New Zealand will have two riders in the women's cycling road race at the Olympics with Catherine Cheatley joining Joanne Kiesanowski in the 126 kilometre event
Cheatley was initially selected for her specialist Points race on the track but games organisers offered a second spot to the New Zealanders, who were at the top of the priority list, after the withdrawal of a rider from another country.
Initially BikeNZ had hoped that Kiesanowski, Cheatley and Rosara Joseph would compete in the road race.
But they were allotted only one spot after losing crucial ranking points from a race in USA which the UCI ruled did not have ericient international teams to warrant its original status. leaving Kiesanowski, New Zealand's highest ranked international rider, as the sole Olympic representative.
BikeNZ High Performance Director, Mark Elliott says Cheatley was the strong candidate for the second spot, just ahead of Joseph, who will compete in the mountainbike.
