Defending champion, American rider Shelley Olds is set to return to next week’s NZCT Women’s Tour of New Zealand. Olds won four of the six stages in 2010 as well as the general classification riding for the USA national team.
She is returning as a member of the highly acclaimed Italian women's professional team Diadora-Pasta Zara whose team manager Manel Lacambra has been here twice with two overall victories so far and the NZCT Women's tour of New Zealand will be the team first UCI official race for 2011.
"In the past 15 years the Diadora-Pasta Zara team had lots of success and gained lots of national titles, world titles and even Olympic titles. The team also won several overall World Cups, the Tour de France, the Giro Donne, European Championships and many more, I am sure they are coming here to add another victory" Sandoval said.
This is a major coup for the event organisers in having one of the best European teams in the race, this squad looks likely to push the number one team in the world already announced Team HTC Highroad, the NZCT New Zealand national team and the strong Australian teams, but tour director, Jorge Sandoval, is also delighted to have teams from China, Japan.
"The Chinese and Japan teams all have Olympic representatives looking to make an impression here," Sandoval said. "With the number and standard of the Australian riders plus the top European pro teams, it ensures the NZCT tour continues to grow in terms of its international profile. All the hard work we have done in the last few years to make people aware of the tour, and the standard of racing, is paying off."
The Team Diadora –Pasta Zara obviously has defending champion Shelley Olds as their main rider to win overall, her 2011 season already started really well with a win in the Grand Prix Vila de Parets in Spain two weeks ago but other riders in the team are also capable of a victory. Ukrainian Alona Andruck who will arrive in New Zealand this week to train around the Wairarapa is a strong rider; she won the 2011 G.P. Citta Novi in Italy and place in other major races in the European circuit.
Australian cyclist Rachel Neylan joins the Geox-Pasta Zara women's team only this year. The deal comes off the back of a difficult month for Neylan, who was forced out of the Australian squad for the UCI Road World Championships in Geelong after suffering a serious accident at a training camp in Italy weeks before. "I am really looking forward to the opportunity to race in a world class team also to be able to continue my development and step up [to the] professional ranks of women's cycling as I progress toward my ever increasingly clear goals,"
Top American Amber Pierce is another member of the team, winner of races in Germany and Austria in 2010 is a good all round rider.
Race Director Jorge Sandoval says they'll be the team to watch for the general classification.
"With Shelley Olds and Amber Pierce in the team, they have two potential tour winners. Unfortunately for them, there will be some other top riders who will do anything possible to win the race, especially the Australian national team and the HTC Highroad teams so they have to be very alert over the five day race," Sandoval said.
The tour starts on Wednesday February 23 with a stage from Martinborough to Masterton and finishes with the Wellington Criterium on Sunday 23rd February at 2pm.
