The 27-year-old Belgian won the world title with countryman Gijs Van Hoecke in Melbourne earlier this year and has been contracted to ride at his first Tasmanian series.

Already tipped as a likely wheel winner during the series, De Ketele has drawn alongside Ulverstone's Luke Ockerby to ride from scratch in heat 2 of the Latrobe Wheel.

Altogether eight scratchmen will ride in the Latrobe Wheel following the surprise elevation of Sydney 16-year-old Jack Edwards.

There will be four heats of the Latrobe Wheel with the first five in each heat qualifying for the final.

Olympian Annette Edmondson, of Adelaide, will wear No.1 in the women's events during the series.

Edmondson is one of four cyclists off scratch, with the others being fellow Olympians Isabella King and Amy Cure along with Malaysian champion Fatehah Mustapa.

Latrobe Wheel Race

Heat 1: Glenn O'Shea scr, Franco Marvulli scr, Azizulhasni Awang scr, Stephen Rosendell 50m, James Canny 60m, Jack McCulloch 60m, Peter Loft 80m, Wan Anwar 130m, Jack Hogan 140m, Malek McCrone 160m, Fattah Amri 160m, Joshua Clark 220m, Michael Astell 220m, Shar Firdaus 220m, 48 Gerald Evans 280m, 85 Jonathon Taylor 285 m, 73 Nic Youl 290m.

Heat 2: Kenny de Ketele scr, Luke Ockerby scr, Shem Rogers 30m, Tristan Marguet 30m, Roy Pieters 60m, Aaron Jones 80m, Fairet Rusli 100m, Rizal Tisin 105 m, Daniel Fitter 150m, Fakruddin Dawood 150m, Hamdan Haidun 165 m, Edrus Yunos 170m, John Kingston 255 m, Asyraf Naim 260m, Michael Eastwood 330m, Glenn Myler 330m, Paul Beasley 340m, Beau Windebank w/h.

Heat 3: Jack Edwards scr, Simon Van Velthooven scr, Shane Archbold scr, Marcel Bath 30m, Andreas Mueller 30m, Mark Jamieson 40m, Josiah Ng 100m, Dirk Roshier 110m, Mathew Holmes 130m, Mathew Ross 130m, Owen Gillett 150m, Arfy Qhairant 160m, Aaron Ross 170m, Ky Wittich 220m, Afig Othman 230m, Timothy Taylor 250m, FirdausZonis 260m, Josh Duggan 290m, Phillip Wickenden w/h.

Heat 4: Joshua Harrison 100m, Callum Scotson 100m, Jack Hickey 110m, Nik Azwan 135m, Mathew Ross 135m, Alexander Porter 155m, Sofian Nabil 155m, Zulhilmie Zamri 180m, Ben Abels 195m, Irwandie Lakasek 210m, Shafri Rusli 240m, Farid Razali 240m, Ben Price 290m, William Holmes 290m, Phil Jarvie 330m, Michael Bailey 330m, Gary Baker 340m, Ian Morwood 360m.

Latrobe Women's Wheelrace: Annette Edmonson scr, Kaarle McCulloch scr, Amy Cure scr, Isabella King scr, Fatehah Mustapa scr, Georgia Baker 120m, Shannon McCurley 140m, Macey Stewart 180m, Lauren Perry 180m, Samantha Fromenton 200m, Alexandra Manly 200m, Stacy Riedel 200m, Ummi Hamimah 210m, Ju Pha Som Net 210m, Azian Maslin 210m, Farina Shawati 220m, Rowena Badcock 220m, Courtney Dean 220m, Nurjeha Iwani 230m, Nurul Alissa 230m, Noraidillina Adila 230m, Janelle Smith 250m, Bianca Goss 270m, Rashel Hine 290m, Jessica Beamish 290m.