Sam Bewley to help guide NZ to top at champs

HIGH HOPES: Rotorua's Sam Bewley is set to compete at the UCI Road Cycling Championships in Italy. PHOTO/FILE

Rotorua's Olympic medallist Sam Bewley has been selected in a New Zealand cycling team to take on the best in the business.

The UCI Road Cycling Championships are being held in Florence from September 22 to September 29, with BikeNZ naming a 14-strong team this week to take part.

The men's elite road course, totalling 272km, includes 10 laps of a 16.5km circuit and a 107km cycle. The course features nearly 60km of climbing and a vertical climb of 3km.

Bewley (Orica GreenEDGE) will act as a support rider in the high-profile men's elite road race and will compete in the time trial alongside his Olympic teammate Jesse Sergent (Radioshack Leopard).

Meanwhile, Nelson's George Bennett, 23, has been a standout this year on the World Tour for RadioShack-Leopard.

BikeNZ high performance director Mark Elliott said Bewley and outstanding Garmin Sharp rider Jack Bauer would be supporting Bennett during the road race.

"George is the obvious go-to man for a course like this. Jack has freshened up after his brilliant effort in the Tour de France and has trained specifically for the road race to support George while Sam will focus on protecting George in the first half of the race."

The championships comprise a team time trial on September 22, time trials for junior women (14.5km) and under-23 men (42.7km) on September 23, junior men and elite women (both 25.34km) on September 24 and elite men (56.8km) on September 25. The road races comprise junior women (82.85km) and under-23 men (172.79km) on September 27, junior men and elite women (both 139.65km) on September 28 and elite men (272.26km) on September 29.

The BikeNZ team is:

Elite men: George Bennett (Nelson, Radioshack Leopard, road race); Jack Bauer (Takaka, Garmin Sharp, road race); Jesse Sergent (Feilding, Radioshack Leopard, Time trial); Sam Bewley (Rotorua, Orica GreenEDGE, time trial, road race).

Elite women: Linda Villumsen (Auckland, Wiggle Honda, time trial, road race); Emily Collins (Auckland, Wiggle Honda, road race), Reta Trotman (Dunedin, Maxx Solar Stevens, road race); Jo Kiesanowski (Christchurch, Team TIBCO, road race).

Under-23 Men: James Oram (Bontrager Cycling, North Harbour, time trial, road race), Michael Vink (Christchurch, time trial); Dion Smith (Champion Systems, Auckland, road race); Alex Frame (Thuringer Energie, Christchurch, road race).

Junior women: Devon Hiley (Auckland, road race); Madison Campbell (Christchurch, road race).

Unavailable for selection were Hayden Roulston, Greg Henderson, Georgia Williams and Josh Atkins.