Starstudded men’s field assembled for road national championships

ONE of the best men’s fields assembled will line up at the road national championships in Napier next month.

A field of 51 will include six New Zealand riders who compete on the UCI World Tour.

Also competing are three others in Pro Continental teams,

CYCLING

which competed in grand tours this year, the 2016 and 2017 national champions, and under23 mountain bike world champion Sam Gaze.

In the World Tour group are time trial winner Jack Bauer, who joins compatriot Sam Bewley at MitcheltonScott next year, Tour of California winner George Bennett, Tom Scully, who hails from Cromwell originally, Patrick Bevin, who moves to the crack BMC Racing Team for 2018, and Alex Frame, who will joins illustrious Trek Segafredo.

Aaron Gate and Shane Archbold, will ride for an Irishbased team next year while Dion Smith is back at the WantyGroupe Gobert. Both teams gained invitations to grand tours this year and Smith competed in his first Tour de France.

Canterbury’s Hamish Schreurs returns to the Israel Cycling Academy, also in the Pro Continental division, one spot below full World Tour status.

Wellington’s Joe Cooper will defend his road race crown and will be joined by Canterbury’s Jason Christie, the 2016 road race champion.

Gaze, who showed a glimpse of his road cycling skills with victory in the recent New Zealand Criterium Championships, has also entered along with rowing great Hamish Bond, who converted to cycling after

the Rio Olympics.

‘‘I can’t recall so many New Zealand riders in World Tour and other significant professional teams around the world,’’ Cycling New Zealand’s Graeme Hunn said.

‘‘That is not only going to make the race a fantastic spectacle, it is also encouraging for our sport going forward, especi ally with the young riders coming through our endurance track programme and our regional performance hubs.’’

Other notable professionals in the field include Taylor Gunman, Hayden McCormick and James Oram.

The time trial, over 40km, is again based at Church Road Winery on January 5. The road race will take place two days later and will be a tough ask.

The road race is a similar course to 2017, although there is no added flat lap at the end of the course to bring the riders back in the opposite direction to the finish line. Instead after the rural loop — 81km for males — the riders head over Napier Hill to the startfinish line, with a further eight full city loops over the hill, leaving a 500m sprint finish along the foreshore on the final lap to the finish.

The men’s elite race, which also includes the under23 males, is 171km in length and starts at 8.30am.

The field for the elite women will be released today.