Australian track champion Anna Meares and 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans have both been named as a contenders for the prestigious international Laureus Sportsperson of the The Year Awards.

Meares, who this year won three gold medals at the World Track Cycling Championships in Holland, joins an impressive line-up of stars, named by organisers as those who could make the shortlist for the prize which is announced in February.

The 28-year-old Queenslander is alongside the likes Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and British swimming champ Rebecca Adlington, in the running for the women's award which recognises sporting achievement throughout 2011.

"In 2008, Meares suffered a bad accident at the World Cup when she broke her neck, but she fought back and qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where she won a silver medal in the Individual Sprint," a statement from Laureus said in recognition of the Australian's hard work.

Last month Meares won Australian cycling people's choice award ahead of Cadel Evans, following her gong as the Australian Institute of Sport athlete of the year.

Australian cyclist of the year Evans was also named on the long list of contenders in the highly competitive men's category for his Tour de France victory, alongside athletes like fellow Australian and World MotoGP Champion Casey Stoner, Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia, and FIFA world footballer of the year, Argentina's Lionel Messi.

Six nominees for the award will be named on December 15 before the winner, as voted by a panel of 47, is announced during a ceremony in London on February 6.

A former hand-cycle athlete who lost her chance at Paralympic gold when she regained the use of her legs has been selected to compete on a professional cycling team.

Dutch athlete Monique van der Vorst, 27, became paralysed from the waist down at 14 years old when routine ankle surgery to help her walk properly caused nerve damage.

Having only just started to get into cycling, she decided to try hand-cycling instead and went on to win two silver medals at the 2008 Paralympic Games.

But her career took a major twist in March last year during training in Majorca, Spain, for the 2012 Paralympics.

After being injured in a crash with another cyclist her feet started moving again — first one, then the other.

During rehabilitation her legs began to work, and by November last year she was walking.

"The sudden change of standing after being in a wheelchair is indescribable because suddenly the whole world has a different perspective," she told The Independent.

"It is really nice walking next to someone and being able to look straight into that person's eyes."

Van der Vorst went back to cycling again and her determination and spirit soon caught the eye of Holland's Rabobank cycling team, which this week named her on its new 11-member women's team set to compete for the first time next year.

Team spokesman Luuc Eisenga said her story seemed "like a miracle".

"When we met Monique, we saw an athlete with incredible willpower and the right mentality for sport," Mr Eisenga said.

"She has a really good level in cycling and we believe we can help her develop as a professional bike rider."

And asked if she might make it to the Olympics, he said: "In sport, everything is possible."

The British cyclist Damien Sharp has been banned for two years following a positive out-of-competition test for the performance-enhancing substance EPO.

UK Anti-Doping says Sharp, 36, tested positive on 17 July at an event organised by the Bermuda Bicycle Association. The United States Anti-Doping Agency was also involved in the operation.

The UK Anti-Doping chief executive, Andy Parkinson, said the action was taken "through the collaborative work of three national anti-doping organisations", adding that the ban "underlines that the fight against doping in sport is being fought on a global level".

Sharp waived his right to a hearing and accepted the ban, which ends on 17 August 2013.

Tour Down Under race director Mike Turtur said on Tuesday that Rabobank's line-up would feature 2005 winner Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain and Australian trio Graeme Brown, Michael Matthews and new signing Mark Renshaw.

Renshaw, who made his name in world cycling with HTC-Highroad in recent seasons as the key lead-out man for English sprinter Mark Cavendish, has joined Rabobank for 2012 to press for race wins.

The 2012 Tour Down Under will run from January 15-22.

Eight-time world champion Anna Meares says next year's track cycling world titles in Melbourne hold special significance ahead of the London Olympics.

The world championships will be held from April 4 to 8 and are the final qualification opportunity ahead of the Games, with 350 competitors from 40 countries entered.

Meares and 2011 keirin world champion Shane Perkins today launched the ticket program, riding bikes on rollers on the glass platform at Eureka Skydeck, almost 300 metres above the ground.

Meares said she sees the championships as the opportunity to get a mental and physical edge over her rivals, notably arch foe Britain's Victoria Pendleton.

"It's not just the psychological advantage but it's that self-confidence, that team morale that we need to keep the team rolling through to the London Games," Meares said.

"The London Olympics are going to be really difficult because the British are on their home turf, they're formidable opponents."

Meares said world championship success had historically translated into Olympic gold medals.

At the Beijing Olympics, seven of the 10 gold medals were won by world champions.

"The 2008 world championships, pre the Beijing Olympics, was held in Manchester and we saw the British team dominate at both; the pre-Athens world championships was held here in Melbourne, and we saw the Australian cycling team dominate at those Olympics.

"What we're hoping is to get that momentum because it's going to be key for us, given the challenge we face against a very strong British team on their home turf."

Meares won three world titles this March in Appeldoorn in the Netherlands, which was dominated by the Australian team.

She can add a fourth in Melbourne.

Meares decided not to contest the 500m time trial this year as it preceded her Olympic events, however next year, it has been scheduled last.

She and Pendleton are the only two female cyclists to have won three titles at a world championships.

The 28-year-old will go into the London Olympics - her third - finally carrying the tag of favourite.

She was only a rookie when she claimed gold in Athens in the time trial (since abandoned as an Olympic event) and then fought back to recover from a broken neck and dislocated shoulder to win silver behind Pendleton in the sprint in 2008 in Beijing.

"I'm so excited the world titles are in Melbourne because, before my first Olympics, when I was only 20, Melbourne held the world titles and that was where I won my first world title so it's a great memory."

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) 

Jack Bobridge and Richie Porte have secured a second starting place for Australia in the time trial at next year's Olympic Games after both finished in the top six today at the 2011 UCI Road World Championships in Denmark.

The first starting position is secured through nation ranking but the additional place was determined by today's race results.

Germany's Tony Martin produced a phenomenal ride at an average speed of 51.8km/h to post a winning time of 53:43.85. He was a minute and 15 seconds faster than Great Britain's Brad Wiggins while four time world champion, Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, was a further five seconds slower in third place.

Bobridge was the 2009 under 23 time trial world champion but today was his debut in the elite team. He covered the course in a time of 55:57.71 to be fifth fastest while team mate Richie Porte, who was fourth last year, stopped the clock at 56:13.39 for sixth place.

Bobridge went out hard and fast early posting the third best times at both the 10.8km and 16.2km splits.

"I always get sucked into that going in a bit hard. I tried to control the first lap but it was my first one and to run fifth I'm over the moon, it's fantastic," said Bobridge. "I left nothing at all in the tank, left it all out on the road. I can't remember a time trial that hasn't hurt but that one definitely hurt a lot."

In February Bobridge set the four kilometre pursuit world record at the Australian championships and a month later won gold in both the individual and team pursuit finals at the track world championships in the Netherlands. But today was his first time trial over this distance.

"To get in there and get my first one done is fantastic.... this is the longest one I've ever done," he said. "I can take a lot out of today and study it. There's a lot of room for improvement. I'm only 22 so I've got a few years to improve on it as well and get stronger.

"It was definitely a real power course into a headwind. I look at those guys (the medallists) and how many seasons they have under them, how old they are and their experience and I'm just really happy to be amongst all those guys," said Bobridge. "(My result) It surprised me and I surprised some others as well."

26-year-old Porte was slower in the early kilometres but finished strongly and agrees the course was tailor made for strong, power riders.

"I would have loved a couple more climbs in there but it is what it is," said Porte. "To be honest I was expecting a little more but I can't really complain. Tony (Martin) was in a world of his own.

"Congrats to Jack, he's had an interrupted season and to come out and pull fifth - I think we're young and a little more inexperienced than those guys.

"Sixth in the world is pretty good. No excuses but I just wasn't quite on my game today," said Porte. "It's been a long season and it's nearly over so I'll come back next year and do a little better."

The 2011 UCI Road World Championships are being staged in Copenhagen, Denmark from 19 to 25 September 2011.

Thursday is a competition rest day before racing resumes on Friday with the junior women's and under 23 men's road races.

“The guys did a really good job staying in the front and keeping myself and Manuel Cardoso out of the wind and up where we needed to be,” explained a happy McEwen after a fast stage with the finish in Mouscron. “Towards the end and in the final, Bjørn Selander did a good job for me, keeping me in position and out of the wind and following my instructions right until the last 1.5 kilometer where I took Bennati’s wheel on the lead out of Leopard-Trek. I was originally going to pull the sprint for Cardoso since the team worked for me yesterday and it didn’t work out.  But I was in the perfect position and Manuel lost some positions at the crucial moment, so we had to cut to plan B. That plan was pretty good.”

Team director Viatcheslav Ekimov agreed.  “I see a very motivated Team RadioShack in this race. There is no pressure but they all want to show something. The team has to leave behind the bad luck we had in the Tour de France. Earlier this week Ben Hermans was already close to a stage victory too. This is nice.”

Robbie McEwen is a triple winner of the Tour de France's green jersey sprinter’s classification. He has twelve stage wins in the Tour the France, another twelve in the Tour of Italy, plus five wins in Paris-Brussels. This season he aims to win the rainbow jersey for Team RadioShack at the World Championships in Copenhagen in September.

“I didn’t see much of the Tour de France as I was concentrated on my own training,” continued McEwen. “I just trained at home easy for a week, then I went to the South of France and trained a lot in the hills. Just four hours a day, medium tempo, just building up my condition. A week before this race, back in Belgium I trained in the hills of the Flemish Ardennes and planned to used this Tour de Wallonie to get some rhythm back again. Apparently I found my rhythm quite quickly. This is promising for the next couple of months. I am still very ambitious.  Since the beginning of the season the World Championships in Copenhagen is a big objective. I think I can do a big preparation by doing this race and races like Eneco Tour, Hamburg, Plouay and Fourmies. I just need to be selected now. Hopefully that will be the case.”

Result Stage 4: Engien-Mouscron, 151.6 km
1 Robbie McEwen (Team RadioShack) 3:21:53;  2 Alexander Kristoff;  3 Yauheni Hutarovich;  4 Michael Van Staeyen;  5 Kenny Dehaes;  6 Kristof Goddaert;  7 Jonas Vangenechten;  8 Greg Van Avermaet;  9 Daniele Bennati;  10 Joost van Leijen

General Classification after four stages:
1 Greg Van Avermaet 17:30:08;  2 Joost van Leijen;  3 Ben Hermans (Team RadioShack) 0:16;  4 Nikolay Trusov 0:17;  5 Michal Golas 0:20;  6 Edwig Cammaerts;  7 Thomas Degand;  8 Bert De Waele;  9 Koen de Kort 0:2;  10 Nikolas Maes 0:26

Australia's Para-cyclists have bagged five more medals on day two of competition to bring the team tally to four gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Montichiari, Italy.

In the men's tandem South Australian Kieran Modra, 38, and his pilot Scott McPhee clocked a world record in the 4km pursuit qualifying with a time of 4:17.780. The time knocked almost four tenths of a second off the previous mark set by Modra (and pilot Tyson Lawrence) at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In the final the Australians faced Spaniards Miguel Clemente Solano and pilot Diego Munoz Sanchez who had qualified six seconds slower and were predictably unable to match the pace of the world record holders. Modra and McPhee won the gold medal in a time of 4:21.327, seven-and-a-half seconds faster than the Spanish silver medal pair (4:28.807).

The result means Modra is well on the way to achieving his goal of lining up in a seventh Paralympic Games. He represented Australia in athletics at the 1988 Games, swimming and athletics at the 1992 Games and cycling at the 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 Games. He has already won four Paralympic cycling gold medals.

Queensland's Bryce Lindores and Victorian pilot Sean Finning clipped five seconds off their personal best time to qualify third fastest but unfortunately had to overtake the other team qualiyfing on the track during the ride which might well have cost them the 0.17 seconds they needed to earn a place in the gold medal race. Instead they lined up in the bronze medal final against a second Spanish team of Christian Venge Balboa and pilot David Llaurado Caldero. The Australians clocked 4:26.516 to win the bronze medal by a comfortable margin over the Spaniards (4:28.642).

It was a double celebration for Australia in the C4 women's 3km pursuit with Canberra's Susan Powell living up to her pre-race favourite tag and newcomer Alexandra Green claiming bronze on debut. Powell, the 2009 road time trial world champion, went into the event after last month breaking her own world record at the national championships in Sydney. That meant she had the benefit of being the last rider to post a time in the qualifying round. Canadian Marie-Claude Molnar set the mark to better of 4:22.979 and Powell did that with ease clocking 4:15.781 and leaving plenty in the tank for the gold medal final.

Powell was in control from the gun and at the first kilometre time check was almost six seconds up on Molnar. At the two kilometre mark she was almost ten seconds faster and soon overtook the Canadian to clinch the win but rode on to post a time of 4:09.367, two seconds off world record pace.

Meantime Green wasn't the quickest off the mark in her qualifying ride with the slowest first kilometre of the field but she recovered to post the third fastest finishing time of 4.24.784. That put her into the bronze medal ride off against China's Jianping Ruan.

Coach Sian Mulholland says Green's final was one of the highlights of the night.

"Alex hasn't yet developed a blindingly fast first lap and the Chinese had obviously done their homework after the qualifying ride," said Mulholland. "It just so happens that this Chinese rider (Ruan) holds the world record for the 500m time trial so the Chinese strategy was to get their rider to essentially ride a 500m time trial and catch Alex in the first two laps which would have been the end of the race.

"In the strangest pursuit I've ever seen, the Chinese rider made it to within about a metre and a half of Alex's back wheel as Alex gave her all to get up to race pace then at almost exactly two laps, the Chinese rider blew up," explained Mulholland. "Alex kept going and then caught the Chinese rider on about lap seven (of 12) to secure her first world championship medal."

In the C2 men's kilometre time trial Adelaide's Andrew Panazzolo came agonisingly close to the world record missing the mark by just 11 thousandths of a second with his time of 1:18.048. But China's Gui Hua Liang blazed to victory with a gold medal winning world record time of 1:16.497 dropping Panazzolo to second place on the podium.

In the C1 women's 3km pursuit Sydney's Jayme Paris posted a time of 4:56.746 but as the only starter in the division for the event is the winner but is not awarded a medal.

One day of competition remains with Britain firmly entrenched on top of the medal table with a total of 13 medals (6 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze). Australia is sitting in second place (4 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze) and China in third (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze).

Australian medal summary after day two of competition

Gold

• Kieran Modra /pilot Scott McPhee - B tandem 4km pursuit

• Felicity Johnson / pilot Stephanie Morton - B tandem kilometre time trial

• Michael Gallagher - C5 4km individual pursuit

• Susan Powell - C4 3km individual pursuit

Silver

• Andrew Panazzolo - C2 kilometre time trial

Bronze

• Bryce Lindores / pilot Sean Finning - B tandem 4km pursuit

• Alexandra Green - C4 3km individual pursuit

The team for the 2011 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships is listed below.

• Alexandra Green (C4/C3 review) (Balgowlah Heights, NSW 02.07.1987)

• Felicity Johnson (BW) (Melrose Park, SA 30.05.1971)

• Kerry Knowler (Pilot for O'Connor) (Phillip, ACT 26.08.1967)

• Stephanie Morton (Pilot for Johnson) (Moana Heights, SA 28.11.1990)

• Brandie O'Connor (BW) (Phillip, ACT 24.12.1973)

• Jayme Paris (C1) (Plumpton, NSW 27.04.1989)

• Susan Powell (C4) (Melba, ACT 30.05.1967)

• Sean Finning (Pilot for Lindores) (Castlemaine, VIC 22.01.1985)

• Michael Gallagher (C5) (Sydenham, VIC 14.12.1978)

• Bryce Lindores (BM) (Nobby Beach, QLD - 12.09.1986)

• Kieran Modra (BM) (Hallett Cove, SA 27.03.1972)

• Scott McPhee (Pilot for Modra) (Wayville, SA 02.01.1992)

• Andrew Panazzolo (C2) (Kidman Park, SA 23.01.1979)

 

After breaking the all-comers record for the fastest time on Australian soil in qualifying with a time of 3minutes 24.244seconds for the 3000m distance, the women's trio shaved a further five tenths of a second off that mark in the final, crossing the line in 3minutes 22.171seconds.

In a nail-biting final against the German trio of Charlotte Becker, Lisa Brennauer and Madeleine Sandig, just four-hundredths of a second separated the two teams after the first kilometre. But the Australians picked up their pace over the final few laps to finish almost a second ahead of their rivals winning in a time of 3minutes22.171seconds.

"That time at this time of the year is pretty good," said Tomic, 21, "We were quite a few seconds ahead of where we have ever been at this time so that shows there are really good things to come for next year and the world championships."

For Bates, the 2007 points race world champion, the win marked her return to international track cycling. After the Beijing Olympic Games she focussed on road cycling until a crash in 2009 almost ended her career. But she fought back from a serious hip injury and decided to return to the track when the teams pursuit for women was included in the program for 2012 Olympic Games.

"In a way this is like my first World Cup, a new event and a new feeling after a little bit of time away so I am a bit reborn, but my birth certificate doesn't say that though," said Bates, 28, who took gold in the scratch race at last week's Oceania Championships in Adelaide.

"It's a whole new skills base and I have the world's best to learn from so I am really looking forward at what is to come and even though they are eight or nine years younger I can't have better people teaching me.

"With the incredible depth we have in Australia, tonight I am taking the place of a current world champion in Ashlee, so I certainly need to keep on my toes not just fitness wise but skills wise."

In the Madison reigning World Champions Meyer, 22, and Howard, 21, were the only team to take two laps in a sensational display in front of a home crowd.

The Dutch and New Zealand teams set the pace early in the 160 lap 40km race, but a calculated move from the Australians at the midpoint saw them take their first lap on the field.

New Zealand counter attacked to regain the lost lap and the lead. But recognising the threat from their trans-Tasman rivals the Aussie pair launched another attack to claim their second lap.

At the end the Australians were one lap up on ten points, New Zealand's Aaron Gate and Myron Simpson placed second with (14 points but a lap behind and the Netherland's Nick Stopler and Peter Schep (10 points) claimed the bronze medal.

West Australia's Meyer, who has been battling illness, was eager to perform in the rainbow jersey on home soil.

"I came in today feeling a little underdone, but I still mentally wanted to perform well for Australia, and I wanted to do it for Leigh as well" said Meyer.

"We have a bit of a presence now in the world in the Madison, in that we've got a style where we are taking it as one of the stronger teams in the second half of the race where we try and take laps," said Meyer, who with Howard claimed the world championship in March in Copenhagen in similar style.

"We have that presence now, and the confidence so when it does happen, we really push hard to make it happen and at the moment it's working for us," Meyer added.

In the men's team sprint, Great Britain's of Sir Chris Hoy, Matthew Crampton and Jason Kenny, recorded the only two sub-44 second times of the day on their way to winning gold.

The trio's time of 43.829seconds in the final was too good for New Zealand's Edward Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster who crossed the line in 44.339seconds.

"Tonight was a good performance but not an exceptional one and I think a low-43 would be looking to win the world championships, so we probably have got another half a second to come off that hopefully," said Hoy, 34, the triple Olympic champion, who now turns his attention to Friday's keirin.

"I would like to try and dominate the keirin tomorrow and stamp my authority on it, that's the aim," Hoy said adding, "If you win then that's great but the important thing is to dictate the race."

Team Jayco-AIS' Daniel Ellis, Shane Perkins and Jason Niblett (44.545seconds) won the bronze medal ahead of Germany's Rene Enders, Stefan Nimke and Michael Seidenbecher (44.938seconds).

In the women's team sprint, China's Guo Shuang and Gong Jinjie set an all-comers record of 33.240seconds, on their way to upsetting Great Britain's Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Varnish (33.562seconds) in the final. France's Sandie Clair and Clara Sanchez (33.655seconds) claimed bronze over Yvonne Hjgenaar and Willy Kanis of the Netherlands (33.644seconds).

Reigning world champion Kaarle McCulloch was joined by Team Jayco-AIS team mate Emily Rosemond and finished sixth.

After the first three events in the men's omnium, the flying 200m, points and elimination races, Australia's Scott Law (32 points) is in eleventh place.

With the aim to complete the sixth events with the lowest points total, New Zealand's Shane Archbold (13 points) leads reigning World Champion Ed Clancy of Great Britain (19 points), with Canada's Zachary Bell (21 points) sitting in third. The omnium continues Friday with the individual pursuit, scratch race and time trial.

The Melbourne World Cup is the first round of the 2010-2011 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics series and will feature more than 300 cyclists from 41 nations in action in 12 events over three days of racing. For more details please visit the event website www.trackworldcup.com.au Results and official start lists are available at www.tissottiming.com.