Meet the team

Our team currently comprises seven team members – six full members (with structured training, full support and taking part in local and national road cycling events each season, and one associate members (who trains with us and is building up their race experience and results, in local races).

Below are brief profiles of the team (full and associate members), coach and manager, and a link through to our applications page.

Team coach notes about Max:

Max is powerful, focused and determined. He is a dream of any Team Time Trial squad. He is also the youngest member of our team.

As a first year U17, Max has had a good learning curve experience. He has raced a few NRS events with solid breakaways and worked for the team on multiple occasions.

Despite his hard work, Max has not been very lucky in 2022, being sick or unwell during the lead up to some critical races. We are impressed by his determination to stay positive and train for the next event.

In 2023, he will try to improve his climbing and explosive skills and will have plenty of opportunities to demonstrate his progress as a year 2 U17. He should be able to get results at national level as a year 2. He will race B grade at local level until he chalks up a few wins, and will race A grade once he has reached this step.

For the moment, Max has a strong focus on ITT backed by a good VO2max, and I believe he could target a good result at ITT Nationals 2023 in the U17 category.

Team coach notes about Carter:

Carter’s progress in 2022 has been phenomenal. He has followed our “less is better” approach and during 2022 is starting to reap real benefits.

Signing with AG2R-Citroen U19 will give him the opportunity to go to the next step and race at international level in Europe in 2023 and 2024. As a Junior Development team, Southern Junior has adapted Carter’s training and targets to match AG2R-Citroen U19 team’s plans.

In 2023, Carter will race in New Zealand with Southern Junior and will be in Europe from April to August with the AG2R-Citroen U19 team.

While signing to an international team is great news for any rider, the hard work is just starting for Carter. He is going down a new and exciting path with lot of challenges ahead. He is a strong climber, fast sprinter with a solid TT. He has discovered this season in Europe that his one minute power and explosivity can achieve outstanding results, but he still needs to work further in alpine mountain passes if he wants to win stages when competing against the best climbers in the world.

I believe Carter is already capable of achieving excellent results at international level, even as a year 1 in the U19 age group in 2023. This is especially the case in stage races as he has great recovery capabilities.

Team coach notes about Magnus:

Magnus has been working very hard to improve key aspects of his road cycling. His 5 second power has increased significantly, his 5 minute power is super solid, and we are focusing on his FTP to allow him to deliver the max speed/power at the end of a road race.

Magnus will enter in the U19 age group in 2023, and we will encourage him to take the right direction at a crucial age juncture for his cycling career.

I feel Magnus could become a fast sprinter with his power climbs skills. He also has a good ITT. In my opinion, he has the potential to reach the international level with road cycling if he makes the right choices.

Team coach notes about Tom:

As a year 1 in the U19 age group in 2022, Tom has had a lot of fun racing on the track and road to get maximum of experience across both disciplines.

He has achieved great results in both disciplines and will probably have to start to choose where to focus more in 2023.

My personal view is that Tom could become a good climber, but based in Southland there are not a lot of opportunities to work hill climbs. He has demonstrated good performance in team and individual pursuit too.

Tom has started to put more loads in his training late 2022 to prepare for year 2 of U19. This work should start to pay early 2023 and I would not be surprised if Tom gets solid road results at National level in 2023.

Team coach notes about Hugo:

Hugo has a good FTP and a good Vo2max. We will help him to develop his explosive and sprint skills, to get more chance to get results at national level in New Zealand racing conditions.

Hugo is one of our most dedicated riders. He also has followed our “less is better approach” and can now start a bigger training load to be competitive in the U19 category.

Hugo needs to be in a good mindset to perform, and he has been working on this during 2022 alongside his on-bike training and gym work. He is a strong time trialist and I would say he can do very well at Crit Nationals and ITT at Nationals, even as a year 1 U19.

If he continues his progression in 2023 following a similar progression to that which he has achieved during 2022, he could target a development team in Europe. I have been impressed by his body transformation in the last 12 months: his holistic cycling discipline has started to pay, and he is benefitting from gym work.

Team coach notes about McKay:

There is no team without a McKay, with his permanent smile, good mood, and sense of humour. He is a very positive influence on our team. But McKay is also quite impressive in action with a capacity to dig deep. He will give me a heart attack with his solo crazy breaks, but this is also the cycling we like with attacks and action which sometimes pays off!

He particularly impressed me two years ago when he won the Otago School Championship Road Race. A solo win, just a few seconds ahead of older and more powerful riders.

McKay will turn in the U23 category and will consequently leave the team at the end of the year.

He did not race much with Southern Junior in 2022, as he concentrated on his studies, which is super important and a key part of our ethos. All of our riders need to demonstrate a commitment to their studies to ensure that they do not become too narrowly focused on road cycling.

We will miss McKay’s energy and smile at our training sessions and races, but for sure he will come and train with us when he returns from university during the holidays.

Team coach notes about Ben:

To follow, once Southern Junior starts coaching him …