World Tour riders return for Elite Road Nationals
- editor59343
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
A record 15 New Zealand riders from UCI World Tour teams to line up in the 2026 Elite Road Cycling National Championships in Te Awamutu on 5-7 February.
Added to the 10 men and five women from New Zealand on the World Tour, there are several Kiwis on the start line who will ride for UCI Pro Teams this year.
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Defending champion Paul Wright is joined by fellow New Zealand rider Ben Oliver in the new Modern Adventure Pro Cycling team run by American legend George Hincapie.
Leading the way is the powerful World Tour team NSN Cycling, which comprises 2021 national champion George Bennett, Corbin Strong and Dion Smith, who moves to the team after seven years on the World Tour.
The team is led by former Olympian and World Tour rider, Sam Bewley, who has attracted 10-year World Tour pro Dion Smith from Auckland to the team, while former Black Spoke rider Kiaan Watts is from NZN Cycling’s development team.
Others World Tour ream riders include mountain biker Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Lewis Bower and Josh Kench from Groupama-FDJ United; Reuben Thompson from Lotto-Intermache; 2024 national champion Aaron Gate (XDS Astana) and last year’s time trial champion Finn Fisher-Black from Red Bull Bora Hansgrophe.
There are also a significant number of riders plying their trade for professional teams led by the likes of Southland’s Josh Burnett (Burgos Burpellet BH),
-form Olympian Tom Sexton (St George Continental) and the powerful Whoosh-NZ Cycling Project squad led by elite and under-23 road and time trial champion James Fouche, and Paris Olympians Keegan Hornblow and George Jackson.
The women’s field also has a glittering array of UCI World tour riders, headed by Olympic medallist Ally Wollaston (FDJ United-Suez), a recent two-stage winner at the Tour Downunder; 2024 under-23 road and time trial winner Ella Wyllie (LIV AlUla Jayco).
Outstanding professionals Mikayla Harvey (SD Worx Protime) and Henrietta Christie (EF Education Oatly) plus leading track stars Sami Donnelly and Bryony Botha along with UCI Esport World champion Kate McCarthy will race.
There are a raft of emerging riders chasing honours in the under-23 category including Groupama FDJ professionals Lewis Bower and Reef Roberts and strong domestic teams including Pista Corsa, Proformance Racing and Whoosh NZ Cycling Project.
Cycling New Zealand High Performance Director, Ryan Hollows said that New Zealand riders are well respected on the world stage and the depth of talent is arguably the strongest in the sport’s history.
“It is fantastic for our developing riders and fans that so many of our World Tour riders are coming back home and we can watch them in action,” he said.
“This is a rare opportunity to see our world class road riders in action, and also support out our Para-cycling world championship medallists in Nicole Murray, Devon Briggs and the tandem with Emma Foy and Jesse Hodges competing.”
The time trial courses on Thursday 5 February will start and finish at Roto-o-Rangi School over distances from 18km to 44.2km. Para-cycling hand cycling and trikes will race over an 18km course.
The road races on Saturday and Sunday utilise loops of Ruahue and Norwegian roads for the under-23 and elite men over 20 laps, while women race 13 laps of the 9.4km Norwegian Road circuit. Both U19 men and women will also use the Puahue loop before finishing on the Norwegian Road circuit.
In time trials, Para-cycling trikes and hand cycles, Para cycling C1-C3 and Under-19 women compete over 18.3km. Para-cycling Tandem, C4-C5 women and C1-C5 men, under-19 men, under-23 and elite women will be timed over a 27.6km test. The under-23 and elite men take on a 44.2km course.
In the road races, the under-19 women race over 79.4kms; under 19 men over 124kms; women under-23 and elite over 122kms and men under-23 and elite over 188kms.