French sprinters ready for track worlds

France will send a trio of strong sprinters to the Track World Championships in Palma de Mallorca: Grégory Baugé, Mickaël Bourgain, and Arnaud Tournant.

The sprinting trio represents Frances's best chances for medals at this year's worlds. The trio will contend with the likes of Dutchman Theo Bos, who's been dominating the World Cup this season. Baugé, who was eliminated early last year, will be looking for a big improvement. Bourgain took fourth last year.

Bourgain comes into the weekend a more mature rider. His former coach Daniel Morelon told L'Equipe "It is perhaps his year...He is stronger than ever and Bos, who feel a short time ago, does not seem so unbeatable." Gerard Quintyn has taken over from Morelon, who moved on to a position with the Chinese track team.

According to AFP, the full French track squad is

Men
Individual and team sprint: Grégory Baugé (Ile-de-France), Mickaël Bourgain, and Arnaud Tournant (Cofidis)
Keirin: Mickaël Bourgain, Kevin Sireau (Cofidis)
Kilometre: François Pervis (Pays de Loire), Didier Henriette (Pays de Loire)
Individual pursuit : Fabien Sanchez (Côte d'Azur)
Team pursuit: Matthieu Ladagnous (Française des Jeux), Kevin Lalouette (Picardie), Alexandre Lemair (Normandie), Nicolas Rousseau (AG2R), Fabien Sanchez
Points race: Matthieu Ladagnous
Scratch race: Scratch: Jérôme Neuville (Rhône-Alpes)
Madison: Andy Flickinger (Bouygues Telecom) et Matthieu Ladagnous
Omnium: Michaël D'Almeida (Ile-de-France)

Women
Individual Sprint: Clara Sanchez (Provence)
500m and team sprint: Sandie Clair (Côte d'Azur), Virginie Cueff (Bretagne)
Keirin: Clara Sanchez, Sandie Clair
Individual pursuit, points race, and scratch race: Cathy Moncassin-Prime (Midi-Pyrénées)