16 riders to contest second round in Aguascalientes
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Shane Perkins (Australia) in men's sprint qualifying(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
A jubilant Anna Meares (Australia)(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Australia was soon down to three men in the team pursuit(Image credit: Chris Keller-Jackson)
Anna Meares beats Kristina Vogel in the Women's Sprint Qualification (Image credit: Chris Keller-Jackson)
Australia’s track cyclists began the 2013-2014 UCI Track World Cup season in November with five medals in Manchester, England courtesy of Shane Perkins (sprint, 3rd), Luke Davison (omnium, 3rd), Rebecca Wiasak (individual pursuit, 2nd) and both men‘s (2nd place) and women's (3rd place) team pursuit quartets.
The busy start to the season continued last week with a haul of seventeen gold medals at the 2014 Oceania Championships in New Zealand, with Anna Meares, Matthew Glaetzer, Stephanie Morton and Luke Davison all claiming titles.
Next up for Australia is round two of the UCI Track World Cup in Aguascalientes, Mexico, taking place December 5-7.
After suffering a virus which forced him to withdraw from the Oceania Championships, Shane Perkins is fit and ready for racing on the high-altitude velodrome at Aguascalientes, Mexico.
"Thankfully I am feeling quite fresh now after seven or eight days off, and I think it was a good decision, although I didn't like it, to pull myself from Oceanias," said Perkins, who will line up in the team sprint and keirin in Mexico.
"I have had some great training sessions over the past couple of days and finishing up ahead of flying out on Sunday.
"I haven't raced there myself, but I have heard so many things about how fast the [Aguascalientes] track is and I am sure we will be seeing some really quick times in the 200," continued Perkins. "I am really looking forward to riding the keirin on a super fast track as it will make for interesting tactics."
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Similarly, London Olympian Amy Cure - who has been training in Mexico for the past three weeks ahead of the World Cup along with women’s endurance squad members Isabella King, Melissa Hoskins, Ashlee Ankudinoff and Rebecca Wiasak - is looking forward to her debut on the track.
"Our training days have been pretty full on here training on both the road and the track, getting used to the altitude," said Cure. "It is a bit of an unknown for us here, as for myself and a lot of us, it is our first experience in altitude. But obviously we aim to give it our best shot for the top of the podium next week."
The third and final round of the UCI Track World Cup will also take place in Mexico, this time in Guadalajara from January 17 to 19, 2014. The 2014 track world championships will be held in Cali, Colombia from February 26 through March 2.
Australia's team for Track World Cup round 2:
Men's Sprint: Nathan Hart, Matthew Glaetzer, Peter Lewis, Shane Perkins Men’s Endurance: Luke Davison, Alexander Edmondson, Alexander Morgan, Mitchell Mulhern, Glenn O'Shea Women’s Sprint: Anna Meares, Stephanie Morton Women’s Endurance: Ashlee Ankudinoff, Amy Cure, Melissa Hoskins, Isabella King, Rebecca Wiasak
