Cycling: Time short for cyclists to cement Olympic places

May 28 is the last day for the Olympic aspirations of New Zealand's leading cyclists.

Road and track cyclists will have to prove by then to national selectors Gordon Sharrock, Graham Sycamore and Gary Bell that they are good enough for the Sydney Olympics in September.

The road team will finish the arduous Tour of Japan on May 28, which is also the last day of the three-day World Cup track meeting in Cali, Colombia. The Games team is expected to be named on May 31.

The road team members for the Japan tour, which starts on May 20, are Graeme Miller, Glen Mitchell, Scott Guyton, Brendan Vesty, Warren Clark and Bryce Shapley.

The full track team will be in Cali to compete in all but the Madison and Olympic sprint. However, if circumstances allow they may be entered in those two events.

Sharrock said the Japan tour would be a good test because it was classified at the upper levels of difficulty for riders hoping to compete at the Olympics.

It is likely that two positions in the team are up for grabs, with European-based riders Julian Dean and Chris Jenner expected to snare the other two.

"Those two are racing the guys every week who can be expected to be frontrunners during the Tour de France and the Olympics," Sharrock said.

"Chris Jenner's team may have dropped to division two but that doesn't have any effect on the events he rides in and he is still competing in the same areas as Julian Dean.

"Within the next year or two we may have two New Zealand riders in the Tour de France."

The remaining riders all performed well at last month's road national championships, when Glen Thomson took the title.

The track riders have a training camp in Wanganui next week and will have nine men and four women in Cali.

Main interest will centre on the performance of the men's pursuit team and Sarah Ulmer in the women's individual pursuit.

The selectors will then meet to consider their final choices, which will be confirmed for a meeting with the New Zealand Olympic Committee on May 31.

- NZPA