KEY POINTS:
Interest will be high in how well Hawke's Bay's Jeremy Yates will perform in the six-day Tour of Southland cycling race, beginning today in Invercargill, after returning from a two-year drugs ban.
But defending champion Hayden Roulston, now riding for the Ron Cheatley-helmed Zookeepers team, feels there are several riders capable of competing for the title, including Yates and New Zealand teammate Jeremy Vennell who will be riding for the American Bissell Pro team.
The key will be strong support from team members, Roulston feels.
Roulston, who rode for the Cycle Surgery team last year said: "You really need a team to win this race and I proved it last year - I was the strongest rider in the race but I couldn't have done it without the team."
In the Zookeepers, Roulston will have road time-trial specialist Gordon McCauley and young internationals Sam Bewley, Paul Odlin and Michael Torckler riding shotgun for him.
Yates has been in very strong form since returning to the sport this year after serving a two-year ban imposed by the Belgian cycling body for taking drugs.
Subway team manager Greg Hume said: "It will be interesting to see where Yates' condition will be at after having recently returned to the sport. We may be pleasantly surprised if his form holds over the six days.
"He was heavily outnumbered by Vennell's team in the K2, forcing him to do a lot of the work but he still came out on top so it's a credit to him and his form - he's pulled up well and had a good week training and is going into the tour with a lot of confidence."
Subway also have track star Hayden Godfrey to lend leadership to the team which also include under-23 riders Joe Cooper, Josh England and James Williamson.
One team who could push the Zookeeepers, Subway and Bissell Pro are Colourplus who have New Zealand internationals Tim Gudsell, a Pro Tour rider with French team FDJ, Marc Ryan, Logan Hutchings, Westley Gough and Reon Park.
"It's pretty good to be here to try and defend my title, I've done my training to come into good form later in the race," Roulston said.
"It'll be good to front up against [world road championship teammate] Vennell again.
"I've got a lot of respect for Yates as a rider and despite being away for two years, he seems to be the Jeremy of old - he's a naturally gifted rider ... he'll be there or thereabouts along with about five other riders," Roulston added.
As always, stage 2 today up Bluff Hill will give an indication of which riders are in form and gruelling stage 6 through the Crown Range from Lumsden to Arrowtown over 133.9km could well decide the outcome of the race.
- NZPA