1. (2021·佳木斯模拟) 阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。

British Cycling had recently hired Dave Brailsford as its new director. At the time, professional cyclists in Great Britain had 1 nearly one hundred years of mediocrity(平庸). In fact, their2 had been so poor that one of the top bike companies in Europe 3 to sell bikes to the team because they were afraid that it would hurt sales if other professionals saw the British people using their bikes.

What made Brailsford different from previous coaches was his4 of searching for a tiny improvement in everything they do. The whole principle came from the idea that if you5  everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, improve it by 1 percent and you will get a6 increase when you put them all together.

Brailsford and his coaches began by making small7. They redesigned the bike seats to make them more8. They asked riders to wear electrically heated over-shorts to 9 ideal muscle temperature while riding and used biofeedback sensors to 10how each athlete responded to a particular workout.

But they didn't stop there. They11 to find 1 percent improvements in overlooked areas. They hired a(n)12 to teach each rider the best way to wash their hands to reduce the 13 of catching a cold. They even painted the 14 of the team truck white, which helped them 15little bits of dust that would normally slip by 16 but could affect the performance of the17tuned bikes.

As these and hundreds of other small improvements were 18, the results came faster than anyone could have 19. Just five years after Brailsford took over, they20 the road and track cycling events in all the important Games.