Double rainbow jersey wearer to lead NZ team to Junior Track Worlds

Cycling New Zealand has named a 13-strong team to contest the UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships to be staged in Cairo in August.

It will be the first time that the championships have been staged the Middle East, and will be held in a new velodrome in Cairo, Egypt from 16-21 August, the first built in the region which has a burgeoning cycling culture.

The New Zealand team will be one of the youngest in recent years with many of the team also eligible for the 2021 junior world championships.

It will be led by brilliant Christchurch teenager Laurence Pithie, who won two rainbow jerseys in Germany last year in the omnium and madison with Kiaan Watts. Pithie, a finalist in the Emerging Talent category at next week’s Halberg Awards, combined with Tom Sexton to win the elite madison title at the recent national track championships along with five junior individual titles.

There will be interest in the appearance of fellow Cantabrian Jenna Borthwick, who won six junior titles at the national championships from sprint to endurance events.

There are six riders from Canterbury selected, three from Waikato BOP, two from Auckland and one each from Nelson and Southland.

The team, which will come together for a series of camps and compete in the National Track Series Round two, will be coached by Tim Carswell and Hayden Roulston.

The team is:

Female, endurance: Jenna Borthwick (Canterbury), Prudence Fowler (Auckland), Mikaela Grant (Canterbury), Charlotte Spurway (Canterbury), Ella Wyllie (Auckland).

Male, endurance: Jack Carswell (Waikato BOP), Mitchel Fitzsimons (Southland), Ryan MacLeod (Canterbury), Zakk Patterson (Waikato BOP), Laurence Pithie (Canterbury), Reuben Webster (Waikato BOP). Sprint: Kaio Lart (Nelson), Sebastian Lipp (Canterbury).

Coaches: Tim Carswell, Hayden Roulston.

CAPTION: Laurence Pithie will lead a 13-strong team to the 2020 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships on Cairo, Egypt. (Guy Swarbrick Photo)