Eisel leads Austria at the Worlds

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Bernhard Eisel of HTC-Columbia will lead Austria in the world championships in Australia. The Gent-Wevelgem winner will be supported by Stefan Denifl (Cervelo TestTeam) and Peter Wrolich of Milram. Austria is allowed only three riders in the elite men's road race. The reserve rider is Thomas Rohregger of Milram.

The Austrian cycling federation said that it would not send anyone for the elite men's time trial. “We wanted to nominate Matthias Brändle,” General Secretary Rudolf Massak said. But the 20-year-old, who is in his first year in the ProTour, “is understandably no longer really fresh after a long season.”

Andreas Hofer and Riccardo Zoidi will ride the U-23 time trial. For the U-23 road race, Daniel Schorn and Matthias Krizek are assured of starts, and the other two places will go to two out of Hofer, Zoidi, Dominik Hrinkow and Georg Preidler.

The federation has nominated national champion Andrea Graus, 19-year-old Jacqueline Hahn and Daniel Pintarelli for the women's races. Austria has two slots in the women's time trial and three in the road race.