Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling is happy to announce that Georgia Baker will make her debut for the black and orange team at the Symmons Plains Raceway Kermesse and Stan Seijka Launceston Criterium, in Launceston, Tasmania, on Saturday & Sunday, 6th and 7th of December.. The talented 20-year-old’s first appearance will be all the more special as she is a native of Launceston, and finished third in the 2012 edition of the race while still just 18 years of age.
“It’s great that I can finally announce I will be riding for the Wiggle Honda Cycling Team for the remainder of the 2014 season,” Baker said. “I am so excited to be part of such a professional team and to be riding along side some amazing riders. It is such a great opportunity for me to further my cycling career and to learn and work with some of the best riders in the world.
?“We have an incredibly strong team going into the Launceston and St Kilda races,” Baker added. “My first race for Wiggle Honda will be the Stan Seijka Launceston Criterium and Kermesse. This will be my 4th year racing the criterium, it is such a great event. It is such a thrill racing in front of my home crowd and this year will be even more fantastic racing with the Wiggle Honda girls, we are sure to make it an exciting race.”
Baker is a three-time Junior World Champion on the Track, as well as having taken numerous Australian titles, and is one of the outstanding talents to emerge in Australian cycling in recent years. In order to make room in the team, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Managing Director Rochelle Gilmore removed herself from the team’s UCI roster to make room for Baker’s talent.
“I’ve not yet had the honour of personally meeting Georgia,” Gilmore said. “However, during 2014 I constantly heard Cycling Australia’s institute coaches speaking very highly of this Georgia Baker, as an athlete but more impressively, as a person! I’m looking forward to meeting Georgia and watching her live up to expectations in front of a home crowd in Launceston this weekend. It’s really exciting to bring another fresh young talent into the Wiggle Honda team.”
Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling took victory in Launceston 2013, through Australian Lauren Kitchen in her last ever appearance in the black and orange jersey, and the team will start the race with the aim of defending its title.
To this end, Baker will race alongside compatriots Peta Mullens and Jess Mundy, New Zealander Emily Collins and Great Britain Criterium Champion Eileen Roe, who has flown south for the Australian summer season, and will also be riding with her new Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling teammates for the first time.
This quintet will be joined by Rebecca Wiasak for the Shimano Super Criterium in St Kilda, Victoria, on Sunday, 14th of December.
