Cycling: Road race courses suit kiwis

Cycling NZ coach Brendon Cameron believes New Zealand riders will go extremely well on the road and time-trial courses at this month's Commonwealth Games.

Cameron, who works with Olympic and world champion, Sarah Ulmer, told NZPA the couple had been in Melbourne in mid-January using a GPS (global positioning system) unit to break down both courses.

A DVD of both courses had been made and distributed to the New Zealand road team to study.

"Sarah and I flew over and did a recce of the time trial and road courses so we knew exactly where we were going," Cameron told NZPA.

Ulmer rode both courses and Cameron said: "She's pretty green at time trialling -- (but) she wasn't horrified by it."

She is such a professional rider these days, she is at the level where she can adapt to any course."

The time trial course at the St Kilda foreshore ran beside the beach for about 800m before turning inland, a 14-1/2km outward journey, a big turn and back the same distance.

"Basically it is dead flat -- a fast course."

Cameron reckoned New Zealand's time trial riders -- Ulmer, Melissa Holt and Alison Shanks -- would do well.

"It's a course that needs a lot of power.

"There are no hills or corners to break up the rhythm so you are not accelerating or changing position.

"You are in a downhill skier's position the whole time so you need to be a strong rider."

It would be all about mainly getting up to a good speed early and maintaining a high speed for a long period of time "because there's nothing in the course that's going to break up the monotony."

As for Ulmer's bike, Cameron said they would be using lightweight, super-skinny tyres because there was minimal cornering.

"Sarah's come away from the big gear stuff she used in pursuiting and she is naturally pedalling at quite a high cadence -- the good thing with a road bike is you can use whatever gear you like."

The road course was a "power course" and would suit New Zealand riders such as Greg Henderson and Hayden Roulston.

The 11km course in the Royal Botanic Gardens -- the women will do nine laps -- had three steep climbs and three sharp descents successively.

"What makes them difficult is that you have to shut the speed down before every climb because there are some sharp corners leading into them," Cameron said.

"It is going to be a race to get into the top ten (riders) to enter the climbs and then the front guy is gonna hit it hard.

"If you are at the back of the bunch, you are going to get dangled out and have to chase in the descent which is also quite steep.

"(The other thing was) If people attack hard, they can get out of sight quickly because part of the route is in a residential area with a lot of turns and corners and if three or four get away, they are gonna get out of sight."

- NZPA