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Recently crowned Olympic Champions, who shattered the world Team Pursuit record in Paris, are headed for Tassie.
Connor Leahy and Oliver Bleddyn, half of the record smashing, gold medal winning quartet that restored Australia’s reputation as a team pursuit powerhouse will be racing at the iconic Tasmanian Christmas Carnival series.
The Australians made history against reigning Olympic champions Italy in the heats of the men’s team pursuit after shattering the world record in Paris by almost 2 seconds! The quartet went on to defeat Great Britain in a nail biting final that saw both teams locked together within a fraction of a second before the Aussies surged to a 2 second win.
Bleddyn made his mark after a move from Western Australia to South Australia where Australian cycling legend Brett Aitken identified him as an ‘exciting and extremely talented rider’ back in 2021 and a year later finished a very close second to childhood friend Conor Leahy at the National titles in Brisbane.
Leahy is Australia’s premier rider in the pursuit having secured five consecutive National Titles and currently holds the Australian record of 4:07.356 for the 4000m event.
More success came for Oliver earlier this year when he partnered with Blake Agnoletto to win the prestigious Bendigo Madison.
Leahy and Bleddyn will add much needed firepower to the backmarkers in their hunt for the big Wheelrace prize money and we can expect fireworks. Crowd favourites and seasoned campaigners at the Carnivals, Graeme Frislie, Kurth Eather, James Moriarty, New Zealand’s Marshall Erwood and a five man Japanese pro team will be keeping the Olympic Champions honest and are more than capable of denying the Paris Gold Medalists an easy series.
Add some serious local talent like Dalton Stretton plus a wealth of rising stars from across the State and this will be one of the most credentialed men’s fields we’ve seen for some years. Expect some furious scratch races and a edge-of-your-seat wheelrace finals.
The women’s field includes local stars like previous World Champ Lauren Perry, National Champions and international stars, but there’s also a large contingent of threatening young stars from Queensland and New Zealand that will make a Wheelrace win hard to come by.
Olympic Champions Leahy and Bleddyn will start their campaign at The Gilmore Cycling Classic criterium in Launceston on Boxing Day before heading south to Hobart on December 27th for the Bikes and Spikes then back to Launceston Cycling Carnival on the 28th, Devonport on the 29th and Burnie on the 30th with a likely appearance also at the Ulverstone Criterium on the 30th.
See https://www.tascarnivals.com.au/TheCarnivals for schedules and tickets.
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