Cycling: Kiwis ready for Italian job

Greg Henderson. Photo / Kenny Rodger

New Zealand's two top riders, Greg Henderson and Julian Dean will take the start line with their respective teams when the first of the season's cycling grand tours, the Giro Italia, begins on Sunday morning (NZ time).

The tour, which ends on May 31 after 21-stages at Verona, opens with an 8.4km individual time-trial at Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.

Henderson, riding for his new Sky team, will be making his second appearance at the Italian race. His first appearance in 2007 with the now defunct German T-Mobile team saw him abandon after the ninth stage, but not without recording a top 20 finish in stage five.

Henderson, 25th in the Pro-Tour rankings, did not finish his latest race, the Tour of Romandie which ended today.

He started well with a seventh in the first stage, but abandoned on the penultimate fourth stage.

His biggest success this year was winning a stage in the prestigious Paris-Nice race in March.

He said on his Twitter account he had a "few minor issues to suss before the Giro. Like um...legs" .

Henderson's team contains multiple world and Olympics individual pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins, a surprise fourth at last year's Tour de France.

Dean, riding for the Garmin team, will be making his fifth Giro appearance and trying to emulate or better his 2008 showing when he took three top 10 finishes before abandoning after the 18th stage.

Last year, Dean completed the 21-stage tour in 136th despite being hampered by a badly gashed thigh he suffered in a lead-up race.

Dean said on his latest website posting he has been "head down, arse up plugging away on getting myself ready for the Giro".

"Things have been going pretty well lately. I've finally found some consistency in my training and my health seems to be definitely on its way up. The (one-day) classics were, in a word, `crap' for me really.

"I grovelled my way through them doing what I could for our team leaders and although I did start to improve by the end of them, I certainly wasn't jumping for joy with the sensations I was feeling on the bike.

"Since coming home I've been able to focus solely on my training and diet. I'm finally starting to feel that for the first time since coming back to Europe I'm heading in the right direction."

Garmin is fielding a competitive team for the Giro with Dean alongside top riders such as Americans Christian Vandevelde and Tyler Farrar, Briton David Millar and Australians Cameron Meyer and Jack Bobridge.

Fellow Kiwi professional Hayden Roulston, who raced the tour last year, has been left off Team Columbia's roster as he is still couch-ridden with flu-like symptoms since the Paris-Roubaix race three weeks ago, where he finished 10th despite feeling ill.

Roulston, said on his website he had been "as crook as a dog since Roubaix" with "on and off flu type symptoms and I've really struggled with my health".

"I first got this flu in Roubaix and really looking back I shouldn't have raced...however I really wanted too and I'm thankful I did as I did a good one there as you all know...but it really took it out of me."

- NZPA