Luke Deasey did not see this one coming - but, boy, he is glad it did.
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The emerging Tamworth rider, 17, has made the NSW under-19 team for the Tour de DMZ in South Korea (August 30-September 3). It is his first state selection.
The event is part of the Nations Cup, meaning Deasey will compete against the world's best young riders.
He said: "It's really good, because I've trained really hard ... [but] the last couple of years I haven't been getting the results that I wanted.
"So it's really good to know that I'm starting to get some good results and get selected for big events like this."
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Deasey, in year 11 at Tamworth High, was not expecting to make the team but recently received an email "out of the blue". He was told he was on the shortlist to make the team.
"A few days later they sent a message saying I was on the team. I wasn't expecting it at all."
He added: "It's really exciting to show what NSW riders have against the best riders in the world ... I'm really looking forward to seeing what I've got and see how I compare with the world's best."
Upon returning home from South Korea, Deasey will ride for Dhuez at the Yunka Tour in New Zealand.
After commencing cycling about five years ago, the teen wants a career in the sport - with his education taking a battering as a result.
"My study is very much non-existent, and I sort of show up to school because if I start working I can't train as much. So I may as well stay at school and race, I guess."
The Tour de DMZ has five stages. Deasey's NSW teammates include Dubbo's Kurt Eather and Luke Ensor, who won the Keegan Downes Memorial Handicap Cycling Classic in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Eather lived in Gunnedah as a young child. His grandparents - Joy and Ray Darcey as well as Sue and Chris Eather - still live there.
The Tour de DMZ is the first step in Cycling NSW's under-19 road and track endurance-development initiative, announced in June.
