Kiwi duo to race Tour de France

New Zealanders Paddy Bevin and Dion Smith will race in this year’s Tour de France.

Bevin, from Taupo has been included in the nine-man squad for the Cannondale-drapac team for the three-week tour, which begins this weekend.

Smith has been selected by his Belgian Wanty-groupe Gobert team.

The 26-year-old Bevin joins George Bennett as the only other Kiwi rider confirmed for this year’s Tour.

It will be Bennett’s second Tour, but it’s the first time Bevin and Smith will appear in road cycling’s biggest event and Bevin says he’s determined to make the most of this opportunity.

‘‘I want to leave a mark on the Tour,’’ Bevin said.

‘‘The team is very keen to animate the race, and I can’t wait to be part of that.

‘‘At the end of three weeks I want some performances to be proud of, not just three weeks of holding on for dear life.’’

Bevin said he’d always been inspired by the Tour de France and like most New Zealanders passionate about cycling, he’d get up in the middle of the night to watch the race when growing up.

‘‘I was one of those kids up at 3am in New Zealand watching the Tour every July, completely captivated by it,’’ he said.

‘‘You can’t shake those feelings and to cross that threshold and be on the other side is a privilege not many get to experience.’’

The rest of the Cannondaledrapac team is Alberto Bettiol, Nate Brown, Simon Clarke. Andrew Talansky, Taylor Phinney, Pierre Rolland, Rigoberto Uran and Dylan Van Baarle.

Bevin, 26, recently had two top10 finishes in the Tour de Suisse, one of the big lead in races to the Tour and finished sixth in the Tour of Norway last month.

Smith’s Wanty-groupe Gobert are a lower ranked Pro Continental team and needed an invite by the Tour organisers to race in the Tour.

The 24-year-old Smith, who was born in Taupaki has had a full on calendar this year, riding in a number of spring classics and also more recently rode the Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine.

His best result as a professional is finishing fifth on general classification in last year’s Four Jours de Dunkerque.