Cycling New Zealand has selected a six-strong national team to contest the season-starting Tour Down Under in Adelaide this month.
The New Zealand team comprises Ally Wollaston and Rylee McMullen (both Waikato), Canterbury’s Annamarie Lipp and Auckland riders Bryony Botha, Ella Wyllie and Prudence Fowler.
The Santos Tour Downunder runs from 15-17 January and is proceeded by the Schwalbe Classic criterium on 14 January.
Some of the riders, led by Commonwealth Games gold medallist Bryony Botha, team are part of the Cycling New Zealand endurance track squad, but all are also accomplished road riders.
Wollaston has completed a successful second year with AG Insurance NXTG, winning the Grand Prix du Morbihan, the green jersey and third on GC in the Lotto Belgium Tour and the Bretagne Ladies Tour.
Wyllie rode strongly for Parkhotel Valkenburg UCI team in 2022, winning the mountains classification at the Watersley Challenge in the Netherlands, while McMullen had two excellent performances in the US with InstaFund Racing.
Lipp rode for Torelli Cayman Islands Scimitar in Europe after excellent performances in both the under-23 road race and time trial at the Oceania Championships, while Fowler came in as a trainee for IBCT, an Irish team based in Belgium.
Cycling New Zealand women’s endurance track coach Paul Manning said the event was an excellent early-season racing opportunity for the promising young road riders, as well as ideal preparation for the track riders ahead of important Nations Cup competition.
The racing starts with the Schwalbe Classic on 14 January, a one-hour Criterium in Adelaide. The first stage of the Santos Tour Down Under for women is 110km from Glenelg to Aldinga with one climb and long stretches along famed coastline, which is ideally set for sprinters.
Stage 2 is 90km from Birdwood to Uraidla which includes the ascent of Mt Lofty, ahead of the demanding final stage of 93kms from Adelaide to Campbelltown 93km which features 1773m of climbing that includes the demanding Corkscrew Rd in the Adelaide Hills.
The New Zealand team will be managed by national women’s endurance track coach, Paul Manning.