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It is a much smaller than usual Australian Cycling Team Squad for the event, with only five riders competing in four events over three days.
Georgia Baker (TAS), Annette Edmondson (SA) and Alexandra Manly (SA) lead the women’s team while Kelland O’Brien (VIC) and Lucas Plapp (VIC will be Australia’s representatives in Men’s events.
Baker and Manly will pair together in the Women’s Madison on October 23, while Melburnians O’Brien and Plapp will form the Australian duo for the Men’s Madison on October 24.
Edmondson will be the first Australian in action at STAB Velodrome in Roubaix for the Women’s omnium, which begins Friday, October 22 and finishes in the early hours of Saturday morning in Australia.
Baker will be determined to improve on her silver medal from the 2019 UCI Track World Championships when she takes to the velodrome for the Women’s Madison.
She believes her close bond with teammate Alex Manly could give them a unique upper hand over their rivals.
“To have the world stripes and colours on and a gold medal around my neck would be the dream - and especially with one of my best friends (Manly),” Baker said.
“I reckon I haven’t spent more time in my life with anyone than I’ve spent in the past six months with Alex.
“We’ve been training together and doing everything together and we can read each other really well which I think is important in the Madison – we've got a good partnership.
“We haven’t actually raced too many Madisons together. We raced one World Cup in New Zealand which was good, and we won that, but that was a couple of years ago.”
The two are so much peas in the pod, that Annette Edmondson referred to them as 'the twins' in a recent interview with SBS Cycling Central.
The World Championships will also be an opportunity for Baker to make up from a seventh-place finish in the event at the Tokyo Olympics.
“Obviously everyone was really disappointed after Tokyo and now we’re just lucky to have this opportunity to race again,” Baker said.
“I know a lot of teammates back in Australia don’t have this opportunity, so we are really thankful that we can be here.
“It’s really nice to be back on the track racing and I’m super excited for the week ahead.”
