Cycling: Doubt hovers over Gough's national title defence

Regan Gough, centre, with runner-up James Fouche, left, and third placegetter Jack Marryatt during this year's national road race presentations. Photo/File

Hawke's Bay Olympian Regan Gough is awaiting a medical clearance in the countdown to his defence of the New Zealand under-23 men's road race cycling title in Napier on January 7.

"I rate my chances of getting it as 50-50 and I hope to know by the end of this week or early next week. Even if I do get one I don't rate my chances of retaining the title very high because of those medical issues," Gough said last night.

The issues the Rio Olympian referred to have nagged him since 2015 and, as has been the case since they surfaced, he prefers to keep the content of them private.

However should the multiple world title winner receive the thumbs up to ride Gough won't be short of motivational ammunition.

Cycling New Zealand have received the New Zealand Cyclist Corps Memorial Trophy from Belgium, after its presentation to elite Kiwi riders Jack Bauer and Sam Bewley recently.

The trophy, produced from a cobblestone lifted from the famed Kemmelberg and set in wood from the trenches of Flanders Field, is to honour the New Zealand Cyclist Corps who served on the Western Front during the Great War.

The little-known NZCC suffered their heaviest losses at the Battle of Kemmelberg in Belgium in 1918, with the cobbled hill now an iconic climb in the Gent-Wevelgem World Tour race which is based in Flanders Fields and passes the likes of Ypres, Messines, Menin Gate and the Kemmelberg.

The race organiser, together with the local town and the New Zealand embassies in Brussels and Paris, produced the trophy for Cycling New Zealand.

"It was special to win the title on home soil this year without a trophy. To win something like this new trophy would be pretty cool ... it has a fair bit of significance," Gough, 21, said.

The 2015 Hawke's Bay Sportsperson of the Year and three-time winner of the Central Hawke's Bay Sportsperson of the Year award agreed the road circuit for next month's nationals is cycling's equivalent of going to war. The 171km course over Napier streets and Hawke's Bay rural roads includes a gruelling climb of Napier Hill.

Gough, who also won the under-23 time trial at this year's nationals, pointed out he won't be short of quality competition in his age group should he compete. This year's runner-up James Fouche of Auckland and third placegetter Jake Marryatt of Canterbury will both be back.

Of interest will be the in-form Vantage Elite Track riders including Campbell Stewart, Tom Sexton, Harry Waine, Nick Kergozou and Jared Gray who won the team pursuit title at the World Cup in Chile last weekend.

The under-23 women's line-up includes this year's road winner Amanda Jamieson of Hawke's Bay, time trial champion Mikayla Harvey, talented Marlborough rider Georgia Catterick and current elite track riders Bryony Botha, Michaela Drummond and Holly Edmondston.

A New Zealand under-23 team will compete at the Gent-Wevelgem race next year, which will incorporate the centenary commemoration of the Battle of Kemmelberg.

"Our under-23 riders compete alongside our elites at the national championships, and for them it is an important race not just for the titles at stake, but also to press their claims," said Cycling New Zealand Athlete Development Manager, Graeme Hunn.

"We have arguably our strongest group of under-23 riders, both female and male, who have been producing outstanding form on the roads of Europe and around the globe, as well as on the track.

"Added to that will be the motivation to be the first person to win this very moving trophy which is a pertinent link to our past and the very strong bond that exists between the people of Belgium and New Zealand, and carries on today through cycling."

Time trials for the nationals will be based at Church Road Winery on January 5. The elite and under-23 women's road races will be staged the following day and the elite and under-23 men's road races will be staged on the final day of the champs.

The elite men's field will be released today and the elite women's field tomorrow.