Linda Villumsen won the Elite Women's time trial at the 2015 UCI world road cycling championships; Graham Watson.
A New Zealand world champion cyclist will line up at the national road championships in Napier for the first time.
Linda Villumsen became the first Kiwi to win a UCI road world championship when she won the time trial in the United States during September.
More than 100 elite riders
will contest the championships which form part of a summer cycling carnival in Hawke's Bay from January 8-10.
"To win this race and wear the New Zealand jersey in races in Europe is much sought-after and something the riders and their teams value greatly. So they are well-motivated to win this," said event ambassador Julian Dean, who remembers the kudos he received wearing the national jersey in the Tour de France.
"To be the national champion is a point of difference in the peloton and you receive significantly more profile."
