Cycling: Crowd could be spark for Bay hope Amanda Jamieson in under-23 nationals

Amanda Jamieson in her winner's jersey after her under-23 road race victory this year. Photo / File

COULD the Hawke's Bay home crowd help compensate for cyclist Amanda Jamieson's lack of training kilometres in the countdown to her national under-23 road race title defence in Napier next month?

"Yes ... racing in front of family and friends will definitely help," Waipukurau's Jamieson replied.

Back and knee injuries have limited her training during the last couple of months. The 20-year-old who is about to enter her second year with the semi-professional Netherlands-based team Maaslandster Veris CCN has only resumed full training during the past fortnight.

"If I had to be honest I would have to say my chances of retaining the title weren't very good if I had to compare my training schedule to previous years. While I won't have the same kilometres on the clock as I have put in previous years I'm confident I will be 100 per cent on the day," Jamieson said referring to the January 6 114km road race on day two of the BDO-sponsored nationals.

It's fair to say Jamieson, who won this year's race in 3hrs 24m 33s, has certainly made up for lost time time since resuming full training.

"Last week I had some crash sessions mixing sprints with some long rides. This week I've had some long rides and today it was a nice easy 130kms," Jamieson said shortly after refuelling.

"That was originally scheduled for Wednesday but I changed it because it was too windy and too dangerous."

When quizzed who she regarded as her toughest rivals Jamieson said all of the starters were very good and had a chance of winning. That was the case this year when all six starters recorded the same time.

"From what I hear this year's under-23 field will be stronger but it's hard to go past the likes of Rushlee Buchanan and Georgia Williams in the elite field," she said referring to four-time winner Buchanan and four-time runner-up Williams.

This year's Junior Female award winner at the Central Hawke's Bay Sports Awards function, Jamieson described her first year with her Netherlands team in Europe as "an up and down one".

"It's good to have a lot of races in other parts of the world. You learn from your low points. In Europe it's touch and go in each race."

A second placing on the final stage of her last race, a tour in Ireland was her highlight.
"I had no hesitation in signing for the team again. There will be another Kiwi next year and an Aussie. I know quite a lot of them now ... our team is like a family," Jamieson said.

"I'm hoping another year with them will be another step towards my goal of a full professional contract."

After the nationals Jamieson will heat to Australia for two UCI races before heading to Asia for an eight-day tour in Vietnam with her Maaslandster Veris CCN team. It will be her first taste of racing in Vietnam.

The first event for the elite riders will be the 20km time trial which will be based at Church Road Winery on January 5.

The road race is a similar course to 2017, although there is no added flat lap at the end of the course to bring the riders back in the opposite direction to the finish line.

Instead after the rural loop (55km for women), the riders head over Napier Hill to the start-finish line, with a further five full city loops over the hill, leaving a 500m sprint finish along the foreshore on the final lap to the finish.

A record 210 entries have been received for the elite races. Seventy three riders have entered the time trials, four more than the previous record of 69 in 2008.

Race manager Ivan Aplin pointed out there was a 20 per cent increase in elite entries during the first two years they were hosted in the Bay and a 10 per cent increase for next month's nationals.

The breakdown of entries are:
Time trial: Women's elite 15, women's under-23 10, men's elite 20, men's under-23 28.
Road race: Women's elite, 22, women's under-23 16, men's elite 51, men's under-23 46.