TRACK CYCLING

Cycling Stars Line-up for UCI Track World Cup in Cambridge

By Sports Media NZ

Twenty-eight current World or Olympic Champions are winging their way to New Zealand for the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Cambridge next week.
 
There are 571 riders and staff from 39 countries in attendance for the first ever world cup in this country, at the Avantidrome on 4-6 December.
 
Five nations have already arrived comprising the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania, Ireland and USA, with the Canadian team due today.
 
The New Zealand event is the second of three UCI Track Cycling World Cup competitions which are qualifying events for the world championships and ultimately to next year’s Rio Olympics.
 
Most nations have sent their leading sprinters to New Zealand, which will prove a mouth-watering prospect.
 
In the women’s sprint events all of the world’s superstars are heading to Cambridge. They include German Kristina Vogel, the current sprint world champion who also won three titles at the 2014 worlds, and is the current Olympic team sprint champion with Miriam Welte.
 
She will face the might of Australian Anna Meares, the current Olympic sprint champion who has collected 25 World Championship medals including 11 golds in her glittering career, and Chinese star Jinjie Gong, who has won six World Championship medals, and is the current team sprint titleholder as well as the Olympic silver medallist.
 
The 21-year-old Dutch champion Elis Ligtlee comes to Cambridge in top form after winning the European titles in sprint and keirin.
 
The men’s sprint competition will be white-hot for New Zealand’s 2014 world champion team sprint combination.

 
Australian Anna Meares, one of the multi-world champions to compete at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup in Cambridge next week. Photo ® Dianne Manson

Heading to Cambridge is ebullient Frenchman Gregory Bauge, the current world sprint and team sprint champion; double London Olympic champion over the same disciplines in Jason Kenny (GBR); Cali World Cup double winner Joachim Eilers who is part of a super-powerful German group; triple winner at the recent European championship, Jeffrey Hoogland (NED) and in-form Commonwealth Games keirin champion Matthew Glaetzer (AUS).
 
In the men’s endurance combination, Australia will be crossing the Tasman at full strength, reuniting Orica GreenEdge professional Michael Hepburn with his 2014 world championship teammates in the men’s team pursuit.
 
Brilliant Olympic omnium champion Lasse Norman Hansen also returns from the World Tour pro road scene to guide the Danish combination while Olympic gold medallist Ed Clancy will guide the Great Britain team’s fortunes and the Cali-winning Russian team will be led by points race world champion Artur Ershov.
 
Australia will likely be the team to beat in the women’s endurance competition, with their world championship winning line-up led by the outstanding Annette Edmondson, who is also the world omnium champion.
 
The same Canadian combination that won the Cali World Cup will head to Cambridge with the USA led by 2014 omnium world champion Sarah Hammer.
 
All countries will be in the Waikato by early next week for their final preparations ahead of the competition which begins on Friday 4 December with qualifying for team sprint and team pursuit, with two sessions on each of Saturday and Sunday with titles decided in the evening programme.