Trio head off to world champs

BARRY HARCOURT/Southland Times

TRACK STARS: Gemma Dudley, Simon van Velthooven and Jesse Sergent are heading to the world championships in Copenhagen.

Relevant offers

Manawatu's premier cyclists departed for the world championships in Copenhagen last night, each with their own points to prove.

Levin's Gemma Dudley, Jesse Sergent and sprint specialist Simon van Velthooven are part of the 17-strong national team heading to Denmark.

Sergent will race the individual and team pursuit; the former has been controversially axed from the next Olympic programme, so it'll be a rare chance to race the event on a big stage.

Manawatu cycling guru Mike McRedmond, who coaches Sergent and van Velthooven, said Beijing bronze medallist Sergent was primed for a strong performance.

"With Jesse, obviously he's targeting the individual pursuit firstly, then the teams pursuit," McRedmond said.

"He wants to better his performance from last year where he finished fifth in the individual. He's certainly been training very well over the last three weeks."

Last year's worlds were in Poland where the New Zealand team pursuiters finished third.

Copenhagen represents an important stepping stone towards the Commonwealth Games in India in October where Sergent will race both pursuit events.

After securing a contract to the lucrative keirin series in Japan for the next two years, van Velthooven will want to show he can foot it on the world stage.

"It's going to be a massive year for Simon with the world champs and especially with the keirin," McRedmond said.

"I think with Simon, we've just seen him get better and better with every competition he competes in."

Van Velthooven went to last year's world championships, where he finished 15th in the keirin and he admitted the level of competition took him by surprise.

"I know what to expect this year," he said from Christchurch airport yesterday.

"In the keirin, I'm looking to make the final."

Six riders will make the keirin showpiece and van Velthooven said the team was happy to see some sun yesterday in the Garden City after being in Invercargill, which he described as having March weather "like a Palmerston North winter".

Van Velthooven could be a starter in the team sprint but will have to prove himself from the pool of five sprinters, a pool that includes individual stars Eddie Dawkins and Sam Webster.

Dudley, who is coached by Levin's Brian Gilbert, is making the step up to top international competition after rising to prominence in 2008 when she won four medals at the junior world championships in South Africa.

The 20-year-old will ride the omnium (over five disciplines) in Copenhagen, an event which isn't at the Commonwealth Games, but has been added to the Olympic programme for London 2012.

Competition starts on Wednesday.

- © Fairfax NZ News