After a delay for two appeals, the selections for Australia’s team at the home UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong have been released, with Jai Hindley and Michael Matthews leading the men’s elite team for the road race and Grace Brown and Alex Manly taking on the top roles for the women’s elite team.
Ahead of the official announcement a disappointed Caleb Ewan confirmed late Thursday that he had missed out on selection and another notable absence is Rohan Dennis, with two-time world title winner in the time trial unavailable for family reasons. Luke Plapp, 21, will be stepping up to the elite category to take on the race against the clock instead.
Also absent from the list was Sarah Gigante, who would have been eligible for the under 23 women category which was introduced for the first time at the Road World Championships this year, but as part of the elite races and under the same selection quota. There were no U23 riders named in the women’s squad.
The women’s elite team riding in support of Brown and Manly is made up of Georgia Baker, Brodie Chapman, Sarah Roy, Amanda Spratt and Josie Talbot.
“This was a very difficult selection as we have such a big and talented pool of athletes to select from,” said Australian Cycling Team Elite Road Coordinator Rory Sutherland. “Athletes are always proud to race in the green and gold, doing so on home soil is a dream that probably comes once in a lifetime.”
The elite men’s team riding in support of Giro d’Italia winner Hindley and 2015 silver medallist Matthews will be Simon Clarke, Luke Durbridge, Heinrich Haussler, Ben O’Connor and Nick Schultz, along with Plapp.
The U23 men’s team is Matthew Dinham, Dylan George, Dylan Hopkins, Jensen Plowright and Rudy Porter.The team for the Junior categories were announced in late June, with Isabelle Carnes, Lucinda Stewart, Bronte Stewart, Talia Appleton and Belinda Bailey in the women’s squad while Oscar Chamberlain, Cameron Rogers, Hamish McKenzie and William Eaves make up the men’s squad.
The World Championships in Wollongong marks only the second time the event has been held in Australia, the last time being in Geelong in 2010. The races mostly start and finish in the coastal city of Wollongong, in New South Wales but the small hamlet of Helensburgh hosts the beginning of the elite men’s and elite/U23 women’s road races, which makes its way down the coast toward Wollongong before taking on circuits that start and finish in the coastal city.
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