Federal Minister for Sport Mark Arbib and ACT Sports Minister Andrew Barr today joined members of Australia’s new professional cycling team GreenEDGE on a ride from the Australian Institute of Sport to Parliament House in Canberra.

The Australian backed GreenEDGE team includes top class Australian and international cyclists as well as Australian coaches and support staff.

On Monday GreenEDGE was granted 2012 WorldTour status allowing the men’s professional team to start in next year’s key WorldTour races including the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and the Tour of Spain.

Senator Arbib said the WorldTour approval was a fantastic result for GreenEDGE and he looked forward to seeing Australia’s newest international team in action next year.

“It is great to have international stars Stuart O’Grady, Robbie McEwen, Allan Davis and Simon Gerrans leading an Australian team,” Senator Arbib said.

“They will be fantastic mentors for Australia’s next generation of male and female cyclists including Cameron Meyer, Jack Bobridge, Matt Goss, Shara Gillow and Amanda Spratt.

“GreenEDGE would not have been possible without the support from owner Gerry Ryan, who deserves great credit for backing the team and supporting Australian riders.”

Mr Barr said cycling was extremely popular in Australia and he had no doubt that GreenEDGE would further encourage Australians to take up cycling.

“Cycling is a great way to get active and healthy and it is pleasing to see participation numbers continue to grow with thousands of young Australian kids inspired by the tremendous feats of our elite cyclists like Cadel Evans, Anna Meares and Robbie McEwen,” Mr Barr said.

“It is also pleasing to see events like this continuing to raise the profile of cycling in Canberra. The ACT Government is committed to sustainable transport and bike riding is part of that. We have one of the most developed urban cycle path networks in Australia and are currently developing more on-road cycling facilities.

“With GreenEDGE completing part of their training at the AIS, I have no doubt that many Canberra cyclists will get behind the team when they join the tour next year.”

Senator Arbib said the newly announced GreenEDGE-AIS women’s team involved a partnership with Cycling Australia and the AIS high performance cycling programs that will deliver Australia’s first top level UCI Professional Women’s cycling team.

“The partnership ensures GreenEDGE-AIS will have access to the best skills, services and experiences available within the Cycling Australia/AIS high performance program structure,” Senator Arbib said.

“By any measure, 2011 was an outstanding year for Australian cycling with Cadel Evan’s Tour de France Victory, Anna Meares’ three gold medals at the UCI World Championships and the success of para-cycling team Susan Powell and Michael Gallagher.”

The Australian Government provides more than $7.3 million of funding to cycling annually, while Cycling Australia was also a recipient of $365,000 through the Green and Gold project to support our medal chances in London.