Richard Hobson, Ryan O’Donnell, Jayson Austin, Stephen Dunstall, Nick North and Daniel Went will take on the 228-kilometre Grafton to Inverell Classic on Saturday in a brutal endurance challenge.

This year will be the 57^th running of the iconic National Road Series race, which includes the daunting Gibraltar Range climb.

Hobson, O’Donnell, Austin, Dunstall and North are entered in the division two teams category in what’s expected to be a hotly contested battle. Went has entered individually as part of division 3A.

Hobson will be the only member of the D2F team who boasts previous experience in the event.

North said the Bathurst group each bring a different set of strengths to the table.

“It’s a really, really good team. We’ve all got different abilities and we’re strong together. Hobbo is a machine on the bike with his strength and you’ve got Ryan O’Donnell and Jay Austin who are just skinny little whippets and can fly up the hills,” he said.

“We’ll just be first trying to get over the Gibraltar Range. That’s an 18km climb. Once we’re over that we’ll see how go until the finish. There’s still another 140km to go after that.”

The brutal Gibraltar Range greets riders around 60km into the race, asking riders to ascend over 900m in a very short space of time.

North is hopeful he can meet the climb before the majority of the field.

“We’ll be looking out for each other, keeping the nutrition and fluids on board. It’s a 228km race. Richard Hobson’s done it a couple of times and he’ll likely be the team captain and the one discussing what we need to do when we need to do it,” he said.

“The tactic is trying to get me into an early break, trying to get over the hill. The hill’s going to be the hardest bit for me, so if I can get over there I’ll be fine. I’ve got the kays in the legs to finish it off.”

Team manager Mark Simons said it’s great to see Bathurst represented strongly on cycling’s big stage once again.

“It shows the depth of the cycling talent that we have here in Bathurst, and that’s the same for any event we go to, whether it be juniors right through to masters,” he said.

“These six riders will be representing Bathurst, and people always keep an eye out for Bathurst riders. We can holds our heads high in any age group, even though as a club we’re not as large as others in number.

“To travel as a team, pooling our resources, it’s great for our city.

“Nick will be coming out of Ironman Port Macquarie and into one of the hardest one-day races in Australia. He could be one to watch. His forte will be at the back end of the race, when everyone else is out there suffering.

“The guys’ commitment to the sport and their training is phenomenal. To commit to the level of training they do in order to do this 200 kilometre race is a major achievement.”

Among the division one group will be former Blayney to Bathurst winners Dylan Sunderland and Troy Herfoss.

Central West will also be represented in Mudgee’s Ayden Toovey, who finished fourth last year.