Mountain Biking South Africa has named a 33-rider strong World Championships squad for 2009. Not all the riders in the squad will be selected for the World Championships, in Canberra in September, but the squad will represent the country at the first round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Pietermaritzburg later this week.
Not surprisingly, Beijing Olympians, Burry Stander and Yolande Speedy head up the squad, which comprises 19 cross-country racers and 14 downhillers. 
The riders are not obligated to race next week’s World Cup in national team kit, unless they are Juniors that aren’t members of a International Cycling Union-registered team.
The Pietermaritzburg round of the 2009 World Cup will inaugurate a new category, which has been introduced by the UCI, the Junior World Cup Series, which offers riders, aged 17-18 years access to the premier international racing series for the first time.
Cross-Country
Women
Juniors: Candice Neethling, Mariske Strauss, Caitlin De Wet
Under-23: Janneke Leask
Elite: Yolande Speedy, Sara Muhl
Men
Juniors: Adriaan Louw, James Reid, Ruan Du Toit, Rourke Croeser
Under-23s: Max Knox, Philip Buys, Matthys Beukes, Burry Stander
Elite: Johnny Kritzinger, Craig Paul, Roan Exelby, Erik Kleinhans, Brandon Stewart
Downhill 
Women
Elite: Gina Nixon, Anka Martin, Rika Olivier
Men
Juniors: Pierre Van Der Merwe, Timothy Bentley, Luke Davis, Kenneth Sinclair, Simon Dinkelman, Andries Van Schalkwyk
Elite: Johann Potgieter, Jonty Neethling, Gary Barnard, Louis-Bresler Knipe, Hayden Brown