March 4, 2006 – The dust hasn’t even settled from the Tour of
California, yet Martin Gilbert is still hard at work. Gilbert placed
8th on Friday in the Scratch Race in the Track World Cup in Sydney,
Australia – a finish which guarantees him a berth at the World Track
Championships in Bordeaux, France.

“This is great. I’ve had solid physical preparation. I just finished
the Tour of California, and also spent three weeks where I focused
solely on my road riding. My performance here proves that I am in
excellent shape and its very promising for the upcoming Commonwealth
Games,” commented Gilbert.

The 23 year-old cyclist is also pleased with the fact that his recent
performance ranks him in the top 36 in the world for track cycling –
a guarantee that he’ll be competing in Bordeaux at the Track Worlds
in mid-April. Gilbert stated, “I don’t have the final confirmation,
but I did the math with my coach, and I am pretty sure I’m among the
top 36. It great news but at the same time, I have to juggle between
road and track engagements. With my road team (Kodak Gallery/Sierra
Nevada), I have a little bit less freedom than I had before. I hope
they’ll let me go to Track Worlds, but if there are important
competitions happening in the U.S. at the same time, perhaps they’d
rather I be present with them. Theoretically I don’t think it will
be a problem, and I informed them when I signed my contract that I
was hoping to qualify for the Track Worlds.”

The Scratch Race was won by Polish rider Rafal Ratajczyk, in second
was Korea’s Jae Sun Jang and in third place was Russian Alexander
Khatuntsev.

Fellow Canadian, Yannik Morin, will be in action on the track on
Sunday. Martin Gilbert and Zach Bell will also be on the track
Sunday for the two-man Madison race, trying to qualify for the Track
Worlds in that event.