Cycling: Elite cyclists commit to Bay

Julian Dean reveals the big names who will front for the January Elite Road Nationals in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Duncan Brown

Talk about the Who's Who of New Zealand cycling and Julian Dean's name will pop up within seconds.

At the peak of his career Dean, 40, who competed as a road race professional between 1999 and 2013, was considered the best lead out rider in the world. In his role as event ambassador for the Big Save Elite Road National Championships which will be raced in Hawke's Bay from January 8-10, Dean, rattled off several others from that's Who's Who list when releasing confirmed starters during a Black Barn Vineyards, Havelock North-hosted function last night to launch the Hawke's Bay Summer Cycling Carnival.

World Tour riders Sam Bewley, Jesse Sergent, George Bennet, Patrick Bevan and Greg Henderson were among them. A bronze medallist at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Bewley, who Dean coaches, was a stage winner on this year's Tour of Italy with his professional team Orica-Greenedge.

He was also a bronze medallist in the world team time trial championship in 2012. Dean said while Bewley's best quality is his capacity to be a good teammate he really wants an individual victory and the Hawke's Bay-hosted nationals is possibly his best opportunity.

A Time Trial specialist, Sergent, was also a bronze medallist at Beijing. Last year he posted a second placing on the final stage of the Tour of Spain. Next year he will be riding for AG2R a powerhouse of French cycling teams and Dean predicted Sergent will race in his first Tour de France next year.

"Jesse will be keen to take a New Zealand champion's jersey to France to wear in the tour. World Tour teams like international champions because their national champion jerseys stand out in the pelotons," Dean explained.

"When you see Kiwis in foreign teams it is because they are better than any other rider. Kiwis don't mind doing the donkey work," Dean said.

Bennet rides for the Dutch Lotto-Jumbo team. He finished 10th in the overall general classification on this year's Tour Down Under. Dean predicted Bennet to shine on the tough inner city circuits of the January nationals. Bevan will ride for the American World Tour team Cannondale-Garmin next year after representing Avanti Racing this year. Dean rode for the American team after winning the 2008 elite nationals in Hawke's Bay.

Could this prove to be a lucky omen for Bevan?

A previous world champion on the track, Henderson, is the most seasoned of all Kiwi riders.

He is one of only two New Zealanders to win stages on the Tour of Spain.

"Greg has never won a New Zealand championship. This is likely to be his swan song as a World Tour rider in New Zealand and there will be no better way to end his career than with a win in his last national championships ... he will be coming from abroad with a lot of focus," Dean said.

An assistant sporting director and mentor for Orica-Greenedge these days, Dean, ranked this year's winner Joe Cooper and 23-year-old Brad Evans, who won last week's Tour of Southland, as the non World Tour riders to watch.

Event director Ivan Aplin said the Church Road Winery will be the base for the Time Trial and Napier's Marine Parade the base for the road race which will see competitors race over Napier Hill. The elite men's road race will be 180km and the women's 110km.

"It will be a race of attrition. When Julian [Dean] won here in 2008 he said it wasn't hard enough.

"So we've made it more challenging with lots of hills," Aplin added.