Confidence ahead of National Road Series season

The NSWIS Road Cycling Team are feeling confident as they head into the first National Road Series (NRS) race of the season this weekend.

The race will take the team from Grafton to Inverell in the Northern Tablelands, and at 228km is the second longest single stage race in Australia.

NSW Institute of Sport are bringing a very strong team to challenge for the win.

Dylan Sunderland, who resides in Inverell will be hopeful for success in his hometown, and the team also has strong hopes in the shape of Ayden Toovey and Josh Taylor. The team will be supported by talented riders Alex Wohler, Alex Smyth, Tom Robinson and Ryan Cavanagh.

Sunderland is particularly focused on putting in a strong performance.

“It will obviously be very special finishing in Inverell, I just hope I can put myself in with a shout at that point.

“My main focus will always be on the team however – and making sure we can execute the race as we’ve planned.”

Team Director for NSW Institute of Sport, Ben Kersten, is keen to see his riders on the road.

“The first NRS race of the season is a great opportunity to put our recent training to the test. Hopefully it will be a great springboard into our USA campaign this winter.”

The men’s NSWIS team will certainly be hoping to take inspiration from the recent performances of the NSWIS Sydney Uni women’s road cycling team – which included Ash Ankudinoff claiming the final stage of the South West Tour last weekend. Ankudinoff also won gold recently in the women’s team pursuit at the Cali round of the 2016-17 Tissot UCI Track World Cup series.