Defending Tour of Southland champion Michael Vink on the gravel stage of the 2021 event. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
After two Covid-affected years a strong 21-team field will compete in this week's cycle Tour of Southland.
New Zealand cycling's longest-running welcomes back riders from New Zealand and aroundt the world.
"It has been a challenge for everyone concerned to keep this race going during the pandemic, so it will be great to have the racing front and centre again. This is a race which has developed plenty of resilience since it started in 1956 and I can't wait to get started," said race director Sally Marr.
Defending champion Michael Vink returns chasing a fourth Southland title in the past five years.
The Cantabrian has been a commanding force since his breakthrough win in 2018.
A fourth win would see Vink draw level with Hayden Roulston's four victories from 2006 to 2010, although it is still some way off Brian Fowler's record eight crowns.
Much interest will focus on the impact of Australian team ARA Pro Racing Sunshine Coast, part of the Australian Cycling Academy's not-for-profit development programme.
The team, which will be managed by former Tour de France rider Henk Vogels, is one of two UCI Continental teams competing in this year's tour, along with the Creation Signs-MitoQ squad which has been the long-running project of Southlander James Canny.
That squad produced a successful campaign in the United States and will again feature New Zealand representative George Jackson, Southland rider Josh Burnett, who won the Queen stage on debut at last year's Tour of Southland, and Commonwealth Games silver medal-winning mountainbiker Ben Oliver.
Multisport athletes also feature in the peloton, including Coast to Coast combatants Sam Clark and Sam Manson.
Adding to the international flavour are US-based Southlander Elliot Crowther, British rider Dan Gardner and Swiss teenager Robin Donze.
The 66th edition of the Tour of Southland gets underway on Sunday, October 30, with a 4.2km team time trial prologue and opening 42km stage, both contested around Invercargill's Queens Park.
The first open road stage, a tough 166km journey from Invercargill to Lumsden, will again feature a gravel section, one of eight stages before the race finishes back in Invercargill on November 5.
-RNZ
