KEY POINTS:
A cool Hayden Roulston is out to make an impression in the nine-day Tour of California cycling race in his return to big-time road racing.
Roulston, riding for the newly-founded Cervelo Test team, is one of three New Zealanders in the race starting on Saturday. The others are Jeremy Vennell and Peter Latham in the Bissel Pro lineup.
The race will be run under the intense media glare created by the returns to competitive cycling of Americans Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis.
Armstrong, one of the sport's greatest riders has come out of retirement at age 37 and Landis was the 2006 champion in California who went on to win that year's Tour de France before being stripped of his title after failing a dope test.
Several other big names will be contesting the 1207km event, including twice defending champion Levi Leipheimer of the United States, 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre of Spain and last year's Olympic time trial gold medallist Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland.
Also in the field are 2006 Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso of Italy and 2005 world road race champion Tom Boonen of Belgium.
"This is basically a Tour de France calibre field with Armstrong, Sastre, Basso and Cancellara in the field," Roulston said from Westlake near Los Angeles where his team are hunkered down in the prelude to the race.
This race is Roulston's first back as a professional roadie since mid-2006 when his career stalled because of a diagnosed heart ailment.
He turned to the track and last year won a silver medal in the individual pursuit and a bronze in the team pursuit at the Beijing Olympics.
"It is my first road race back (as a professional) and it is going to be interesting to see just where I sit.
"I don't have any nervousness. I have been here and done it so there's no pre-race jitters," said Roulston, 27, whose first professional road team was France's Cofidis (2002-2004) and American teams, Armstrong's Discovery Channel (2005) and Health Net (2006).
"It is the road, it's what I love doing.
"You cruise off the line, you've got time to work into it and the crunch time comes later so I actually prefer this over the track which is all on, right from the first pedal stroke."
Roulston last raced the California Tour in 2006 with the Health Net team prior to the Melbourne Commonwealth games.
"I had a couple of good results in the prologue and time trial but it is a totally different course this time.
"There's a lot of climbing this year and made to test the climbers - so we'll just see how it goes."
Roulston said his team leader Sastre wasn't a serious contender.
"He will be cruising through this race aiming to come out in better shape than what he went into it - his goals are for later in the season and it is the same with (top sprinter) Thor Hushovd."
Norwegian Hushovd, who has worn the yellow jersey in the Tour de France and won a number of its stages, was not yet in peak form.
" All the same he'll be good in a couple of stages and we'll help Thor try and secure stage wins.
"As for me, it's a little open at the moment and the first couple of days will dictate what happens.
"But I've got pretty high aims - I am feeling in pretty good nick and been training really well. I'm just excited and grateful to be here."
Vennell and Latham are likely to spearhead their team's goal of winning at least a stage.
Vennell, the reigning New Zealand time trial champion, is one of three time trial specialists in Bissel Pro.
Latham, the 2004 New Zealand under-23 time trial champion but now a track pursuit specialist, is one of a trio of sprinters in the side, managed by former New Zealand Olympics road rider Glen Mitchell.
Vennell, who won the Wellington tour's time trial stage recently said: "I have spent a lot of time working with my new coach on the time trial.
"The goal is for a good ride at the Tour of California.
"Of course, the time trial is not until stage six so there will be a lot of racing and hills before that."
The race starts in Sacramento and finishes in Escondido.
- NZPA
