Nick White faces a baptism of fire in his Town Down Under debut in South Australia on Tuesday.
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The Ballarat youngster and new national men’s under-23 road race champion will have to cope with a maximum 38 degrees as well as hot international field in the 132km opening stage.
With temperature forceast to reach 40 on Wednesday, the second stage has been reduced by 26.9km to 122.1km.
White is part of the UniSA-Australia composite team, which also features this year’s national elite men’s road race silver medallist Chris Harper (Australia) and national men’s under-23 road race silver medallist Michael Potter.
White earned selection late last year after his second in the National Road Series aggregate before his nationals performance.
He said he had felt some pressure in the road race to justify his spot in the TDU and had no doubt he had delivered with the gold medal.
White had his first taste of UCI WorldTour quality racing in the Tour Down Under Classic on Sunday.
He stayed with the hot pace in the event won by Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan before pulling out with a lap to go.
MEANWHILE, Ballarat’s Shannon Malseed had a top 20 start in the Women’s TDU, which finished on Sunday.
She finished 20th to Amanda Spratt, with Lucy Kennedy and Rachel Neylan making up an all-Australian podium.
Malseed had two Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank teammates in the top 10, with Alson Jackson (Canada) fifth and Lauren Stephens (USA) seventh.