the support services around them. But you have to remember that emotions were running high.”