Dutch coach picks Beijing trackies

The national track coach of the Netherlands, Peter Pieters, announced the preliminary selection for the Beijing Olympic Games on Thursday. The final selection will be announced mid-July. Theo Bos, Teun Mulder and Tim Veldt will make up the Dutch Team Sprint squad, while Bos and Mulder will contest the sprint and keirin with Veldt as a reserve.

In the endurance events, the individual and team pursuits, points race and Madison, Levi Heimans, Jennings Huizinga, Pim Ligthart, Jens Mouris, Peter Schep, Robert Slippens, Wim Stroetinga and Niki Terpstra were named, with Geert Jan Jonkman and Danny Stam reserve.

For the women's sprint, Yvonne Hijgenaar and Willy Kanis will head to China while world champion Marianne Vos will contest the points race.

The Dutch team earned a total of 20 places in the Beijing Games through its performances in the 2007-2008 season, leaving six more names to be filled in.