Chicken Pox forces O'Shea out of Worlds

The Australian team will head into the championships missing a key rider from its endurance team. Glenn O'Shea was forced to withdraw from the team after he caught a case of the chicken pox.

O'Shea, 19, has been in impressive form in the lead up to the Championships with wins in the Madison (paired with Leigh Howard) and teams pursuit at the UCI Track World Cup in Beijing in January as well as victories in both the points and scratch races at last month's Australian Championships.

"It's pretty disappointing because I've been working pretty hard all year and I've been riding really well," said O'Shea who with Howard successfully defended their Bendigo Madison title on March 8. "I felt fine for Bendigo but I got pretty crook after that."

O'Shea is on the mend, but did not have the form to contest the championships. Instead he returned home to Bendigo to recover ahead of planned international road and mid-season track objectives. He is now expected to fly to Europe in early April.

O'Shea will not be replaced with another rider for Poland and coaching staff will nominate the riders to start in all men's endurance events from the remaining five (Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Leigh Howard and the Cameron and Travis Meyer).