New Zealand will only have one rider in the Tour de France this year after Jack Bauer missed out on the opportunity to ride with his Garmin-Barracuda team.
Greg Henderson will ride his first Tour de France with Lotto-Belisol and according to reports now looks to have secured one of the two spots for road race selection at the London 2012 Olympics with BikeNZ saying selection for the Tour de France would play a significant role in who they selected for the Olympics.
Julian Dean's chances of an eighth ride in cycling's premier tour were scuppered by a broken leg in March but he is back in training and still hopeful of competing in the Olympics.
Dean will ride the Tour of Poland next month along with Hayden Roulston – another Olympic hopeful – overlooked for the Tour de France by the Radioshack Nissan-Trek team.
Bauer was in good form, having helped Garmin-Barracuda to victory in the team's time trial at the Giro d'Italia and becoming the fifth Kiwi to win a stage on one of the three Grand Tours.
BikeNZ said selection for the Tour de France would play a significant role in who they selected for the road race at the London Olympics.
Henderson, who will ride his first Tour de France with Lotto-Belisol, now looks to have secured one of the two spots with the other one a choice between Dean, Roulston and Bauer.
3 News