Joe Truman gets England sprint spot for Commonwealth Games

The Gold Coast 2018 programme includes track cycling, para-cycling (track), road cycling and mountain bike, with Team England competing across all cycling disciplines.

Truman, from Petersfield, will race in the track sprint and is part of the 27-strong squad of riders who will represent Team England in Australia.

The Commonwealth Games starts on Wednesday, April 4 and finishes on Sunday, April 15.

Team Leader Keith Reynolds said: ‘Our 27-strong team of riders will represent Team England across all the cycling disciplines at these Commonwealth Games.

‘There is a lot of experience within the squad, with 14 riders having an Olympic, Paralympic or world championship medal to their name. Equally, there are riders for whom this event will play an important role as part of their development, and it’s great we can offer this to younger riders on the World Class Performance Programme as well as to non-programme riders.

‘We’re happy with the team we’ve selected and there are some exciting prospects across the board, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the team gets on at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.’

Team England Chef de Mission Sarah Winckless said: ‘This is a really busy time of year for our cycling teams with the spring classics on the road, the world cup season starting for the mountain bikers and the world championships on the track so I’m delighted we are taking such a strong team to the Commonwealth Games.

‘England has a long history in cycling at the Commonwealth Games having won over 100 medals. I’m hopeful this team will be able to add to that tally for team and country in just a few weeks time.’

Truman is one of 14 members of the Great Britain Cycling Team who successfully competed at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn last week, including the recently crowned world champions Emily Nelson, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Hayter and Kian Emadi. Emadi, along with Phil Hindes, won the silver medal in the Team Sprint in Glasgow 2014 and they both bring Commonwealth experience to a team developing on its journey towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.