DAVID MILLAR, Stuart O’Grady and Brad McGee, all stage-winners in the Tour de France, will be the main attractions at today’s centenary Good Friday track meeting at Herne Hill Velodrome, in Dulwich, South London.

The trio of European-based riders will be joined in the meeting’s highlight, the ten-minute all-star roadman’s pursuit, by Bradley Wiggins, the former world junior pursuit champion and British Olympic medal-winner.

Although the trials and tribulations of the early-season European programme have taken their toll on Millar and Wiggins, with both riders recovering from heavy crashes, they are still scheduled to appear at today’s event. Wiggins fell heavily in last weekend’s cobbled Classic, Paris-Roubaix, injuring both his wrist and his back, but he still hopes to compete on Herne Hill’s famous Olympic track.

Wiggins, now racing in Europe for the French sponsor, FDJeux.com, sees Herne Hill as his home track.

“I started racing at Herne Hill when I was 8 years old and have always seen it as the place where I took my first steps into cycling,” Wiggins said. “Coming back to ride the Good Friday meeting is like a homecoming for me.”

Millar’s injuries have been more debilitating. The 2000 and 2002 Tour de France stage-winner crashed heavily when he was struck by a race motorcycle during the Criterium International stage race in late March.

“It was the worst accident I’ve ever had during my career,” Millar said.

The Scot’s latest setback wrecked his plans for the early part of this season, but it is thought unlikely to impact upon his preparation for the centenary Tour de France, beginning on July 5, even if it did slow his momentum.

“I’d been working hard and found really good form for the spring but that’s all gone out the window now,” Millar said.

After the crash, Millar spent several days in hospital near his home in Biarritz to drain wounds to his hip and elbow and has only recently resumed light training on his bike. But despite his injuries, Millar is still determined to play a full part in the Herne Hill celebrations. “It’s hard to think about racing after such a bad experience, but I’ll still be there,” he said.

O’Grady, from Australia, who was third in the recent Tour of Flanders World Cup race and his compatriot, the world pursuit champion, Bradley McGee, lead a clutch of international track stars competing in 11 other events at the meeting.

Great Britain’s track racing team will take on the Rest of the World in a spectacular ten-man race, Chris Hoy, the world kilometre champion, will be competing later in the day and the evergreen Sean Yates, a former Tour de France yellow jersey wearer, is also scheduled to race.

The event will celebrate Herne Hill’s historic past but is also hoped to fuel the campaign for the regeneration of the track as an international racing venue in the near future.