Windies vs World cycle classic rides off

But Newsday was told that for track events, Alves will be replaced by new boy Winzy Mohammed. Mohammed has been a consistent Category One cyclist for the past few years and organisers feel he will be useful.

The quartet joins road race King, Tobagonian Emile Abraham and the powerful Elijah Greene on the West Indies team as they face off against the International contingent which will be led by Germans Jan Van Eigden and Mathias John for today’s opening 14-lap showdown around the Queen’s Park Savannah from 7 pm.

Van Eigden comes with an impressive record, being the 2000 match-sprint champion and was third at the World Championship Games in the United States earlier this year.

His countryman Mathias John is the German kilo and sprint champion and has won numerous medals on the World Cup circuit.

The duo will ride on local soil for the first time later today, but will have the support of a number of equally talented cyclists for the series, which will run until May 8 at different venues across Trinidad and Tobago.

Scotland’s Craig M Lean, the Sydney Olympic medallist and 8th place finisher at the World Championship in the Kerin also intends to make his presence felt tonight along with countryman James McCallum.

Peter Jacques the English sprint star is familiar with local conditions, having ridden here for the past 11 years. He will have his partner, compatriot Johnathan Norfolk by his side when the starting gun goes off tonight.

But Italian Roberto Chiappa will probably instill the most fear in his opponents before the start.

He is the 32nd-time Match-sprint champion of the European giants and brings with him the skill that local riders will not only be mindful of, but will want to learn.

The riders will all converge in front of TGI Friday at the Sav-annah for the first of a number of meetings between the regional team and the international contingent. American television network SkySports will also be on hand filming the 14-lap ride, and will televise it along with a series of other events to billions of viewers world-wide at a date to be announced. Michael Phillips, the former national cyclist turn promoter said recently, local riders will have the advantage of "home court," since the venues used here are much larger than the international venues used abroad.

The West Indies team will be led by Barbadian Barry Forde, the two-time Olympic medallist who will team-up with Cubans Junior Alvarez, Yosmany Poll and Florencio Perez.

The trio have given a sterling performance at the recent Southern Games at Guaracara Park, Pointe-A-Pierre, last month.

Jamaica’s Neil Samuel will partner the trio on the team, along with Guyana’s Junior Niles, another equally talented cyclist. The regional cyclists are all familiar with the scheduled venues for competition and will be hoping to utilise that advantage from tonight.