KEY POINTS:
The NZCT Women's Cycle Tour of New Zealand taking place in the lower North Island offers huge learning opportunities for emerging cyclists, New Zealand team manager John Dean says.
The tour, starting today, has attracted the best field in its history, with top teams from Switzerland, Germany and the United States contesting the five-day, six-stage event.
Four of the world's top professional teams, with 12 of the top 20 riders in the world among them, will line up when the tour begins with a 35km criterium around the streets of Lower Hutt.
Dean, a former Olympic and Commonwealth Games representative, is under no illusion about the task facing his largely inexperienced team.
"I'm rapt to see the number of extremely good bike riders here.
"There are some excellent teams coming. Jorge (Sandoval, race director) has put together a pretty good field.
"We have a very young squad. It's not a super-powerful team, but there's a little bit of experience in there."
The team are led by Serena Sheridan and Kaytee Boyd, with Marina Duvnjak, Carissa Wilkes, Sarah Murdoch and Yvette Hill-Willis completing the lineup.
Sheridan, Wilkes and Duvnjak contested last week's Geelong Women's tour across the Tasman.
Dean said his riders could learn a lot from the "phenomenal" amount of international experience around them over the tour's five days in and around Wellington and Wairarapa.
"My personal target for the girls is to scrounge and use as much of the experience that is there. It's going to be quite a big learning curve for them.
"When I was riding, my opportunities were gained from sucking out as much information as I could.
"You keep your eyes wide open and your ears flapping and your mouth shut, and you'll be surprised at what you learn."
Dean said it would be easy for his cyclists to feel intimidated by the range of strong and experienced riders contesting the Wellington tour.
"But really, the more problems you come up against racing against individuals who are stronger or more experienced the better.
"When your ring's hanging out over the back of the saddle, and you're going 'mate, this is hurting', it's hurting the other fancy riders just as much."
- NZPA
