Track riders to compete as team in road cycling classic
New Zealand track riders lining up for selection at the London Olympic Games later this year have been chosen in a national team for the New Zealand road cycling classic around Manawatu, which starts on January 25.
Pursuit riders Sam Bewley, Mark Ryan and Aaron Gate, who are promising to be among the medallists in London, have been named alongside world champion omnium silver medallist Shane Archbold, and time trialist Myron Simpson.
With race director Jorge Sandoval being forced by the long-term closure of the Manawatu Gorge to eliminate the planned tough hill-climbing stages from the five-day tour, the flatter terrain the event will now be contested over will better suit a number of the national team members.
They are expected to feature in the anticipated sprint finishes at the end of most stages.
While a number of New Zealand's elite riders cannot compete because of their commitments to their Pro Tour teams, including last year's classic winner, George Bennett, of Nelson, who now rides for RadioShack Nissan Trek alongside Hayden Roulston and Jesse Sergent, the country's depth is reflected among the other team entries.
Wellington's Joseph Cooper, a former winner of the Tour of New Caledonia and king-of-the-mountains victor in last year's NZ classic, is part of an international Team Ricoh with Australians Darren Rolfe and Mitchell Lovelock-Fay, Slovenian Andy Bajc and another New Zealander Matthew Marshall.
The Micro-Revolution Racing combination will be led by the accomplished Jeremy Yates, and Subway's entry has a proven look with Westley Gough and Peter Latham joining Paul Odlin, Sam Horgan and Nick Logrove.
On that evidence the United States-based Pro Continental team, Team Type 1-Sanofi, and the six Australian professional teams entered will be fully tested by the New Zealanders.
A late addition from Australia is its newest professional team, Jayco 2XU.
It will be managed by two-time Olympian Patrick Jonker, who in a distinguished career contested the Tour de France on five occasions in the 1990s, and rode in the 1989 NZ classic around the roads of Hutt Valley and Wellington.
For the first time the NZ road cycling classic will be raced in Manawatu from January 25 to 29.
© Fairfax NZ News
