It's official.

Cyclist Zach Bell was crowned World Cup champion of the omnium yesterday as the 2011 UCI World Cup season came to an end in Manchester, Great Britain.

"It's a pretty big deal for us, it's a lot farther ahead than we expected to be,” Bell said.

The Watson Lake native led the UCI ranking and overall World Cup standings since winning silver in the 2011 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Beijing, China, at the end of January.

By that time, Bell had accumulated enough points to become unreachable at the latest race in Manchester, an event he chose to forego.

"The main reason for not going was to be able to take a little bit of a rest, not travel again within four weeks of the World Championships overseas and get the preparation really right for World Championships,” Bell said.

He gained that ground based on his previous two World Cup performances, the first a silver in Melbourne, Australia, and the second a bronze in Cali, Columbia, both in December.

"Going into it, my expectations were, yeah, I should be able to pull off a podium at one of the events and hopefully be able to ride consistently in the top five. It worked out a little better than that. I was on the podium at every event, and I would say those were all less than perfect rides for me for the form I had on those days,” Bell said.

The World Cup achievement is the first step on Bell's road to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England.

Qualifications for the Olympics are based on a rider's points total over two seasons. Riders pick up points in the World Cup, World Championships and Continental

Championships over this year and next year.

Bell is currently preparing for the 2011 UCI World Championships in Apeldoom, Netherlands from March 23-27.

"Everything we're doing right now is geared towards the Olympics.”

This is the first time the omnium title was awarded on the UCI World Cup tour. The omnium will make its Olympic debut at the 2012 Olympics.

"Every single time I've taken a start in this event I've been on the podium no matter what level it was at,” Bell said.

"The first one I was ecstatic to be on the podium in second, and the last one I was a little disappointed to be on the podium in second, just because I knew there was more there.”