Oceania Form Features in Strong Bike Squad for World Cup

BikeNZ have named a strong squad to contest the UCI track cycling World Cup in Australia this week.
 

A 14-strong squad will fly out from Christchurch tomorrow for the World Cup in Melbourne, which carries important qualifying points for next year’s world championships.

The team is led by world champion Alison Shanks in her first significant international competition since claiming her rainbow jersey in March. She warmed up with two solid rides in winning the Oceania title in the individual pursuit in Invercargill this week.

She is joined by the other two members of the medal-winning world championship team pursuit, Kaytee Boyd and Lauren Ellis, with Waikato’s Rushlee Buchanan forcing her way in for the first time after some excellent performances at the Oceania Championships.

The experienced Joanne Kiesanowski is the other newcomer following victories in both the scratch race and points race in Invercargill.

The men’s squad is anchored by the Olympic medal winning team pursuit squad of Sam Bewley, Jesse Sergent, Marc Ryan, Peter Latham and Wes Gough. They broke the New Zealand record yesterday, bettered only by their Beijing Olympic medal winning efforts.

Young Invercargill rider Tom Scully receives his first selection in a full New Zealand elite squad after some impressive displays this week.

New Zealand will field a full three-man sprint squad of Eddie Dawkins, Simon Van Velthooven and Adam Stewart.

The competition begins on Thursday.