Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling is proud to announce that double Track World Champion Annette Edmondson will remain part of the black and orange squad as she aims for Gold in the velodrome of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The 23-year-old from Adelaide, South Australia proudly showed off her rainbow bands in this weekend’s Track World Cup, in Cambridge, New Zealand, where she took a Gold Medal as part of the Australian Team Pursuit squad, and a Silver Medal in the Omnium, ahead of Belgian Champion teammate Jolien D’hoore.
“I’m very excited to be re-signing with Wiggle Honda in 2016, although I’ll have a very limited programme due to my track commitments,” Edmondson explained. “In the lead up to Rio it’s still really nice to know that Wiggle Honda are wanting to be part of the journey, and are there to support me and to help me out in any way possible.”
Having secured her Team Pursuit and Omnium World Titles, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, on the outskirts of Paris, in February, “Nettie” took a well-earned break from racing before beginning her 2015 road season. She first saw action in the Tour of Chongming Island, where she helped Italian teammate Giorgia Bronzini to victory in the World Cup race, before supporting many of her teammates in Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s best season to date.
While much of her 2016 season will be spent in the velodrome with the Australian National Team, Edmondson will be very much a part of the black and orange family in the Olympic year.
“I’m looking forward to meeting the three new signings in February at our team launch,” she added, “and hopefully continuing our success of 2015 into the 2016 season.”
Nettie – whose brother Alex is also part of the Australian National Track Team – won the Bronze Medal in the Omnium in London 2012 at just 20 years of age. With her increased experience in the event, however, and having taken the World Title this year, she will be one of the big favourites for Gold in Rio next summer.
As well as her Omnium prospects, as a member of the World Championship winning Australian Team Pursuit Squad, she carries hopes of taking two medals next year.
“Its all about the track for Annette Edmondson in 2016,” confirmed Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling Team Owner and Manager Rochelle Gilmore. “She’s currently a Dual World Champ with two very big chances of winning two medals at the Olympic Games.
“I would absolutely love to see Annette win at the Olympic Games in 2016. We as a team will do all we can to support her ambitions to win Olympic Gold. Whatever it takes, we’re here for her. We want this for her; she deserves it.”
Edmondson is the twelfth rider to be confirmed for the Wiggle Honda Po Cycling team in 2016. The Australian will be joined by current teammates Amy Roberts, Anna Christian and Olympic Champion Dani King of Great Britain, Italians Elisa Longo Borghini and Giorgia Bronzini, Japanese Champion Mayuko Hagiwara, Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore and French time trial Champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot.
Alongside these nine from 2015 will be new signings, Swedish Champion Emma Johansson, Dutch all-rounder Amy Pieters and British former two-time Junior World Champion Lucy Garner, with further names to be confirmed in the coming weeks.