Kelly meets Olympic rivals in Germany
Australian Cycling legend Shane Kelly, sponsored by Salta Constructions, will take to the boards in Cottbus, Germany tomorrow morning (Australian EST).
It will be Kelly's first hit out overseas, since he won a ride off against Ben Kersten to create history and make it to a record fifth Olympic Games. The four time World Champion is looking forward to blowing out the cob webs following his long fight from Australia last Saturday. "I am not expecting to set the boards alight in this event, but if good results come that's a bonus at this stage of my preparation for China".
Kelly is likely to be racing against some of the biggest names in the sport and his main rivals for Olympic glory next month. But as you'd expect from an Olympic silver and dual bronze medallist, he's taking it all in his stride. "There is nothing huge riding on this event, the big one is in Beijing, but it will be good to see how some of my rivals look out there on the track, it will be a good time to do some homework and store that away for the Olympics".
The event is being held in the old East German town of Cottbus, the venue a partly covered outdoors facility which like its surroundings, takes people back to the days when East Germany was pumping out Olympic medallists by the truck load. And while the home crowd and surroundings are certain to give the German National team a lift, they will face plenty of tough opposition in the sprint program, mainly from the English and Dutch Olympic squads as well as the Australian's.
And with the Olympics fast approaching, you can expect the some of the sports stars to not hold back as they try to send out a pre Olympic Games warning to their rivals. "The sprint program will be tough for sure, there is a lot of class here, but it's a good way to begin building up for the Olympics, I'm looking forward to getting on my bike and rolling the legs over for sure".
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