Three Otago riders - Matt Scoles (Alexandra), Justin Leov (Dunedin) and Jed Rooney (Oamaru) - have been included in the New Zealand team for the world mountain biking championships in Canada later this month.
They are all downhill specialists with the ability to match the best riders in the world.
Scoles (21) has displayed superb form this winter for his new Italian club, Cingolani-Proton, with a win against a high-class Italian field in April.
He backed it up by coming second to fellow New Zealander Wyn Masters, of New Plymouth, in an Italian event last month.
He was a promising junior rider when growing up in Alexandra and has become more consistent since entering the professional ranks.
Leov (25) has been racing for the past 10 years and became a professional rider in 2004.
He was ranked sixth in the world last year and prepared for this year's professional season in Spain.
Jed Rooney (17) has spent the past three months training and competing in World Cup races in Europe.
Rooney was second in the junior men's event at the Oceania championships in Dunedin in February and is one of the most promising younger riders in the country.
The New Zealand selectors have named a team of 29 cyclists in the downhill, cross-country and four-cross.
The championships will be held at Mont Saint Anne in Quebec, Canada, between August 31 and September 5.
