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Worlds: Australian Team

Worlds teams are coming in thick and fast now, with the Cyclones (ugh) Aussies having announced their teams for the Champs!

Men's RR:

Simon Clarke
Allan Davis
Simon Gerrans
Heinrich Haussler
Michael Matthews
Richie Porte
Michael Rogers
David Tanner

Men's TT:

Luke Durbridge
Cameron Meyer

Women's RR:

Tiffany Cromwell
Gracie Elvin
Shara Gillow (and the TT)
Jessie Maclean
Rachel Neylan
Loren Romney
Amanda Spratt

More after the jump

U/23 Men's RR :

Nick Aitken
Rohan Dennis (TT)
Michael Freiberg
Daniel Howson (TT)
Jay McCarthy
Adam Phelan

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Good teams all around I think. They wont be one of the outright favourites but I think the Aussie Men have brought a strong team to contest what should be an undulating course. They have Simon Gerrans as their main leader, who's got some impressive form coming out of the Canadian races. With Clarke, Rogers and Porte there are guys who are more than capable of handling the terrain. They've brought 3 "quicks" in Matthews, Haussler and Davis so should there be a group sprint they have that covered too. Adam Hansen is more than good enough as the jack-of-all-trades domestique. Tanner may be one flying under the radar but he's coming into some Autumn classic form, which is why you think he was selected. Who would miss out on the Time Trial would always be tough but the Sky boys may have said they're too stuffed (ala Wiggo) and are happy to help dom in the RR. Regardless Durbridge has be excellent in his first season as a pro and Meyer is an accomplished TTer so you would expect them to target the podium.

I'm honestly not too sure about the women, others may have a better idea than I. They may be riding for Neylan? From what I can see, they're set up to be figuring in the breaks, so I'm going to expect a lot of aggressive riding to have at least someone in every move.

U/23 race may have a lot of variables too, expect something from McCarthy who did ok at L'Avenir early on and Dennis who is riding at Garmin next season. I'm hoping Phelan does well too, representing the local teams and Freiberg has been skirting the pro ranks for a couple of years now so he will be a strong asset.

Your thoughts?

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Photo: Mogens Engelund via upload.wikimedia.org