HARRY Tanfield is looking forward to riding the Commonwealth Games, but first he needs to find a bike.

The Great Ayton cyclist has been selected alongside his brother Charlie for the Games which take place in Australia next month.

Charlie, 21, will be riding the track and time trial, while Harry, 23, will be doing the road race and the time trial.

The pair will be joined Down Under by another local rider in British Champion Frazer Clacherty, who is from Whitby, and will contest the Mountain Bike racing.

Only five of the 27-strong Team England squad have previous Commonwealth experience across the track cycling, para-cycling, road cycling and mountain bike disciplines, with Olympic gold medallists Jason Kenny and Laura Kenny not participating and Lizzie Deignan electing not to defend the road-race title she won in Glasgow.

Philip Hindes, a two-time Olympic team sprint champion, Emadi, Helen Scott and Sophie Thornhill are the only members of the team that have previously won Commonwealth medals.

Charlie Tanfield, Hayter and Emadi will head Down Under on a high having won gold in the men's team pursuit at the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Apeldoorn last week, while Nelson won her first senior title in the women's Madison alongside Katie Archibald.

Currently training in Spain, Canyon Eisberg rider Tanfield was notified of his selection in a message from home.

"My girlfriend messaged me and I found out then, I hadn't realised they were releasing the team," he said. "I looked on Facebook and there were a load of messages on there. When I found I was really pleased. I was told to apply, I had no idea about it, I didn't even think about applying myself.

"I have been selected for the TT and the road race. People like (Alex) Dowsett and (Steve) Cummings are a bit restricted doing the Classics, so they are not in the selection. Some of the best riders, essentially were not up for selection so that has given me a chance.

"It will be great to represent my country, I have never done that before. It will be different at senior level racing decent World Tour riders, like the Aussies."

Australia is not an unknown quantity for Tanfield.

"I went there in 2015 for a training camp with JLT," he said. "Hopefully, it won't be quite as warm as it was when I was there last. I remember doing some crits in 42 degrees in a black skinsuit - it felt like I was melting. When the wind changed direction and it dropped to like 25, 28 degrees it was ridiculous how much better I felt. I was getting dropped and then when it cooled down I was full of power."

Tanfield was conservative when it comes to his chances.

"I don't know who is riding to be fair," he said. "Obviously, I have seen the Aussies. But you go there with just the intention of trying to get a medal, that's the ultimate goal. It would be ridiculous to do something like that, but that said, Charlie has just gone to the Worlds for the first time ever and got a gold. Why wouldn't you try for that?"

On being picked alongside his brother, he said: "It's pretty cool. There'll be attention on us, but I am not really bothered - people will write what they want, I just want to get my bike sorted!

"I haven't got a TT bike at the moment so I have got a lot to sort out in the next three weeks. I am supposed to be flying in three weeks' time and I haven't got a bike.

"When I get back from Spain it should be there, hopefully. It would have been nice to have trained on it out here but they have been working hard to get it sorted. It just takes time. It is one of those things, we are at a different level to the World Tour - we can't just ask for what we want, it has to go through different people."

Tanfield has been racing on the track and so will have to change his focus in the coming weeks.

"I have only just started riding on the road again," he said. "I have been riding hit and miss for about a month. But I haven't ridden a TT bike since October last year. I have been riding a track bike on the pursuit bars, which is in a similar position."

Looking ahead, Tanfield said he would take encouragement from his brother's gold in Holland when he lines up on the Gold Coast.

"I think it has proven that you can do anything if you want to do it," he said. "It's will just be a case of doing the best I can."