Cycling Australia today announced the seven-man team that will attend the Tour of Qinghai Lake as part of the Australian National Team. The riders named for the tour which runs from 7-20th July and holds a 2.HC UCI ranking was formed through a special project involving various Institutes, National Road Series and Continental teams.
The riders selected for the demanding 13-stage race will also attend a fully funded training camp prior to departing for China. The camp will be held in Canberra at the Australian Institute for Sport.
The seven riders named for the team are: Cameron Bayly (search2retain-health), Matthew Clark (Charter Mason Drapac Development Team), Jonathan Lovelock (Huon Salmon-Genesys Wealth Advisers), Shaun McCarthy (Team Budget Forklifts), Joshua Prete (Team Budget Forklifts), Neil Van Der Ploeg (search2retain-health) and Stuart Smith (search2retain).
Van Der Ploeg most recently finished second-overall at the Woodside Tour de Perth while his Budget Forklifts squad's collective strength netted second in the team classification.
"Pleased to announce that 3 riders from our team; Neil Van Der Ploeg, Stuart Smith and Cameron Bayly will be representing Australia at the Tour of the Qinghai Lake in China. Good luck!," said the search2retain team on Twitter.
" Congrats to @joshprete @ShaunMcCarthy14 selected in National team for Tour of Qinghai Lake (China)," tweeted Budget Forklifts.