Cycling Australia has named a 20-rider squad for next month's London Track World Championships with a mix of experience and youth it hopes will deliver gold medal success. There are 12 riders with world titles to their name in the squad, including Anna Meares, Annette Edmondson, and Michael Hepburn and Cameron Meyer who will make their return to the track having focused on the road in recent season.
"The World Championships are our last qualification event for Rio as well as the final big race opportunity to fine tune our team toward the Rio Olympics," said Kevin Tabotta, Cycling Australia'sNational Performance Director. "We have set objectives for each of the athletes and we will be looking to show strong progression in all our focus disciplines, and importantly, to secure our Rio qualification quotas for all track events. Whilst the World Championships are certainly important, Rio is naturally the ultimate goal. Our eyes are firmly set on August.
"The London velodrome is a super venue, a real cauldron packed with vocal parochial crowds and this will provide the perfect stage to rehearse and refine our strategies in high pressure conditions. That's great practice for Rio."
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While there are several significant inclusions in the squad, former world champions Mel Hoskins, Jack Bobridge and Alex Edmondson will miss the Worlds. Hoskins continues to recover from illness although Tabotta does not believe the 24-year-old's Olympic preparation will suffer as a result.
"Melissa's illness is unfortunately timed, but missing the Worlds won't affect her run towards Rio and we expect her to be back, fitter than ever," he said. "It has however opened a door for Georgia Baker to be tested in London and Georgia has pushed her way into the team with some big improvements over the last six months."
Hoskins is the only rider missing from the women's team pursuit that won gold at last year's Worlds
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