Boardman tips Cameron Meyer for stardom

He's preparing to defend the Santos Tour Down Under title than he won last year in dramatic fashion, and GreenEdge rider Cameron Meyer has received a timely boost from a legendary British cyclist. Chris Boardman, who won Olympic gold on the track in 1992 and broke the world hour record three times in his career, has said that Australian cycling in general is in rude health but singled out Meyer as the pick of the bunch.

''He can hardly be called 'new' now, but Cameron Meyer is a fascinating prospect,'' Boardman told the Sydney Morning Herald. ''The only thing to understand now is what direction he is going to go and how that is going to manifest itself. Is he going to become a major tour rider? Or is he going to be someone who can grab stages? I will be interested to see how he develops. He is the most interesting prospect to come out of Australia.''

Boardman will be serving as a technical adviser for the Great Britain track team at the London 2012 Olympics and he admits that he is worried by the threat that will be posed by the improving Australians. After Team GB dominated on the track four years ago in the Beijing Olympics, Boardman has watched Australia's progress with interest.

"With Australia now, the most fascinating thing is with the size of the population,  the strength and depth is incredible,'' Boardman said. "There are not going to be the margins we saw in Beijing. This is going to be all the way to the line and I couldn't tell you who is going to win. Right now, Australia has the edge, and you have Russia going very strongly, then the New Zealand team. And no doubt somebody else will pop up because they always do. But having it that close between four, five or six teams is really good for the sport.''