By Rob Jones
The third round of the Track World Cup will start today in Los Angeles, the site of the 2005 world championships. After two rounds in Europe (Moscow and Manchester), the series has moved to the U.S. west coast, before heading to Sydney for the final round.
For Commonwealth Games countries, the event provides one of the few remaining opportunities to compete internationally before the Games get underway in Melbourne, in March. Australia has sent a strong contingent, including double Olympic gold medalist and 2001 keirin world champion Ryan Bayley, multiple kilo world champion Shane Kelly, reigning World Cup series kilo champion Ben Kersten, Oceania Keirin champion Kerrie Meares and multi-talented road and track rider Rochelle Gilmore.
New Zealand has also named a large squad: Anthony Chapman, Jason Allen, Sam Bewley, Richard Bowker, Matthew Haydock, Darren Shea, Dale Tye and Jo Kiesanowski.
Canada will be using the Los Angeles World Cup for final Games team selection. Depending upon results, the Canadian team will either name 1-2 male endurance track athletes, or more road riders (to a total team of 19 riders). One gaping hole in the Canadian squad will be the absence of Olympic sprint champion Lori-Ann Muenzer, who has taken a year off from competition.
For the host Americans this will be the first time that U.S. trade teams will participate in a Track World Cup, with TIAA-CREF and Spike joining the national squad. Spike will field former medal winner Jennie Reed, while TIAA-CREF brings road pros Michael Creed and Danny Pate.
"The way [the U.S. national team, Spike and TIAA-CREF] have been able to work together as we approach this event is a good sign of things to come," said Pat McDonough, director of Track Programs for USA Cycling.
Racing begins Friday morning with the women's sprint and men's keirin preliminary rounds, and concludes Sunday afternoon with the Madison, women's keirin and team sprint.
The Los Angeles round of the track World Cup series will be held at the ADT Event Center at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. As well as the high-quality Australian team, the LA round will host the largest ever contingent of U.S. riders at a World Cup.
For tickets, call 1-877-AEGTICKETS (877-234-8425) or visit www.aeggrouptickets.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
