Former Otago rider Greg Henderson will head a New Zealand team in the annual Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic near Melbourne in the new year.
Henderson, who rides for the Lotto Belisol team based in Europe, will lead a group of mostly endurance track riders, who will use the four-day tour as foundation for the New Zealand track championships in Cambridge to press their claims for selection to February's world championships.
Henderson, who lives in Melbourne, will be joined by double Olympic medallists Aaron Gate and Marc Ryan, Cycling New Zealand track team-mates Cameron Karwowski and Pieter Bulling, and Canterbury's Alex Frame, who rides for the development team of World Pro Tour's Giant-Shimano.
They will be joined by Cycling New Zealand elite endurance track riders Racquel Sheath and Georgia Williams.
Gate, Ryan and Frame, along with Williams, will also compete in the elite road national championships in Christchurch early next month.
The Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic, in its 25th year, is better known formerly as the Bay Crits, comprises a series of criterium races of 45 minutes duration for elite women and 60 minutes for elite men.
Geelong's eastern beach is the venue for races on January 2-3, before the action moves to the historic coastal town of Portarlington, on the Bellarine Peninsula.
The final stage is at Williamstown, near the Melbourne CBD, on January 4.
