BATHURST duo Harrison Carter and Paddy Corcoran will hoping to find some of their best form this week when they compete on foreign soil in the South Island of New Zealand.
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Corcoran and Carter will contest the 2010 Yunca Tour and will also test their skills against a strong field in the Trans-Tasman Challenge on the track before competing in another road event at Invercargill.
The Yunca Tour is one of the premier junior cycling events in the nation and will be fought out over three days, beginning with a prologue today.
The second day will see the field complete two road stages before the tour wraps up with another road stage on Sunday and a criterium.
The scheduling means that all the riders test themselves over the full gammut of road cycling – racing the clock, genuine road stages, and the challenging and generally frenetic circuit criterium format.
Among the stages will be a tough 81 kilometre trek which should provide a good test of both riders’ form, while the 790 metre criterium course will also make for some challenging racing.
Over 130 competitors took part in the Yunca Tour last year and the event is generally regarded in New Zealand as being the launch pad for the next generation of top class international riders from the country.
“It will probably be snowing the whole time during the Yunca Tour, it should be good hard racing,” 14-year-old Carter said.
“Apparently the trees get just about sideways because the wind is so strong, so I’m looking forward to seeing how I go.
“I think a stage win or a top three, top four finish would be great. I’m competing against other under 15 riders, so I think that is a realistic goal.
“It shouldn’t be too much different to a lot of the riding and racing I’ve done before, I have raced against most of the other Australians going over there and some of the Kiwis as well, which is good.”
In scenes reminiscent of the build up for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the track racing aspect of their trip was in some doubt after part of the ILT Velodrome collapsed last week.
Huge dumps of snow put pressure on the roof of the Stadium Southland complex to the point where the main areas of the stadium were virtually destroyed after the roof caved in.
The problems weren’t as bad in the velodrome area of the complex, but there were initially fears that upcoming events would have to be cancelled.
Given the venue’s status as the only functional velodrome in New Zealand, that would have had big ramifications.
However, the problems have been repaired and all racing will go ahead as planned.
