Niamh Fisher-Black leads youthful New Zealand women's team for Road Worlds
After delivering a skeleton team to the Road World Championships in Wollongong in 2022 amid a costs squeeze, New Zealand is once again back in force in the chase for the rainbow jersey in 2023.
The nation will be sending a six strong men's elite team to contest the 271km road race on August 6 at the Glasgow World Championships – compared to its lone competitor in the category last year – and will be backing the 2022 U23 world title holder, Niamh Fisher-Black, with a six rider road squad for the combined elite and U23 women's road race.
On top of that an additional two riders have been added to the tally for the 36.2km U23/elite women's time trial on Thursday August 10 and for the 47.8km men's elite time trial on Friday August 11.
The 2023 event, a multidiscipline edition which wraps in 13 UCI Cycling World Championships, will also see George Bennett donning the silver fern again for the first time since 2020. The UAE Team Emirates climber will be lining up alongside Patrick Bevin, Ryan Christensen, New Zealand champion James Oram, the 21-year-old Cholet-Pays-de-la-Loire winner Laurence Pithie and Corbin Strong, who will be joining the team after taking on his first Tour de France.
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The 21-year-old Finn Fisher-Black, who finished in the top ten among a strong field in the final Tour de Suisse time trial in June, will line up for New Zealand in the elite men's race against the clock alongside Oceania champion Tom Sexton.
For the elite/U23 women's time trial, the experienced New Zealand champion Georgia Williams will be lining up alongside Oceania champion Georgia Perry and the 20-year-old Ella Wyllie, who will also be lining up in the road race.
The combined elite and U23 women’s road race, with the U23 rainbow jersey awarded to the first under 23 rider over the line, will again be an event where New Zealand enters with strong prospects. The 2022 U23 winner, Fisher-Black, has aged out of the category where she won a world title but to secure that rainbow jersey she came over the line 12th overall in the combined race anyway. Her Women’s WorldTour results, which include a stage victory at the Tour de Suisse in June, have also long made it clear how competitive she is in the top tier.
It will also be a team with a strong claim in the U23 category again, as while some nations won’t be slotting in any riders from that age bracket among their combined elite/U23 quota, women's cycling in New Zealand is brimming with young talent and the nation has put forward a team with an average age of 22 years for the August 13 race.
The riders lining up for the 154.1km U23/elite women’s event finishing on a city circuit in Glasgow alongside Fisher-Black and Wyllie are Kim Cadzow, Mikayla Harvey, Ella Harris and Ally Wollaston. Wyllie, Cadzow and Wollaston were all born after 2000, meaning they are eligible for the Under 23 category.
For the 168km men's U23 road race on Saturday August 12, the squad will be made up of Lewis Bower, Logan Currie and Jack Drage. Currie, who is the Oceania champion in the discipline, will also line up for the 36.2km U23 men's time trial on Wednesday August 9. He came fourth in the event in Wollongong.
Elite Men
Road race
George Bennett
Patrick Bevin
Ryan Christensen
James Oram
Laurence Pithie
Corbin Strong
Time trial
Finn Fisher-Black
Tom Sexton
Elite/U23 women
Road race
Kim Cadzow
Niamh Fisher-Black
Ella Harris
Mikayla Harvey
Ally Wollaston
Ella Wyllie
Time Trial
Georgia Perry
Georgia Williams
Ella Wyllie
U23 men
Road race
Lewis Bower
Logan Currie
Jack Drage
Time trial
Logan Currie
Junior men
Road race
Carter Guichard
Eli Tregidga
Finn Wilson
Time trial
Noah Hollamby
Elliot Robertson
Junior women
Road race
Maia Barclay
Bonnie Rattray
Georgia Simpson
Ruby Spring
Time trial
Maia Barclay
Muireann Green