Team England has announced a young squad to tackle the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia in April. The team will consist of 27 riders across the track, road cycling, para-cycling and mountain biking disciplines.
Defending champion Geraint Thomas will not be present to defend his road title due to racing Paris-Roubaix however the men's road team will have a mixture of experience provided by Adam Blythe, Tom Stewart and Ian Bibby and youth through Harry Tanfield.
The women's road team will contain multiple time-trial National Champion Hayley Simmonds with Melissa Lowther and Abigail Van Twisk also in the team.
Team England's most exciting team attending the Gold Coast will be its women's mountain bike team. Olympian Annie Last will join under 23 World Champion Evie Richards in the hunt for gold.
In the para-cycling, Sophie Thornhill and pilot Helen Scott will be looking to defend their Glasgow 2014 title in the tandem track events.
The track team will also be looking for gold on the Gold Coast, and will include five recent World Champions in the shape of Emily Nelson, Dan Bigham, Charlie Tanfield, Ethan Hayter and Kian Emadi. The quintet headline a wider team of 14 that will take to the boards.
Speaking on the Games, Blythe spoke of his excitement to represent England.
'I’m proud to have been selected for the Commonwealth Games this year and of being able to represent my country. The road race course looks pretty challenging but I feel in good form at the moment and myself and the rest of the team are looking forward to getting stuck into the race.'
Team England team for the Commonwealth Games
Lauren Bate
Ian Bibby
Daniel Bigham
Adam Blythe
Frazer Clacherty
Eleanor Dickson
Kian Emadi
Ethan Hayter
Philip Hindes
Emily Kay
Annie Last
Chris Latham
Melissa Lowther
Katy Marchant
Emily Nelson
Ryan Owens
Rebecca Raybould
Evie Richards
Helen Scott
Hayley Simmonds
Thomas Stewart
Charlie Tanfield
Harry Tanfield
Sophie Thornhill
Joseph Truman
Abigail Van Twisk
Oliver Wood