Te Awamutu Sports Cycling Club’s Lewis Johnston ranked UCI No. 1 in the world

Lewis Johnston (centre) after the 2022 Track National Championships in Cambridge. Photo / Cycling New Zealand

Te Awamutu Sports Cycling Club’s Lewis Johnston, 18, has been ranked No.1 in the world for junior men’s points race, out of more than 500 cyclists.

The ranking comes from combined points scored over Johnston’s first placing in the 2022 Track National Championships in Cambridge, first in the 2022 Oceania Track Cycling Championships in Brisbane, and fourth at the UCI Track Cycling Junior Championships in Tel Aviv, Israel.

“It came as quite a shock. I’ve always known how to ride a points race and have always been competitive in them, but to be ranked No.1 still came as quite a surprise,” says Tamahere-based Johnston.

“I think the biggest highlight for me was the bronze medal ride in the team’s pursuit at the junior world champs in Tel Aviv this year.

Lewis Johnston was the 2022 captain of the cycling team at St Peter's School Cambridge and also won the award for most outstanding male sportsman of the year. Photo / Supplied

“To have travelled overseas with close friends and teammates competing in a sport I love was honestly the best experience to date which I’ll never forget.

“I was very privileged to have support from my family and the cycling community both in Cambridge and Te Awamutu this helped me to travel to the places I needed to, and achieve what I achieved.”

The 2022 captain of the cycling team at St Peter’s School Cambridge, Johnston also won the award for most outstanding male sportsman of the year at St Peter’s.

“I honestly didn’t expect it at all. I knew at St Peter’s there is a huge amount of very competitive and talented athletes across all sports. So, to be given the award was a surprise and an honour.”

Johnston is a third-generation Te Awamutu Sports Cycling Club member. Joining at the age of 12 (his first year at St Peter’s), he is now in his final weeks of high school.

He says he has always admired “how hard professional cyclists push themselves in order to achieve results or better themselves”.

Johnston now looks to the New Zealand Cycle Classic, which will take place from January 10-15 in the Masterton region – it will be his first multistage road race.