Kiwi cycling's top 10 moments

Sarah Ulmer on the victory dias after receiving the gold medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand cyclists have long made their mark internationally but until a young Allan Miller stunned the pundits with his surprise win at the 1983 World Junior Championships in Wanganui they had failed to win a world title.

Fittingly, it was this country's latest young talent, Sam Webster who claimed New Zealand's 20th coveted Rainbow Jersey as a world champion at last week's championships in Moscow.

While success in the world's greatest race - the Tour de France - continues to elude Kiwi cyclists, there have been many who have made their mark and been snapped up by some big teams.

While 10 riders or events are highlighted, there are many other New Zealanders who have shown they had what it takes to excel in what remains one of the world's greatest sports.

Laurie Byers, Madonna Harris, Des Thomson, Warren Johnston, Jack Swart, Blair Stockwell, Dick Johnstone, Harry Kent, Stephen Cox and Michael Richards are among that list of Kiwi cyclists who were outstanding in their sport but didn't capture international headlines.

1 Sarah Ulmer

Her list of successes is staggering. Born in 1976, Ulmer first had people taking notice when, in 1994 and while still a pupil at Auckland's Diocesan School, she won the individual pursuit and points race at the world junior championships in Quito.

She also added a silver medal to her collection that year - in the pursuit at the Victoria Commonwealth Games.

Four years later in Kuala Lumpur, silver turned to gold at the Commonwealth Games - a title Ulmer then successfully defended in Manchester in 2002. But there were greater successes to come.

At the 2004 World Championships in Melbourne, Ulmer won the 3000m individual pursuit in a world record 3m 30.604s. Again, there was better to come.

In an amazing ride at the Athens Olympics later that year she broke her world record by 6secs in clocking a staggering 3m 24.537s and becoming the first New Zealand cyclist to win Olympic gold.

At the time - 72 years after New Zealand had first had a cyclist at an Olympic Games - Ulmer was just the second Kiwi to be seen on the podium. Ulmer retired in November 2007 after riding on the road at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

2 Brian Fowler and Graeme Miller

Their careers were linked in many ways yet the most enduring memory was their epic chase for gold at the finish of the individual road race at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games.

Fowler, born 1962, had the huge crowd outside Avondale Racecourse firmly on his side as he had chose to ride just two days after learning of his father's death in a freak accident.

Fowler, everybody's "Mr Nice Guy" and a rider with an amazing pedigree, eventually including nine wins in the tough Tour of Southland, was up against Miller, whose younger brother Allan had claimed glory seven years earlier as New Zealand's first world champion.

For Miller, the more abrasive of the pair, there was no room for sentiment as the long-time rivals chased a second gold medal, after claiming victory as members of the 100km time trial team.

In the end Miller got home a length clear of Fowler, who had been hampered by a slow-leaking puncture on the last lap.

It was fitting they should take the top two spots on the podium - eight years after they had shared silver on the track at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games as members of the pursuit team.

Between them they competed at seven Olympics and nine Commonwealth Games. Fowler won that gold in the time trial in 1990 and silver in the individual road races in 1986, 1990, 1994, as well as his medal in 1982. Miller won his double gold in 1990 and silver in the team time trial four years earlier.

3 Gary Anderson

The popular Wanganui cyclist was a pathfinder in New Zealand cycling when he won bronze with a gutsy ride in the 4000m individual pursuit at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Not only was it the first Olympic medal won by a New Zealander at any Olympics it was a triumph for his long-time coach and mentor Ron Cheatley.

Born in London in 1967 but living in New Zealand from 1976, Anderson dominated the track for years despite at times being handicapped by a heart defect. He rode at four Olympics but it was at the Commonwealth Games he really made his mark.

In 1986 in Edinburgh Anderson won silver in the 1000m time trial and team pursuit and bronze in his favoured individual pursuit and the 10 mile scratch - a race in which he was denied gold by the Australians in a blatant "jack-up". His appeal against the illegal tactics was rejected by the jury - headed by an Australian!

Anderson turned the tables four years later however at the Auckland Commonwealth Games where he ruled the Manukau Velodrome, winning gold in the individual and team pursuits and, ironically, the 10 mile scratch. He also repeated his second placing in the kilo time trial.

One of New Zealand's most enduring, Anderson finished a creditable sixth in the pursuit at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

4 Greg Henderson

Dunedin-born (1976) and bred, Henderson has successfully mixed track and road racing.

He first made his mark in 1998 at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, riding to bronze in the team pursuit and 40km points race. He turned bronze into gold in the points race in Manchester four years later where he also claimed a second team pursuit bronze.

His breakthrough came in 2004 when he snatched gold in the 15km scratch at the World Championships in Melbourne.

Switching to the road in 2005, Henderson captured the points competition at the Tour of Georgia and the International Tour de Toona. Injury hampered his 2006 campaign but he recovered to win the inaugural Reading Classic. This year he won Spain's Clasica de Almeria.

5 Allan Miller

"Boy" to his mates, Miller burst on to the world scene in zipping around the concrete track in Wanganui to score an upset win in the 1000m time trial at the 1983 World Junior Championships to become New Zealand's first world cycling champion.

One of three brothers to ride at a high level, Miller was a sometimes wayward talent.

He arrived in Wanganui with, it appeared, no great expectations, other than the chance to have a good time. But once the gun sounded and he was sent on his way he dug deep and churned out the best kilo of the competition to claim gold.

A likeable rogue, Miller was soon out celebrating. He later went to live and race in the US but found life there somewhat different and almost as quickly as he had stormed into the glare of publicity surrounding his achievement, he disappeared.

His older brother, Graeme, then took his turn to wave the family flag.

6 The 1992 Commonwealth Games cycling team

It did not start well when the much-touted road riding quartet Blair Stockwell, Jack Swart, Stephen Cox and Stephen Carton could do little, as hoped-for 100km team time trial gold turned to bronze when Carton's chain jammed and left the other three to lap it out to the finish.

Despair turned to unexpected joy the following night at the Chandler Velodrome, however, when unheralded Craig Adair upset predictions in storming home to post 1m 6.954s for the 1000m time trial.

With the top seven still to ride against the clock, few gave him much chance of a medal let alone gold. In the end the rest came up short and Adair had NZ's first gold of the Brisbane Games.

By the time the cycling programme was completed, 11 of the 12 members of the track/road squad had collected a medal. Only Anthony Cuff, among the most favoured, missed out.

Of added significance were the names among the support staff - veteran administrator Gordon Sharrock as manager and Ron Cheatley and Chick Ratten as coaches.

Cheatley became one of the world's most respected while Ratten sowed the seeds for what became a renaissance in the sport here.

7 Bruce Biddle

Born 1949 in Warkworth, Biddle is "Mr Unlucky" in New Zealand cycling ranks.

After winning the 1969 Dulux North Island tour, Biddle turned in an epic ride in the 102-mile road race at the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.

In treacherous conditions on the rain and windswept 31-lap course and with his teammates playing their part in keeping the peleton under control, Biddle sneaked home by a mere inch from Australian road sprinter Ray Bilney in a frantic two-up finish.

Two years later, and by then based in Europe, Biddle went into the road race at the Munich Olympics with high hopes. While Dutchman Hennie Kuiper rode away to win alone, Biddle found himself in a three-man bunch chasing the remaining medals.

Australian Clyde Sefton won that dash for silver with Spain's Jaime Huelamo edging Biddle by a wheel for bronze. The Spaniard was subsequently disqualified for failing a drugs test.

Biddle was promoted to third but despite a wrangle that continued for years, Olympic officials refused to hand the bronze medal to Biddle as he had not been tested.

Disillusioned, he turned professional in Italy, subsequently finishing second in successive stages of the 1976 Tour of Switzerland and later 34th in the 1978 Giro d'Italia - the race that ranks second as the toughest behind the Tour de France.

8 Harry Watson

The first New Zealander to ride the Tour de France, Watson was one of New Zealand's best.

Tagged "The Mile Eater", Watson (1904-1996) was among the 168 starters in the 1928 Tour de France. He placed 28th among the only 41 finishers in the 22-stage race.

Watson joined an Australasian team - the first English-speaking team to contest Le Tour.

For years he utterly dominated the New Zealand scene. Watson won the Round the Mountain race in Taranaki five times, including 1935 when he completed the 167km in 4h 08m 36s - an average speed of 40km/h. Patrick Bevin won this year's race (now 151km) in 3h 41m 43s.

Watson was the pathfinding Kiwi in the world's greatest race. The next New Zealander to line up was Paul Jesson in 1979 but he did not finish - unlike Tino Tabak, who gave up his New Zealand citizenship to ride for the Netherlands in 1972 when he finished 18th.

Other New Zealanders to ride the tour include Stephen Swart, Eric Mackenzie, Julian Dean (five times), Nathan Dahlberg, Chris Jenner and Hayden Roulston.

Jenner is the only stage winner - a member of the Credit Agricole team time trial winning team. Roulston finished third in stage 14 this year to get on to the podium.

9 Karen Holliday

Little went right for Holliday in her chase for a place in the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games team.

Illness hampered her training, she missed selection and was left to watch as Madonna Harris raced to glory in the 3000m individual pursuit at the Manukau Velodrome.

Not to be outdone, Holliday poured in the training kilometres and convinced the selectors she was worth a place in the team for the World Championships in Japan later in the year.

Riding the intense points race, Holliday was brought down in a mid-race crash. Her bike straightened, Holliday remounted, caught the field and eventually picked up enough points to claim a famous victory - the first senior World Championship for a New Zealand cyclist.

10 Sam Webster

It was a touch ironic that 18-year-old Sam Webster claimed his historic triple-gold haul on the track used almost 30 years earlier for the Moscow Olympics.

The call by the New Zealand Government to boycott those 1980 Games cost some of New Zealand's best track riders the chance to chase Olympic glory.

Webster, a year-13 pupil at Auckland Grammar School, arrived in Moscow a few days after preparing in Europe with no great expectations.

That quickly changed as he, Ethan Mitchell and Cameron Karwowski stunned the big boys with their win in the team sprint.

On his own, Webster stormed home to win the keirin and followed that with his greatest triumph - and the big breakthrough for New Zealand track riders - victory in the ultra-competitive sprint in which he recorded a blistering 10.205s to smash the New Zealand senior record of 10.261s held by Justin Grace who, ironically, is Webster's mentor as the national sprint coach.