Despite having a rich history dating back to its first edition on the MCG in 1887, there may never have been a stronger field than that of the 112^th edition of the Urban St Kilda Austral Wheelrace to be held as the feature event of Revolution 5 at Hisense Arena on Wednesday 16 December.

Defending champion Shane Perkins will start as the favourite for the 2000m event, coming off the back of a dual gold medal winning performance at the Melbourne round of the UCI Track World Cup last month.

Challenging the 22-year-old will be dual 2004 Olympic gold medallist Graeme Brown, current points race world champion Cameron Meyer and his younger brother Travis Meyer.

Rising track stars Jack Bobridge, Glenn O’Shea, Luke Durbridge and Rohan Dennis will not take a backwards step as they contest with their more experiences counterparts.

Also coming to steal the prize is Melbourne Track World Cup scratch and madison gold medallist Tom Scully from New Zealand and his compatriot Sam Webster who this year won three junior world championships on the track.

As always the Malaysian team, headed by Melbourne Cup of Wheels champion Josiah Ng and two-time Austral second place getter Azizul Awang, will also be vying for the title.