The competition also serves as the first opportunity for the British team to earn track qualification points for the London 2012 Paralympics under a new classification system.

British athletes will meet some of their biggest opponents for the first time since Beijing 2008 - a number of nations were missing from the Para-Cycling Track World Championships in Manchester in 2009, where Britain claimed 13 medals.

Sarah Storey (pictured), the 33-year-old from Manchester who claimed five Paralympic golds as a swimmer before switching to cycling, is one of seven Paralympic champions named alongside Mark Bristow, Jody Cundy, Anthony Kappes, Darren Kenny, Aileen McGlynn and husband Barney Storey.

Double world champion Neil Fachie will also be travelling to Italy along with a handful of promising London 2012 hopefuls including World Championship debutants Tel Byrne and Jon-Allan Butterworth, ex-servicemen who have joined the GB Para-Cycling Team through the Battle Back programme.

Team manager Gareth Sheppard said: "We expect to see some strong performances from our riders and our goal is to bring back as many medals as possible to help us qualify a satisfactory number of athletes for track events at the London Games.

"These World Championships will be an important marker of the squad's performance and a great opportunity for some of our younger athletes hoping to ride for Britain in 2012 to gain competition experience at the highest level."

The three day event will kick off with the men's C class pursuits and the men's and women's tandem kilos with Paralympic champion Kenny set to be a strong gold medal contender.

On day two the Britons will ride the women's C class pursuit, the men's tandem pursuit and the men's C class kilos with Storey, the Paralympic champion in the pursuit, going into the competition with confidence after clinching gold in the able-bodied team pursuit at the Manchester Track World Cup last month, nearly breaking the current world record.

The final day of competition will see the men's tandem sprint, the women's tandem pursuit, the team sprint and the women's 500m time trial with Storey looking to defend her World Championship title.

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