GreenEDGE Cycling's strong recruiting has taken it another big step towards becoming the first Australian pro cycling team to join the UCI World Tour next year.

The team, featuring veterans Stuart O'Grady and Robbie McEwen plus the likes of young talents Matt Goss, Jack Bobridge and Cameron and Travis Meyer, has been ranked by the UCI in the top 15 teams based on the racing deeds of its roster.

The UCI released its list of the top 15 in no particular order, along with those ranked 16th to 20th who could vie for the last three spots on the tour.

However GreenEDGE still has more hoops to jump through as a newcomer seeking a licence with a final determination not expected before November 20 at the earliest.

Australian Tour de France winner Cadel Evans' powerful US-owned BMC Racing Team was an obvious inclusion in the top 15.

Basque-owned Euskaltel-Euskadi is the only team in the top 15 in the 2011 team rankings to drop out of that list, falling to the 16-20 category.

The Omega Pharma-QuickStep team moves up from 16th overall in 2011 after acquiring Omega Pharma from its Belgian rivals Lotto and hiring many of the HTC-Highroad riders, reports cyclingnews.com.

Teams in the top 15: Astana Pro Team, BMC Racing Team, Garmin Cervelo, GreenEdge Cycling Team, Katusha Team, Lampre, ISD-Liquigas- Cannondale, Lotto Cycling Project, Movistar Team, Omega Pharma Quick-Step Team, Rabobank, RadioShack-Nissan, Saxo Bank Sungard, Sky Procycling, Vacansoleil, DCM Pro Cycling Team.

Teams 16-20: AG2R La Mondiale, Geox TMC, FDJ, Euskaltel Euskadi, Team Europcar.

With just nine months to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games, Great Britain’s track cyclists have dominated the European Track Championships in the Dutch town of Apeldoorn this weekend, winning seven of the 13 gold medals on offer. The team’s success was achieved despite Sir Chris Hoy pulling out on Saturday with a chest infection, although also absent, of course, was the Australian team which will provide Britain with its stiffest opposition in London next year.

Great Britain’s men took three of the gold medals on offer in the seven men’s events, while the country's women won four of the six available to them; more pertinently in terms of London 2012, where there will only be five events for each gender, every single one of the gold medals won this weekend came in events that feature on the Olympic programme.

Friday’s opening day saw British victories in the men’s and women’s team pursuit, and in the women’s team sprint. The male quartet, who will defend Great Britain’s Olympic title in London, easily beat Denmark in the final, the same country they had defeated to win gold in Beijing. The winning time of 4:00:008 was nearly 7 seconds faster than the Danes.

Geraint Thomas, who is missing next year’s Tour de France to focus on trying to secure a second Olympic gold medal in the team pursuit, helped Great Britain qualify for the final, in which he was replaced by Team Sky colleague Peter Kennaugh, who lined up alongside Steven Burke, Ed Clancy and Andy Tennant.

In the women’s event, Dani King and Laura Trott – both in the rainbow jersey having won the world championship on this same track in March – plus Jo Rowsell, replacing Wendy Houvenaghel, beat Germany by an equally comprehensive margin in the final after a pair of false starts due to a faulty starting mechanism that caused problems throughout the opening day.

In a sign that the team is moving in the right direction ahead of London 2012, their time of 3:22.618 was 0.8 of a second quicker than the time that had been set in beating the United States to the world championship here back in the spring.

In Britain’s other gold medal winning performance of the opening day, Jess Varnish teamed up with Victoria Pendleton to win the women’s team sprint, with Ukraine taking silver, but the men’s team missed out on racing for the medals, posting the fifth fastest time as Jason Kenny suffered a slipped wheel at the start of the qualifying round. Germany prevailed over France in the final.

The 23-year-old Kenny, who is vying with four-time Olympic gold medallist Hoy for the one place available in the two individual events at London 2012, the keirin and the individual sprint, was also out of the medals on Saturday, losing the bronze medal run-off in the latter event to the Russian rider, Denis Dmitriev.

The Bolton-born rider had taken silver behind France’s Grégory Baugé here during the world championships, but it was another Frenchman, Kevin Sireau, who becomes European champion in this discipline for the third time, having previously won in 2008 and again the following year. Hoy, meanwhile, who had taken part in Friday’s team sprint competition, withdrew from the individual event after the qualifying round following a consultation with the British team’s doctor.

There was frustration, too, for Great Britain in the women’s event, with Olympic champion Pendleton, who had earlier knocked out team mate Varnish in the reperchage round, losing to Ukraine’s Lyubov Shulik in the quarter finals.

The highlight of Saturday’s racing from Great Britain’s point of view was that Ed Clancy and Laura Trott each sat in third place overnight in the men’s and women’s omnium, respectively.

Both would go on and clinch victory today in the five-event competition, a new inclusion on the Olympic programme next year, but in each case the margin of victory was very slender indeed.

Trott, who had won the elimination race on Saturday, effectively needed to beat Kirsten Wild of The Netherlands in the final event, the 500 metre time trial; by winning that event, Trott guaranteed herself gold, Wild having to settle for bronze with Tatsiana Sharakova clinching silver.

The men’s event was a much more tense affair. Clancy, 2010 world champion, won the final event, the kilo, which tied him on 33 points with France’s Bryan Coquard, but it was the British rider who won gold on countback.

Pendleton, meanwhile, clinched gold in the women’s keirin following a hard-fought competition, with France’s Clara Sanchez second and Sandie Clair third. The men’s event went to Matt Crampton, ataking his own claim for an Olympic place, with Christos Volikakis of Greece taking the silver medal and Francois Pervis of France bronze.

In the UCI World Championships on the same track in March this year, Great Britain had picked up a solitary gold medal, in the women’s team pursuit. The country also picked up two silvers and five bronzes, with British Cycling Performance Director Dave Brailsford insisting that the fact there was disappointment with the team’s performance reflected the high standards that had been set by Britain’s cyclists in recent years.

Team Sky is pleased to announce that Ian Stannard, Ben Swift and Peter Kennaugh have all re-signed with the team ahead of the 2012 season. 

Since the launch of the team two years ago the young British trio have all become highly valued and versatile members of the squad.

Stannard is now regarded as one of the strongest Classics riders in the team and claimed his first professional victory at the Tour of Austria in July. The 24-year-old from Chelmsford played a key support role for Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins at the Vuelta a Espana in August, was a member of Great Britain’s World Championship-winning road team in September, and has performed successful lead-out duties this season for the likes of Swift, Greg Henderson and Davide Appollonio. 

Kennaugh was the team’s only neo-pro during their opening campaign and has matured tremendously during his first two seasons in the professional ranks. Last year the 22-year-old Manxman earned his first Grand Tour ride at the Vuelta a Espana and this season marked himself out as a promising stage-race rider with a podium position at the Route du Sud and a top-five finish in the Tour of Poland.

After an encouraging first season, which yielded Team Sky’s first-ever overall victory at the Tour of Picardie, Swift came of age in 2011 with no less than five sprint victories during the opening five months of the season. That fine form earned the 23-year-old Yorkshireman his first Tour de France ride in July. 

Team Sky rider, Ian Stannard, said:

“I’ve learned so much from my first two seasons with Team Sky and am excited about what the future holds now I have signed this new deal. The Classics are where I want to specialise so I will be working hard to try and hit the ground running next spring. For the rest of next season I’m happy riding on the front and getting involved in the lead-outs, and if I can get in a few breakaways along the way then hopefully there could be some more victories to come.”

Team Sky rider, Peter Kennaugh, said:

“I was really happy to turn professional with Team Sky and they have given me tremendous support over the last two years. The team is the ideal place for me to continue progressing as a rider and I am delighted to be extending my contract with them.

“Next year my focus will be on chasing more results on the road, probably in some of the more testing week-long races and of course the London Olympics. Looking beyond that my ambition is to race some of the hilly one day races like the Ardennes Classics and continue to provide support in the mountain stages of Grand Tours as I did at the Giro d'Italia this year. These are really exciting times, and I am proud to be a part of one of the biggest teams in the world.”

Team Sky rider, Ben Swift, said:

“I’m delighted with the way things have gone over the last two years and am over the moon to have signed this new contract. The support the team have given me both on and off the bike has been absolutely fantastic and I just hope I can keep progressing now and win more bike races. We’re a really tight-knit group here and I’m really looking forward to seeing us push on and grow as a team.”

Team Sky Principal, Dave Brailsford, said:

“Having nurtured them on Great Britain’s Olympic Academy Programme, we knew these guys had bright futures ahead of them, and they have all fulfilled that promise, and more. It has been great to watch them flourish at the very highest level of the sport and we are delighted that they have chosen to stay with the team. I have no doubt at all that these riders will go from strength-to-strength in the future and we will continue to give them all the support they need to fulfil their massive potential.”

The 22-year-old ACT-based rider finished second at the top of Arthurs Seat behind stage four winner, Russian Egor Silin from the Katusha team.

But more importantly, the former mountain biker finished just ahead of higher-profile compatriot Jack Bobridge (Garmin).

By withstanding Bobridge's attempts to drop him on the final climb of the epic stage, Haas took the overall race lead with only one stage left.

The star climber for the Tasmanian-based Genesys team now leads Bobridge by 10 seconds heading into Sunday's criterium at the Lygon St restaurant strip in Melbourne.

Only a disaster will stop Haas winning the tour for the first time.

Haas, who also leads the young rider and sprint categories, was in tears at the finish as he hugged family members and team-mates.

"It's pretty awesome - to be honest, I'm just trying to stay pragmatic about it because there's another stage tomorrow, so it's not finished," said Haas.

"I feel as if I showed something today, so whatever happens tomorrow, I feel as if I've come away with a good win inside."

Adding lustre to Haas' triumph, he has overcome ProTour teams such as Bobridge's Garmin squad and Saxo Bank.

Haas only became a full-time cyclist this year and he has starred in domestic racing, winning the Tours of Gippsland, Geelong and Tasmania in the Scody Cup series.

He was in a group of six riders, also featuring Bobridge, who took control of the tour in the first stage.

Heading into stage four, Haas was second overall at 15 seconds behind compatriot Rhys Pollock (Drapac).

Saturday's decisive 131.6km stage from Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula featured three circuits of the tough 3km Arthurs Seat climb, with the last two coming at the end.

Thousands of fans lined the climb, which is set to become an annual feature of the tour.

Apart from the tough climbs, the riders also had to deal with strong winds around the course and occasional rain.

Pollock was dropped on the second climb and it came down to Haas and Bobridge on the last climb to decide the race lead.

Bobridge, who started the stage sixth overall at 23 seconds, had said on Friday that Haas was his biggest threat.

Bobridge's loftier international status meant Haas was the underdog on Saturday, but the Genesys rider was rock solid.

"I gave it everything I had and I couldn't get rid of him, he was way too strong - he's a classy bike rider," Bobridge said.

Haas' performance this week will fuel speculation that he will soon sign a contract with a bigger international team.

Australian Matt Lloyd, racing again after a seven-month break, was the favourite to win the stage.

He lost contact on the final climb and finished 18th at 39 seconds, but was pleased with his performance.

Meanwhile, Victorian Lisa Jacobs won stage four of the Honda Hybrid women's tour, which featured one climb of Arthurs Seat.

Jacobs leads Queenslander Loren Rowney by four seconds with the Lygon St criterium to come.

Team Sky is delighted to announce that Mathew Hayman and Chris Sutton have both signed new contracts ahead of the 2012 season. 

Newly crowned Paris-Bourges champion Hayman has long been recognised as one of pro cycling’s strongest riders and is a key domestique for Team Sky. Hayman’s wealth of classics experience saw him achieve a podium place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in February and the Australian also helped Sutton win Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne 24 hours later.

Sutton has shown himself to be one of Team Sky’s strongest sprinters over the last two seasons. He started this season strongly, with his win at Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne. That was followed by his maiden Grand Tour stage win in Playas de Orihuela at the Vuelta a Espana in August.  Last week saw the Australian secure a stage win on his way to third overall at the Circuit Franco-Belge. During his two seasons with Team Sky, Sutton and has also celebrated victories at both the Brixia Tour and Tour Down Under.

Mathew Hayman, Team Sky rider, said:

“When I came to Team Sky I knew that I was joining something new and innovative, it has been a privilege to be able to be a part of this new team that has aimed so high and is always trying to set new standards.

“I am very much looking forward to the next two years and building on the start we have made. The team is full of talented riders and part of my role is to help those guys get the most out of themselves, as well as myself.

“The cobbled classics are close to my heart, I feel like I am close to making a breakthrough in one of these races, the team has been supportive of my ambitions in this area and I would love to repay that support with a win. I will also endeavour to make the Tour de France team because it is every rider’s ambition to be part of the biggest race in the world.”

Chris Sutton, Team Sky rider, said:

“To sign a new contract with Team Sky is amazing. I am so happy here and have learned so much from the riders and coaches over the last two years. Their input has allowed me to improve every aspect of my riding and I'm looking forward to progressing further in the future.

“It's like a big happy family here and I've made some really close friends. On the road we've also clicked a lot more this season that's been reflected with the number of race wins we've achieved. We're only going to get better over the next few seasons as well and that's really exciting to be part of.”

Dave Brailsford, Team Sky Principal, said:

“Mathew’s win this week at Paris-Bourges underlined his huge talent as a rider and he has continued to show all season why he is one of the most respected riders in the peloton. His strength, stamina and leadership are second to none and we are delighted that he has seen Team Sky as the best environment to continue his career.

“CJ is one of the most exciting sprint prospects in professional cycling. His stage win during this summer’s Vuelta was typical of his talent. He is a rider that is reaching the pinnacle of his career and we expect him to go from strength-to-strength over the next two seasons at Team Sky.”

Team RadioShack’s Robbie McEwen seems to like the races in the French speaking part of Belgium. After winning a stage in this year’s Tour de Wallonie, he won today’s opening stage of the Circuit Franco-Belge (or Tour de Wallonie Picarde), a four-day stage race around the Belgian-French border. In a mass sprint he was clearly faster than last year’s overall winner Adam Blyth (Omega Pharma – Lotto) and Rüdiger Selig (Leopard Trek).

“My teammates brought me in a perfect position,”  explained Robbie McEwen (39). “Sky was pulling for Russell Downing. Behind their trio of Sutton, Henderson and Downing, Blyth was there with his teammate Vandousselaere.  I was in the wheel of Blyth who accelerated. I could easily go around him and his teammate. My sprint was very regular, no explosiveness, but I continuously accelerated.  I had to as the last 150 meters were really uphill. I could keep up my pace and won quite easily. This makes me happy. My third victory of the seaon.”

“It is always a pleasure to work with Robbie McEwen,” said Team Director Dirk Demol. “Despite his age that lends to less explosiveness, he never gives up and is always fighting for his position. He is an example for all other riders. The team also believed in him and worked a lot for him.”

“With Sam Bewley, Michal Kwiatkowski and Gregory Rast I still had three teammates with me,” continued McEwen. “Rast and Kwiatkowski brought me through the last kilometer and then Kwiatkowski guided me to the 6th position to start the sprint. An ideal situation for me.”

The first stage from Mouscron to Péruwelz started very fast. The average speed the first hour of the race was more than 50 k/h. After that, three riders (Ronan Van Zandbeek (Skil-Shimano), David Lelay (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Jonathan Dewitte (Wallonie Bruxelles-Crédit Agricole)) managed to stay away from the peloton but were finally caught in the local laps.

Robbie McEwen starts tomorrow in the yellow leader’s jersey in stage 2 to Poperinge. “The overall victory is not the main objective here as we came for stage wins, but you never know. Most important is that I get ready for Paris-Tours, my last objective of the season.”

Result Stage 1: Mouscron-Péruwelz, 178.2 km
1 Robbie McEwen (Team RadioShack) 4:03:18;  2 Adam Blyth;  3 Rüdiger Selig;  4 Nacer Bouhanni;  5 Michael Van Staeyen;  6 Sep Vanmarcke;  7 Tom Veelers;  8 Russell Downing;  9 Koen de Kort;  10 Nikolas Maes

General Classification after Stage 1:
1 Robbie McEwen (Team RadioShack) 4:03:18;  2 Adam Blyth 00:04;  3 Ronan van Zandbeek;  4 Rüdiger Selig 00:06;  5 David Lelay 0:07;  6 Arnaud Gérard 0:09;  7 Nacer Bouhanni 0:10;  8 Michael Van Staeyen;  9 Sep Vanmarcke;  10 Tom Veelers

Canberra's Chloe Hosking has enjoyed a promising world championship debut with sixth place in the elite women's road race in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The 20 year old mixed it up with her more experienced rivals in the bunch sprint to decide the title but it was defending champion Giorgia Bronzini of Italy who triumphed on the uphill drag to the line.

She completed the 140 kilometre course in a time of 3:21:28 to edge out Marianne Vos (NED) who won in 2006 but since then has been a perennial bridesmaid with five straight silver medals. Germany's Ina Teutenberg was third.

Hosking, who rides with pro team HTC - Highroad, says she's happy with her result and that she managed to avoid crashing during the perilous last lap.

"I was just hoping to stay upright. There were crashes left, right an centre coming down the back straight," said Hosking. "It was fast and it was dodgy but I came away with a sixth at my first world championships so I'm happy."

As has been the case with the previous races the medals have been decided in a frantic dash to the line.

"I was hoping that on that last little kick up it would break into a smaller group but it didn't and I think, you've seen in the last few races it's such a fast course. To stay away is not so easy," said Hosking. "We never wanted to do a lead out train it was more of a sit in, protect yourself and if the girls could, if they still had it in their legs, fire missiles and see if they it would string it out.

Cycling Australian women's road coach, Martin Barras, says the team performance augers well for next year.

"When you look at where our team has been that is our best result for the last few years," said Barras. "I am not going to go and get overly excited with a sixth place, (but) the fact is it comes from a young girl it is a step in the right direction especially heading into the Olympics."

Meanwhile Amanda Spratt, team captain on the road for the Australian women, was one of those who came down in the last lap but recovered to finish the race, albeit more than two minutes after the leaders.

"The crash happened with a couple of k's (kilometres) to go, it was getting hectic in the finish but I'm fine and I crossed the line," Spratt said. "It was pretty chaotic. A flat course and it went so quickly. We had to be really attentive and up the front and I think we did a good job of that.

"The plan today was to be patient throughout the day and wait for the last few laps which we tried to do but nothing was sticking so in the end we put Chloe up for the sprint and she was sixth so a good result for the team."

Earlier in the day the junior men's road race was won by Frenchman Pierre-Henri le Cuisinier ahead of Belgian Martijn Degreve and Dutchman Steven Lammertink. Australia's best placed finisher was Calvin Watson who was 16th.

The 2011 UCI Road World Championships wrap up tomorrow with the 266km elite men's road race.

Australian Cyclones - 2011 UCI Road World Championships

(TT - Time Trial, RR - Road Race) 

Meanwhile the rider who has been the Sky No1 since the start of the race, Bradley Wiggins, lost 39 seconds on both men, effectively ending his challenge for the overall title, although the Olympic champion remains in third overall. It was a reversal of fortunes that was not entirely surprising, given that Froome had been the stronger of the two Sky men on the race's toughest mountain-top finish at the Alto de L'Angliru on Sunday.

Froome finished only a single second ahead of Cobo on top of the short, brutal ascent but he earned a 20-second deduction in the overall standings thanks to a time bonus awarded to the stage winner. After putting Cobo under immense pressure in the final 1500m, the Sky rider looked to have failed when the Spaniard caught and passed him but he had the presence of mind and reserve of strength to take the inside line on the final corner, yards before the finish line on the top of the hill, catching the race leader by surprise. Cobo also gained a time bonus, 12 seconds for finishing just behind Froome, but with further bonuses available before Sunday's finish in Madrid, and more hills in the next three days in the Basque Country, the suspense is set to last to the end.

It was surprising that the Kenya-born Froome was able to think clearly, given the intensity of his initial attack on the steepest section of the climb, which rears up at one-in-five in the final part. It had taken him around 15 seconds to dislodge Cobo, who initially marked the Sky man's pace, before Froome opened a gap of about 15 bike lengths entering the final kilometre and briefly raised the prospect that he might deprive the Spaniard of the race lead in front of his home crowd.

But Cobo sensibly opted to ride at his own pace, gradually closing the gap and eventually looking as if he might be able to take the stage. Instead Froome rode to the finest win of a career that began in mountain biking in South Africa, where he was brought up, and then saw him turn to the road with the Barloworld team in 2008, when he took British nationality.

"That was indescribable," Froome said after the finish. "It was one of the hardest days on the bicycle of my life. It was the last mountain-top finish and both Bradley and myself came into the stage trying to do as much as we could. But as you could see, Cobo was so strong."

His performance on Wednesday is bound to prompt questions about Sky's decision to use him to set the pace on several occasions during Wiggins's tenure of the red leader's jersey, the more so as Froome had finished ahead of his leader in the race's only individual time trial, on stage 10. He finished second to the German Tony Martin, 23 seconds ahead of Wiggins, which was enough to put him in the race lead before he ceded the red jersey to Wiggins on a mountain-top finish 48 hours later.

The last Briton to contend for overall honours in the Vuelta, Robert Millar, said that he wondered about Sky's tactics. "They've stuck with Brad as team leader because he has the pedigree and the proven successes but there is the question Froome's performance raises of what if the tactics had been different. What if they had used him differently, for example the day Bradley took over the red jersey [stage 11] and Froome did a massive amount of work despite being race leader because that's been the only occasion where he lost any time to his team leader."

Tour of Spain Stage 17 (Faustino V – Pena Cabarga, 211 km) results

1. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) 4:52:38"; 2. Juan-José Cobo (Sp/Geox) +1"; 3. Bauke Mollema (Neth/Rabobank) +21"; 4. Daniel Martin (Irel/Garmin) +24"; 5. Igor Anton (Sp/Euskaltel) +27"; 6. Mikel Nieve (Sp/Euskaltel); 7. Marzio Bruseghin (It/Movistar) +29"; 8. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel/Omega Pharma – Lotto) +31"; 9. Denis Menchov (Rus/Geox); 10. Benat Intxausti (Sp/Movistar) +35"

Second behind the HTC-Highroad rider in the small bunch sprint that decided the 158.2 km mountainous stage was Italy's Eros Capecchi, with Spain's Dani Moreno in third.

Albasini was part of a 27 man breakaway that took off in the first hour of racing. Wiggins finished in the main pack around one minute 30 behind.

The Tour of Spain finishes on Sept. 11 in Madrid.