New Zealand's World Championship team forced to pay their own way to Montreal: 'It's a strange dynamic'

The 24-year-old Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe rider has publicly questioned Cycling New Zealand's long-standing policy of providing zero funding to its elite road squads for the Worlds, calling it "a strange dynamic" that changes how the team approaches the race.

"It's a strange dynamic for NZ because we don't get funding from Cycling New Zealand; we all pay to be there, so it's also a strange dynamic, like we all kind of also want to do our own race," Fisher-Black told Cyclingnews. The comments shine a light on a funding policy that has been in place for at least the last four editions of the championships.

At a typical World Championships, national teams designate one or two protected leaders while the remaining riders sacrifice their personal ambitions in support. When each rider is funding the trip out of their own pocket, that dynamic shifts. The incentive to chase a personal result is stronger, and the willingness to ride selflessly for someone else becomes harder to justify.

Fisher-Black acknowledged the tension but suggested friendships within the group should keep things together. "But we're all good mates from New Zealand so it'll probably be about looking out for each other during the race and try to have numbers during the final and take it from there," he said.

The policy is written directly into the federation's selection criteria. "It is a condition of selection that riders must fund themselves to attend and compete at the 2026 UCI Road World Championships," the document states. The men's squad of six riders includes Fisher-Black alongside George Bennett, Josh Kench, Ben Oliver, Laurence Pithie and Corbin Strong.

The issue persists even after historic success on the world stage. Fisher-Black's older sister, Niamh Fisher-Black of Lidl-Trek, returns as last year's silver medallist from the World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. That result made her the first New Zealand rider, male or female, to podium in the elite road race at a Worlds. Even that achievement did not trigger a change in the funding approach.

"We also do what we can, my sister was second last year so you'd think there'd maybe be some change, but for the moment it's the same," Fisher-Black told Cyclingnews. The 24-year-old said Cycling NZ "prioritise the track".

The women's team of Bronwyn MacGregor, Ella Wyllie, Henrietta Christie and Niamh Fisher-Black will also compete in Montreal without any federation funding, according to RNZ.

In a statement to RNZ, Cycling New Zealand CEO Simon Peterson explained that the national body is predominantly funded by High Performance Sport New Zealand for track cycling, and that this arrangement is unchanged in the LA 2028 Olympic cycle. Peterson said CNZ has committed $70,000 for the Road World Championships this year, but that money covers UCI requirements and on-the-ground delivery rather than rider travel costs.

"The achievements of New Zealand road cyclists have been impressive in both women and men, the current position has been clearly communicated to all riders for some years and before they make a decision to compete at the World Championships," Peterson said.

Despite the financial hurdle, Fisher-Black arrives in Canada in strong form. He finished on the podium at the Tour de Pologne last month and recently completed the Vuelta a España in support of teammate Primož Roglič, finishing 52nd overall. The hilly Montreal circuit suits his climbing abilities, and he told Cyclingnews he wants to be "fighting for the top 10." That would be a rare result: according to RNZ, no elite New Zealand male has finished in the top 10 at the road World Championships since Julian Dean in 2005.

The 2026 Road World Championships run from September 20 to 27 in Montreal, with around 1,000 athletes from approximately 75 countries expected to compete. For New Zealand's riders, the race begins long before the start line.