Rolling into the new year

At the Tasmanian Christmas Carnivals, dual Olympic gold medallist Graeme Brown is one of the star riders and has been putting on a good show for the crowds. Shown here at the Devonport Carnival, 'Brownie' was already into the swing for 2005 by cruising around on a new Colnago C-50. He hastened to add his official team bike will be provided with Campagnolo components, unlike the Dura-Ace on the model provided by the Australian distributor, Excelpro.

He's looking forward to sprinting into the new year with Ceramiche-Panaria on his new mount, where he will be in action at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, then the steamy Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, before heading over to the cooler climate of Italy to commence the new season.

The Australian has been in good form at the Carnivals, both on and off the bike, although he's still hungry for more wins and at the time of writing, one of the high-value 'wheelraces' had eluded him, narrowly missing out in Launceston to American Jame Carney.

For all the reports, results and photos from the Carnivals, see our special section.