RIDERS to Watch
Oliver Wood (GBR) Fresh from the demise of his road team Jlt-condor, the national points race champion has his eyes set on Olympic selection. He’ll want to impress in the omnium in France to help get his campaign off to a good start.
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Jack Carlin (GBR) He won three medals at the Track Cycling World Championships earlier in the year at the age 21 but none of them were gold. And the national sprint champion will be keen to improve on that at the next edition in 2019 — watch for signs that he’s on track to do that.
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Matthew Glaetzer (AUS) The world champion has arguably been the best sprinter over the last year, despite few appearances on the World Cup merry-go round. He’ll be the man to beat in the sprint and will be a key component of a strong team sprint line-up for Australia.
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Amalie Dideriksen (DEN) The former road race world champion ran Dutch supremo Kirsten Wild close in the omnium at the World Championships earlier this year. She has had a busy and successful road season and will be a contender.
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Neah Evans (GBR) Qualified vet Evans was the new girl in the European Championship-winning team pursuit line-up where everyone else was an Olympic gold medallist. Racing the omnium, team pursuit and Madison in France will give her another chance to prove herself.
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Kenny de Ketele (Bel) The Madison king will not be making any handslings in France, and will team with Robbe Ghys, not regular partner Moreno de Pauw, in Canada. He’ll ride the team pursuit at both meets.
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Jason Kenny (GBR)
Still on the comeback trail, Kenny hasn’t raced a whole lot since the World Championships in February, save for a few C1-level meets and a sixth in the team sprint at the European Championships. Canada should be the first time we see him hit out in anger.
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Ashton Lambie (GBR) Fresh off setting a blistering individual-pursuit world record (4.07) at altitude in August, it should be fascinating to see how he contributes to the US team pursuit line-up in Canada. At 27 he is a little older than most but only switched to track two years ago, so could go far.
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John Archibald (Huubwattbike)
CW has got word that Archibald could be something of a revelation this track season, like former team-mate Charlie Tanfield was last winter, if he’s able to replicate what he has been doing in training.
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