"It's an absolute pleasure to be here.
"It's a real honour to commemorate this particular part of the army, I feel that it's appropriate that it's going to the under-23's because that's the age our men were when they went overseas."
Napier City Council events manager Kevin Murphy said the carnival had a difficult start yesterday with the adverse weather during the time trials.
"It's been a challenging start to the day because of the weather but we got through it and everyone was really pleased with how we were able to get through the racing," he said.
"You have to be impressed by some of the riders, the way that they rode with the wind.
"There was not much more than 1km that they didn't have a cross or head-wind."
The weather should improve today and be even better by tomorrow, Mr Murphy said.
"I just think as long as you can see good racing and that the crowd appreciates it and gets out to support the riders, that's really what we want."
One exciting part of this year's events was that the races were streamed live from www.elite-road-nationals.cyclingnewzealand.nz and more than 1500 people viewed yesterday's time trials, he said.
"We're really pleased with our live-streaming action."
Lyndal Johansson, from iWay, said Wednesday's iWay Family Fun Ride would be a great way of getting as many members of the community on their bikes as possible and enjoying a traffic-free section of Marine Parade for 90 minutes.
Other events throughout the five-day carnival include the Tineli Gran Fondo Ride, Bay Espresso Winery Fun Ride, Avanti Dress Your Bike Competition and Black Barn Vineyards Criterium.
The BDO Elite Road National Championships - Women & U23 Race will be held today and the Men & U23 Race will be held tomorrow.