A 30-strong group of riders has been named in the cycling team to represent New Zealand at the upcoming Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
There's a mixture of youth and experience in the group, which boasts 15 rookies among its ranks.
Headlining the veteran core is sprinter Sam Webster, who'll be looking to add to his four gold medals at his fourth Commonwealth Games.
Road ace Jack Bauer is another leading medal, having won silver at Glasgow 2014, while Aaron Gate will look to carry his red-hot form to the UK.
The women's team includes the world’s top ranked young rider of 2021, Niamh Fisher-Black, and fellow young Kiwi stars in Mikayla Harvey and Ella Harris, Gold Coast silver medallist Georgia Williams and Henrietta Christie.
The men’s endurance track team includes three riders from the quartet that went under the world record by two seconds in Tokyo, and will be hoping to set things right, with their competition at the Lee Valley Velodrome, used for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The women's endurance squad will likely focus more on individual events, with a number of the Tokyo squad retired or recovering from illness and injury.
But they have Bryony Botha, who will be a real hope in individual pursuit, after breaking the New Zealand record four times over the summer, as well as outstanding young prospect Ally Wollastan.
The women's sprint team is led by Tokyo medallist Ellesse Andrews, with the addition of BMX Olympic semi-finalist Rebecca Petch, who will be strong medal hopes in team sprint. The male sprinters will look more for individual honours, led by Webster and Sam Dakin.
Mountain bike should again provide medals, with world No. 11 Anton Cooper and Sam Gaze both with a gold and silver from 2014 and 2018 along with world No. 38 Ben Oliver, fourth in the Gold Coast.
"With Tokyo pushing out a further year, this has been a tight timeframe for rebuilding, and like many, we have had illness and injury though these Covid times," said Cycling New Zealand chief executive Monica Robbers.
"That aside, we think this is a very strong group of riders. Half are very experienced professionals with success over previous Games and on the world scene, and the other half are young and exciting riders for the future.
"The Commonwealth Games is an important competition in its own right, as well as the only multi-sport Games for our riders to learn from in terms of Olympic aspirations.
"We are thrilled that so many European-based professionals have put up their hands, which shows how much it means to wear the silver fern and to do our sport and our country proud."
The road riders and mountain bikers are already competing in Europe, while the track riders are either in Europe or USA on road campaigns. The sprinters head to USA this week and some will compete in the Nations Cup in Colombia before the track team pre-games camp in Switzerland.
NZ cycling team:
Road:
Female: Ally Wollaston, Henrietta Christie, Niamh Fisher-Black, Ella Harris, Mikayla Harvey, Georgia Williams
Male: Shane Archbold, Jack Bauer, Patrick Bevin, Dion Smith, Aaron Gate, Campbell Stewart.
Track, Sprint:
Female: Ellesse Andrews, Olivia King, Rebecca Petch, Emily Shearman
Male: Sam Dakin, Bradley Knipe, Callum Saunders, Sam Webster.
Track, Endurance:
Female: Bryony Botha, Michaela Drummond, Emily Shearman, Ally Wollaston.
Male: Aaron Gate, George Jackson, Jordan Kerby, Nick Kergozou, Tom Sexton, Campbell Stewart, Corbin Strong.
Mountain Bike:
Male: Anton Cooper, Sam Gaze, Ben Oliver.
