Cycling: Pro contract for Bay's world champ

PRO STINT: Hawke's Bay's world champion cyclist Natalie Kerwin will race for new Danish team, Team Virtu Pro-VeloConcept, on the World Tour next year. PHOTO/PAUL TAYLOR

SUGGEST to Hawke's Bay cyclist Natalie Kerwin she's living the ultimate dream and she nods her head.

"Yes it's pretty good when you consider I moved to Hawke's Bay six years ago to party up and only got serious about cycling three years ago," Kerwin, 25 explained as she reflected on her selection for the new Danish team, Team Virtu Pro-VeloConcept, for next year's World Tour.

The only Kiwi in the 12-strong team, Kerwin, is adamant winning the women's 19-34 years road race title at the September world age group championships in Perth played a major part in her selection.

"I'm also of the right age too. Everybody knows cyclists get better as they get older as they cope with the mental side of things better."

Kerwin, who did four years of cycling during her days at Wanganui High School, will leave the Bay on January 21 for a series of training camps before the World Tour begins in Qatar, then heads to Europe, the United States and back to Europe. She will also tackle some UCI events.

"Our team is ranked among the top 10 in the world. Because we're top 10 we qualified for the World Tour ... points accumulated by some of our riders on this year's World Tour qualified us," Kerwin said.

The Hawke's Bay Ramblers Cycling Club member's selection came 12 months earlier than she expected.

"I had stints in Holland and Spain earlier this year as part of my buildup for Perth. The aim was to return to Europe again next year with the aim of scoring a contract but I can tick that off now."

"Holland was tough because of the language barrier. Spain was a lot easier but those stints set me up well for Perth. European racing is a step up from the racing down here in the southern hemisphere," Kerwin said.

A former air conditioning engineer, Kerwin, has been a fulltime cyclist since May.

"I'm looking forward to the professional side of things when all expenses are paid for while we are in the team environment. My contract is for one year but if everything goes to plan I'll go back again. I'm only going to progress and this is all about development," Kerwin said.

Because she is no longer an amateur Kerwin won't be able to attempt to retain her world title in France next year. However she will be able to compete at the elite world championships in Norway during September and October.

Her final event before travelling to Denmark will be the Hawke's Bay-hosted elite nationals from January 5-8.

"Obviously it would be awesome to win the road race before I take off because overseas teams like it when their riders take national title jerseys back to them. But I will be happy with a podium finish which is realistic. I'm doing a lot of base training at the moment, 500kms each week, so I won't be at my peak," Kerwin said.

She predicted Waikato's defending champion Rushlee Buchanan will be hard to beat again.
Kerwin won the Queen of the Mountain title in last month's 40th annual Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge in which she recorded a top 12 finish in the women's field. She said this title was the ideal form of consolation for missing the sprint title she had won for the previous two years.

"I'm moving closer to the top finisher's title which they say is the next logical step after winning the sprint ace and Queen of the Mountain titles so hopefully I'll be back in Taupo next year because it is such a good weekend."

Kerwin is rapt with the input Hawke's Bay-based coach Jeremy Vennell has had in her recent successes.

"Jeremy has been a professional rider and has done it all before so he can speak from first hand experience."

Vennell will continue to mentor Kerwin while she is overseas via the internet.

"That's the beauty of the internet and Facebook he can keep an eye on what I'm up to."

Kerwin believed more Hawke's Bay female riders will be able to follow a similar path to her's in the future.

"Kiwis have such a good reputation in Europe and it's so much easier to get over there now than it was five years ago.There will be a lot of Kiwi and American females racing in Europe next year ... exciting times," she added before it was time for another training ride.