Over 40 New Zealand riders have congregated in the cycling city of Copenhagen for the UCI BMX Racing World Championships.

Eleven kiwis will contest the elite racing, which follows the Challenge (age group) competition for racing and cruiser classes which starts today.

The riders are at home in Copenhagen, a city where locals own more bikes than cars, and nearly half the population pedal to work.

In the modern era of UCI BMX Racing, it is just the third location to host the world championships for a second time, following Zolder in Belgium and Rock Hill in South Carolina, USA.

History is on the side of the kiwis in Copenhagen, where New Zealand riders won four medals in the 2011 World Champs with a silver to Sarah Walker, bronze to Marc Willers in the two Elite Classes.

Organisers have made significant upgrades to the 400m outdoor circuit near the heart of the city, with a new start ramp and ProGate system on the 5m ramp (for Challenge racing), with the corners rebuilt and resurfaced to account for the higher speeds of modern racers.

It is a championship stacked with talent including winners of 12 elite world titles led by three-time world champion and Paris Olympic gold medallist Joris Daudet (FRA) in the elite men and six different Olympic Medallists in the elite women.

New Zealand is led in the elite men by the North Harbour professional pair of Michael Bias and Rico Bearman, who was sixth at the World Championships in USA last year.

New to the elite men’s division is Bennett Greenough from Cambridge. He leads the Greenough family from Cambridge who include Lily Greenough, the silver medallist in junior women last year, and on the podium in the recent UCI BMX Racing World Cup.

They are joined by younger brother Jack Greenough in under-23 men who narrowly missed out on the podium last year in the same age group.

Paris Olympian Leila Walker, who had a late start to the year after injury, was seventh in last year’s final, and is joined in the elite competition by Rotorua’s Megan Williams.

Completing the kiwi females is Te Awamutu’s Brooke Penny in the under-23 class while the trio of Finn Cogan (Cambridge), Nicholas Cowie (Southland) and Cooper Richardson (North Harbour) will contest the junior men.

Action begins with the Challenge (age group) classes where the New Zealand team is led by Waitakere Club’s Toni James, who will defend her women’s Masters 30 Plus title in Copenhagen.

Fifteen riders are entered in the Cruiser class and most will double up in a 27-strong New Zealand group for the Challenge World Championships, with racing from Monday until Thursday followed by the Elite racing next weekend.