Riders from New Zealand might have been outnumbered by the Australians, Dutch, British and French at the women’s and men’s events at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race but when it came to podium spots no other nation could even come close.
Ally Wollaston (FDJ-SUEZ), Aaron Gate (XDS Astana) and Laurence Pithie (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) snaffled half the top three spots across the women's and men's WorldTour races. What’s more Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek), Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) and Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) all finished within the top 10, a clear indicator of the fierce form so many are carrying into the Cycling New Zealand Elite Road National Championships from February 6-8.
The racing begins with time trials on Thursday, moving to the 117.6km combined women’s elite and under-23 road race on Friday before concluding with the 191.1km men’s elite and under-23 road race on Saturday.
The road races are always an unpredictable affair, between variations in early season form, at times some challenging weather and disparate team numbers.
“It's pretty flat and it's hard and likely to be windy,” Niamh Fisher-Black told Cyclingnews in Adelaide after the Tour Down Under as she looked ahead to the national title race.
“We have heavy chip chipped roads in New Zealand, so it's always grueling riding but there is a short hill in it, maybe around two or three minutes, and it finishes at the top of that hill, so it's a nice opportunity,” said the 2020 champion of the course.
She added that while the pressure wasn't high, “it'd be cool to wear the New Zealand Jersey again, so I'll give it a crack.”
The competition will be intense, between defending champion Ella Wyllie (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) – who won both the U23 and elite title in 2024 – the EF Education-Oatly duo of Henrietta Christie and Kim Cadzow and of course the in-form 2023 winner Wollaston, who no one will want to have to have to face-off in a sprint against.
The same rings true for men’s defending champion Gate, who was quick to point out the “stiff competition” after talking to media following the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, where he took second by winning the small group sprint behind solo winner Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla).
“It's a tough, uphill finish in the course coming up next weekend,” said Gate, after taking the silver fern emblazoned jersey to the podium of a WorldTour race.
“So it's not going to be easy. I'm up against a lot of pairings with the likes of all the other guys having teammates but you know, Nationals is often an unpredictable race, and you just have to go all in and see what happens.”
The competition for Gate includes Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) and most likely his teammate George Bennett, Dion Smith (Intermarché - Wanty), 2024 time trial champion Logan Currie and his Lotto teammate Reuben Thompson, two-time road race national champion James Fouche with a strong MitoQ-NZ Cycling Project behind him, Fisher-Black, Campbell Stewart (Jayco-AlUla) and Pithie.
None are taking their rivals lightly, with Pithie who – despite being hit while training and breaking a rib before the Australian summer – is clearly firing but also having watched close at hand the strength of his compatriots at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
“I’ll go back and try and win that fern and take it off Gatey, I think he showed today he is in super good form, Corbin was there as well so it’s going to be a super good race,” said Pithie after taking third at the Australian event.
