British Cycling announce the 2012 World Champs team and it’s massive!

21 riders will travel to Leogang for the 2012 Mountainbike World Championships, it would be awesome in this Olympic year if we came away with a bag full of goldie looking medals!

DHI

Elite Men
Danny Hart
Gee Atherton
Josh Bryceland
Marc Beaumont
Matt Simmonds
Joe Smith
Sam Dale
Steve Peat
Reserve: Brendan Fairclough

Elite Women
Rachel Atherton
Manon Carpenter
Tracy Moseley

Junior Men
Jono Jones
George Gannicott
Joe Connell
Fraser McGlone
Phil Atwill
Mike Jones

Junior Women
Tahnee Seagrave

4X
Men
Scott Beaumont

Women
Katy Curd

Will Longden ,DH Team Manager for World Champs, explained the situation with Danny Hart and Brendan as reserve rider:

“GB gets 7 Elite men places plus Danny Hart for World Champs as he is defending Champion. SO injured or not he doesn’t take a place away from anyone else. The situation with Brendan is he will be be registered as the first reserve for the team. This means if any of the selected elite men are unable to compete, he will fill their position. This is with the exception of Danny Hart who cannot be replaced as defending Champion, wether he can compete or not. The reserve rider can only replace one of the other riders up to the point that the team is signed on at registration at the Championships. Once the event begins we cannot for example replace a rider that is injured in practice.”

We’re hoping that Danny Hart will be 100% recovered from his shoulder injury to defend his World Champs jersey.

The official word:

British Cycling has announced the team selected to represent GB in the DH and 4X races at the 2012 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, which takes place in Leogang, Austria, from August 28th to September 2nd 2012.

The team will include seven previous World Champions, showing strength in depth and a wealth of experience in International competition for the team. The selection of six junior men is also an encouraging sign that there is a healthy pool of young talent being nurtured through the British Downhill Series and individual coaching initiatives up and down the country.

Downhill Coordinator for British Cycling, Will Longden said: “The elite team speaks for itself, World Champions, World Cup winners and consistent performers throughout. The junior riders are an exciting prospect, it’s been a few years since we had so many juniors in one season all capable of a BDS win and qualifying for World Cup finals. They will also have the benefit of a training camp at Leogang next week with myself and coaches, to help them get the best possible preparation for the Championships. It’s hopefully the start of an exciting time for the development of young DH and 4X riders through the support of British Cycling.”