Chris Hoy leads British men’s outfit to Melbourne

 

 

Great Britain have reinforced their intention to recapture the number one spot in track cycling by sending a full strength squad to round one of the 2010-2011 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics in Melbourne from Thursday, 2 to Saturday, 4 December.

 

The squad will be led by multiple world and Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy, who missed a much anticipated clash with the Aussie Cyclones at the Delhi Commonwealth Games in favour of collecting Olympic qualifying points at the recent European Championships.

 

Hoy, who has confirmed he will race the keirin and team sprint in Melbourne, will be joined at Hisense Arena by fellow Olympic champions Jason Kenny (team sprint - 2008), Ed Clancy(teams pursuit – 2008) and Jason Queally (kilometre time trial – 2000).

 

After their dominant performance at the Beijing Olympic Games, where they equalled the record seven gold medals won by the United States at the 1904 St Louis Olympics, British Cycling are under pressure to deliver more success at their home Games in London.

 

Making no secret of their goals for Melbourne, Hoy and his fellow countrymen will put aside any individual aspirations to focus on delivering for Great Britain.

 

“We're looking to try and score as many points as possible this season to secure qualification for London 2012 as early as we can,” Hoy said.

 

“The simplest way for us to qualify GB a place in all three sprint events is through the team sprint, as each country automatically gets a sprint and keirin place when they qualify a team sprint place.”

 

Hoy claimed his tenth world championship crown when he won the keirin in March, but a mixed bag of results in 2010 has also seen shock exits from the individual sprint competitions at the world and European Championships.

 

The 34-year-old is confident he will not repeat any of the mistakes that saw him switch off too early in the first round of the sprint at European titles only to have relatively unknown Felix English of Ireland overtake him on the line.

 

“I expect to have good form at the Melbourne World Cup, having ridden a 9.99s for 200m recently, but anything can happen in the races (as I found out in Poland!) and there will no doubt be a really strong field from the Australians and the rest of the world,” Hoy said. 

 

“I know I'll have to be firing on all cylinders to make it onto the top step of the podium.”

 

Bypassing the individual sprint in Melbourne, Hoy will be joined by Jason Kenny and Matthew Crampton in the team sprint as they take on the strong Team Jayco AIS trio of Shane Perkins,Daniel Ellis and Jason Niblett.

 

Great Britain’s nine medal haul, which included three gold, at the 2010 UCI Track World Championships was not enough to beat the Australians, who collected ten medals including six gold in Denmark but the Brits topped the medal tally at the European Championships earlier this month. 

 

The highlight of last year’s UCI Track World Cup round in Melbourne, the teams pursuit battle between Australia and Britain is again set to fire as the teams go on the hunt for bragging rights and early ranking points.

 

At 40 years of age, Queally was the story of the European Championships when he joined Steven Burke, Ed Clancy and Andrew Tennant to win gold in the teams pursuit – his first notable result after a two-year retirement.

 

However, the British team have a hefty task to continue the fairytale in Melbourne, taking on the dynamite Australian line up of Cameron Meyer, Jack Bobridge, Michael Hepburn and Leigh Howard.  With an average age of just 21 years and 2 months, the Aussie quartet boasts three current team pursuit world champions.

 

Great Britain – Elite Men’s entries

 

Steven BURKE	2008 Olympic bronze medalist in the individual pursuit
Ed CLANCY	2010 world omnium champion, Olympic and three-time teams pursuit world champion
Matthew CRAMPTON	2009 world championships silver medalist in the team sprint 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medalist in the team sprint
Chris HOY	Four-time Olympic champion (2004 – 1km time trial, 2008 – keirin, sprint, team sprint) Ten-time world champion (2002 – 1km time trial & team sprint, 2004 – 1km time trial, 2005 – team sprint, 2006 – 1km time trial, 2007 – keirin, 1km time trial, 2008 – sprint, keirin, 2010 – keirin)
Jason KENNY	2008 Olympic team sprint champion 2008 Olympic silver medalist in the individual sprint
Jason QUEALLY	2000 Olympic 1km time trial champion
Luke ROWE	Three-time British champion (2007 – madison, 2008 – derby, 2010 – madison)
Andrew TENNANT	2010 world championships silver medalist in the team pursuit

 

The Track World Cup is ranked only behind the Olympics and World Championships in importance on the track cycling calendar and round one in Melbourne is the first round to offer points towards qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. 

 

Tickets for the event start from $9.50 through to $189 for a premium all sessions package and can be purchased through Ticketek on 132 849 or visit www.trackworldcup.com.au for session and ticketing information.

 

2010 Track World Cup – Melbourne

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