Record Entry Level for the Last Manchester World Cup

A record total of 274 entries are heading to Manchester for the final round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup on 23^rd – 25^th February 2007.

36 countries plus 11 trade teams will compete in three spectacular days of racing and that all adds up to a record for the event in the UK. The field is liberally studded with Olympic and World Champions amongst the men’s and women’s teams. The competitors will fight it out for World Cup medals and world championship qualification.

Double Olympic champion Ryan Bayley arrives in the UK plus Australian team mates Mark French and Daniel Ellis to equal a formidable force in the men’s team sprint to compete with the British, Dutch and French teams. Bayley took gold in the men’s sprint and Keirin events in the Athens Olympics and knows the Manchester track well after he won two gold medals in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.  Bradley McGee rides the men’s individual pursuit on Friday in preference to the team pursuit where he struck gold in the Athens Olympics and faces Britain’s Bradley Wiggins in the process.

The weekend event adds Australian sisters Kerrie and Anna Meares together for the women’s team sprint and divides them again for the sprint and Keirin. Olympic 500m time trial champion Anna improved on the world record she set in Athens on her way to victory in the same event in the Australian round of the World Cup as well as winning the sprint and team sprint on home soil.

Dutch sprint star and new 200m time trial record holder Theo Bos looks to cover all the angles in the men’s Keirin and sprint events before teaming up with compatriots Teun Mulder and Tim Veldt in the men’s team sprint. Willy Kanis is one of three Dutch women travelling to the UK. Kanis is among a number of competitors on the track who made a successful transition from BMX riding where she won the Elite Women’s World Championship in 2005.

German entries include Stefan Nimke who won the Olympic gold on the track with the men’s team sprinters. Less than half a second divided first to fourth in the men’s team sprint at the Los Angeles World Cup round and Germany will be keen to subtract a few tenths of second on their time to move into a medal position.

Arnaud Tournant takes the short trip from France to ride the men’s sprint and team sprint events. The current altitude 1km time trial record holder won’t be competing against Britain’s Chris Hoy in this event at Manchester. Hoy hopes to take Tournant’s record in Bolivia in May and it will be interesting to see the pair competing in other events at Manchester.

The points, scratch and Madison bunched events are never disappointing where tactics and bravery can multiply your chances of victory. Britain’s Junior Road Race Champion Russell Hampton emerged victorious from the Los Angeles round of the world cup in the men’s scratch race. British riders Rob Hayles, Gerraint Thomas, Chris Newton, Paul Manning, Ben Swift and Ed Clancy all feature in the endurance races. Hong Kong’s Kam-Po Wong rides the scratch race buoyed by his victory in the recent Asia Games road race.

Don’t miss out in seeing the world’s best track cyclists competing in an action packed weekend at the Manchester Velodrome starting on Friday with the men's kilo time trial, scratch race, Keirin and individual pursuit and women's sprint and points races.

Tickets are still available for the event. Full details can be found on www.worldtrackcycling.com which includes a link directly to the Ticketmaster event page or you can call the dedicated ticket hotline on + 44 (0) 871 230 2621.