"With a lot of younger riders, there are more opportunities if you are good enough. The team want me fit and ready to go for the Tour Down Under, which will be a big race for me [starting January 16]. You only get one chance to make a first impression."
While Bevin is aged only 24, he has already packed in plenty of experience to provide confidence for the future.
He moved to the United States at 19 to ride for the Bissell continental team for three years and impressed many before returning home in late 2013 as the team folded.
"On reflection, I was too young going to Bissell and it was a hard way to get into the sport. I needed direction and support but was pretty much left to my own devices.
"I did have some success but it was a hard pill to swallow. That said, everything you do is experience - the good, the bad and the ugly are all part of it."
Almost by chance, he returned to the track, with success in the World Cup in Mexico and at the national championships earning selection for the Commonwealth Games, where the winning form of Shane Archbold meant he did not get to compete.
Bevin returned to the road last year with the Avanti Racing team, a continental grouping on both sides of the Tasman.
The team, which plied its trade on financial vapours compared with the rich teams, were determined to do things right.
"We decided we would operate like a full-time professional outfit without being pros. We had a long season and a lot of variety racing around Asia."
He learned much, enjoyed the camaraderie of the team and the direction of its management along with the guidance from his coach Simon Finnel.
Bevin took out general classification wins at the Tour of Korea and the prestigious Herald Sun Tour along with the points jersey at the Tour of Taiwan, sixth at the national road championships, third in the time trial and 13th in the UCI Cadel Evans race.
"It's hard to get noticed when you are not racing in Europe but it was an enjoyable season."
With the help of an agent, Bevin garnered some interest including from the Tinkoff Saxo team, who invited him to a training camp at the same time as the Tour de France.
On the first rest day of the Tour, he received a simple email with an offer to join the Cannondale team.
"It was a pretty average email, to tell the truth. But it was the team I wanted and the one my Avanti team believed would be best for me."
He was overawed when he attended the first team camp in Aspen in October.
"At Avanti, we had 10 riders and six or seven staff. Here were 30 riders and maybe 40 or 50 staff. And here I was among some riders I admire," he said of the team that includes the likes of Andrew Talansky, Rigoberto Uran and Simon Clark.
He has yet to talk to fellow Kiwi and teammate Bauer, who bypassed the camp as he rebuilds following his devastating crash in the Tour de France.
"He will be my first call when I get to Europe. And I will be leaning on him for advice."
He will be one of six New Zealanders in the highest echelon of the sport, along with Bauer, George Bennett (Lotto Jumbo NL), Greg Henderson (Lotto Soudal), Sam Bewley (Orica GreenEdge) and Jesse Sergent (AG2R La Mondiale).
Bevin is under no illusions about the task ahead in what he believes is the toughest of professional sports.
"It is a brutal sport. It makes me smile when I hear young people in other sports complain about their sport being hard. Professional cycling is just brutal but I'm ready for it."
Bevin says his dream start would be victory at the national championships in Hawkes Bay on January 8-10.
