Australian Commonwealth Games team named

By David Olle in Melbourne

By the banks of the Yarra river and a bend in the Commonwealth Games Road course, the 33-strong Australian Cycling Team to contest the 2006 Commonwealth Games was officially announced on Friday afternoon. Four athletes were present to share in the limelight of the presentation: Alexis Rhodes, Katherine Bates, Chris Jongewaard and Ben Kersten.

The men's road team is becoming increasingly difficult for selectors as Australia's ranks swell in the European peloton, but good hometown performances in the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under and National's ensured the choices of Allan Davis, Simon Gerrans, Matt Hayman, Ben Day and William Walker. Nathan O'Neill is selected for the time trial. Gerrans is having a shoulder reconstruction after crashing in the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise, but is hopeful that he will recover in time for the Games.

Australia is the number one ranked track cycling nation in the world, with the Games team comprising dual Athens gold medallist, Ryan Bayley; world record holder and Olympic champion, Anna Meares; dual Manchester Commonwealth Games champion, Kerrie Meares; 2005 World Cup Kilometre Series winner, Ben Kersten; and 2004 Junior World Champion, Shane Perkins, who will join four time World Champion, 1994 and 1998 Commonwealth Games Time Trial gold medallist Shane Kelly, who has been selected for his third Commonwealth Games team, to make up the sprint group.

Chris Jongewaard, who won the first of two auto-selection races for the MTB team, was clearly pleased with the black and white selection policy, after being nominated for Athens in 2004, before being stood down after a challenge was upheld. Sid Taberlay won the second auto-selection race with 2004 Olympian Josh Fleming making up the three man squad. The three women selected for MTB are all fresh to the role, with Dellys Starr (nee Franke), Emma Colson and Claire Baxter all having their first Games outing.