Olympic track hopes head to the road in NZ Cycle Classic

Some of New Zealand’s leading Olympic track cycling hopes will get invaluable racing on the roads in next week’s New Zealand Cycle Classic in the Manawatu.

BikeNZ has selected a five-man team from their endurance track programme as the riders prepare for the national track championships and the upcoming UCI World Cup in London. These form part of their campaign towards the track world championships in Melbourne in April and the Olympics in July.

Team pursuit riders Sam Bewley, Marc Ryan, Myron Simpson and Aaron Gate will be joined by omnium world silver medallist Shane Archbold in the New Zealand team for the five-day tour starting in Palmerston North next Wednesday.

“The group are also accomplished riders on the road as well as the track with the likes of Sam Bewley riding for Radioshack on the World Tour last year,” said BikeNZ men’s track coach Tim Carswell.

“For us the timing is ideal. It’s a good time for a Tour of this level as our guys look to ramp up their preparations looking ahead to the nationals and the London World Cup.

“Road riding plays a vital part of the foundation training for track endurance riders so this is an ideal time for some very hard riding.”

The team is a mix of experience with Bewley (Rotorua), currently concentrating on his aspirations on the track for the Olympics, having just completed his contract with Radioshack.

Ryan (Timaru) raced successfully on the road circuits in Europe last year as did the youthful trio of Simpson, Gate (both Auckland) and Archbold (Timaru) riding for the BikeNZ under-23 endurance track squad.

“I am sure the riders will be working very hard next week and will be looking for good results throughout the tour,” said Carswell.

The other key riders in the BikeNZ men’s track endurance group, Westley Gough (Waipukurau) and Peter Latham (Te Awamutu), are competing for Subway Pro Cycling.
It could prove a case of back to the future for the squad with former national coach Ron Cheatley to act as Director Sportif for the national team.

“Our track coaches are fully occupied with planning for the upcoming racing right through to the London Olympics so we needed to bring someone in to direct the team,” said BikeNZ High Performance Director Mark Elliott.

“Who better than Ron to be Director Sportif? He has a wealth of knowledge and experience. He remains closely involved in the sport and is still very passionate about it. We were delighted when he agreed to run the team.”

There are 21 teams from USA, Australia and New Zealand headed by US-based Team Type 1 Sanofi, a full UCI Continental team initially established to raise awareness of diabetes.
Other leading teams include Team Jayco, a UCI Continental team under the Australia Institute of Sport programme that includes defending champion Patrick Lane and strong combinations of Drapac and Genesys Wealth Advisers from across the Tasman.

The other New Zealand challenges should come from the BikeNZ combination as well as the proven trade teams of Subway Pro Cycling with Gough, Latham and national time trial champion Paul Odlin; Mico Protrain led by national champion Michael Vink and Jeremy Yates and Benchmark, headed by Tour of Southland winner Josh Atkins.

The Tour begins with an individual time trial on Wednesday in Palmerston North with all road stages looping back to Palmerston North before the final circuit stage around the city on Sunday.