Cycling New Zealand has announced the riders for the 2019 UCI Road World Championships, to be held in Yorkshire, England, September 22-29, with George Bennett (Jumbo Visma) as leader of the elite men's team and Georgia Williams (Mitchelton-Scott) was selected to lead the elite women's team.

Bennett is currently racing in the Vuelta a España and will be joined by two other members of the four-person team competing in the World Championships, Paddy Bevin (CCC Team) and Mitchelton Scott's Dion Smith Tom Scully of EF Education First Scully will make up the road race team, and Bevin and Scully will also compete in the individual time trial.

Williams will participate in Saturday's GP de Ploué Lorient Agromération Trophée WNT from the Mitchelton Scott team, and in September's road race, the New Zealand women's team consisting of Ella Harris (Canyon Slam) and Mikayla Harvey (Bigla) Williams and Harvey will lead the elite team and Williams and Harvey will also participate in the time trial.

"We have a strong group of professionals selected to represent New Zealand in Yorkshire," Cycling New Zealand's High Performance Director Martin Barras said in a press release. We don't have enough ranking points to field a full team, but in terms of numbers and quality of performance, this is one of the strongest teams of the year."

"It is particularly pleasing to see the depth of the women's field, with young athletes performing competitively on World Tour teams in some of the sport's toughest races in Europe, where the competition is fierce.

New Zealand team for 2019 UCI Road World Championships:

Elite men George Bennett (road race), Patrick Bevin (time trial, road race), Tom Scully (time trial, road race), Dion Smith (road race)

Elite Women: Ella Harris (road race), Mikayla Harvey (road race, time trial), Georgia Williams (road race, time trial)

Under 23 Men: Ethan Butt (road race) James Fouche (road race, time trial), Paul Wright (road race)

Junior Men: Drew Christensen (road race), Logan Currie (road race, time trial), Finn Fisher-Black (road race, Time Trial), Ali Scott (Road Race), Ruben Thompson (Road Race, Time Trial)

: Stella Nightingale (Road Race), Ella Willey (Road Race, Time Trial)