Track team gears up for big month

New Zealand’s elite track cyclists are gearing up for three major events this month, starting a packed summer programme that concludes with the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast next April.

The Tokyo Olympics in 2020 is the ultimate aim for High Performance Sport’s top riders, but that route will be laid out following this summer after a disappointing return of just one silver medal at last year’s Rio Games when Cycling New Zealand targeted four Olympic medals on track and road.

Cycling was the second-most government funded sport – $17.4 million behind rowing’s $19.6 million – in the last four-year Olympic cycle.

New Zealand will next month split the majority of its track cyclists, with a mixture of world champions and new blood, between the Oceania Championships held at Cambridge’s Avantidrome and two UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) World Cup events in Pruszkow (in Poland from November 3-5) and Manchester (in England from November 10-12) respectively.

But the three-time world champion men’s sprint team will be contesting both events with February’s UCI World Championships in Apeldoorn (Holland) in mind – where riders are after UCI points to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Kiwi sprinters Ethan Mitchell and Eddie Dawkins will return after competing in London as New Zealand takes on a strong Australia team in Cambridge, and Sam Webster is back after racing in Japan’s prestigious Keirin League.

There are four World Cup events between now and Christmas – including the two in Manchester and Pruszkow – with Milton (Canada) and Santiago (Chile) also hosting the world’s best track cyclists in December.

Cycling New Zealand CEO Andrew Matheson said this was the next phase towards the Tokyo Olympics as New Zealand unveiled their elite squad at their Cambridge base yesterday.

‘‘It’s not only going to be a really challenging time for the riders and the programme, but also really valuable time if we use this very wisely,’’ he said.

New Zealand won’t have all their elite riders, with Piet Bulling not part of the men’s endurance squad that won silver in this year’s world championships, as he takes time away from the sport.

Bulling’s absence opens the door for four-time junior world champion Campbell Stewart and junior world championship medallists Tom Sexton, Jared Gray and Hugo Jones.

The women’s endurance team, which won bronze in this year’s world championships, is missing Jaime Nielsen due to some health issues and Rio Olympian Lauren Ellis, who is expecting the birth of her first child.