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Young cycling star DANIEL BARRY, who's just won the Benchmark Homes series, talks to Nick Tolerton...

Was that your biggest success so far, Daniel? I'd rate it up there with my best. Probably my biggest result would be my finish at junior worlds in 2006 - I was 33rd, which I was pretty happy with at the time, at Spa in Belgium.

What are the other big items on your cycling CV? A couple of high finishes in nationals, but that was a few years ago. I've been off the radar the last couple of years because of my engineering studies at Canterbury University -they kept me pretty bogged down. But this year I've had a bit more time, although in 2007 I won the under-23s in the Benchmark series. Also, I won the Canterbury road champs last year - I won the under 23s. I did win the race, but couldn't win the senior title.

Did you expect to do so well in the Benchmark series? I was ninth or 10th, I think, last year, but I was in a position where I was riding for a couple of other riders in our team. This year I definitely set out to win it, that's what I've been focusing on. Now that's squared away, once I get back into training in a couple of weeks I'll focus on the club road nationals in Nelson and the Tour of Southland.

The final round, The Star grand prix at Oxford, was obviously a tactical triumph for you, shutting out national road champion Gordon McCauley? Yes, I was really pleased. But it was actually not too difficult tactically for us because my Benchmark Homes team and I just had to make sure I was with Gordon all the time.

What are the goals beyond this year? Eventually I'd like to go and race in Europe. Hopefully I'll make a couple of baby steps this year and get off to Australia for a few races, and maybe the Tour of New Caledonia. Next year, I'd like to go further and go to Europe.

How did you get into cycling? I got into a bit of mountain biking when I was little in Nelson, at intermediate. I raced mountain bikes pretty seriously until I was about 16, then tried my hand at a few things, multisport and triathlon. Obviously the cycling comes with that and I got into a bit of road racing, and that turned out to be what I enjoyed most.

What's a typical training week? Varies a lot, but when we're training pretty hard, we're doing between 500 and 700k a week. I do a fair amount of my training on my own, and often our longer rides end in a bit of a tour of the coffee shops in Christchurch.

Favourite training ride? I guess my favourite for real training is the figure of eight loop around the Port Hills, Summit Rd, and around the bays. But my ultimate favourite is straight out to Sumner and back!

What are you doing in your studies? Mechanical engineering. I finished my degree last year and I've just started back again studying for a PhD, and I'm hoping that will fit in with my riding goals over the next few years. It's in aerodynamics, related to high performance sports.

Sounds like you'll be designing the ultimate bike? That could have something to do with it! It probably is my big career aspiration, to combine my cycling interest with my engineering.

What's the funniest thing you've seen in a bike race? In one of the rounds of the Benchmark series this year, we hit the first section of gravel and I saw the most spectacular crash I've ever seen. Sam Steele - he won't appreciate me saying this - he hit the gravel, fishtailed for 10m, and flipped into a ditch. It was awesome.

And in the last round you had to tackle 600 cows on the road. Occupational hazard? I guess so on rural roads. It was quite early in the race, so it didn't affect things too much.

Your favourite movie? I did enjoy Transformers last year - no, not cos I'm studying engineering, I just thought it had cool stuff in it! - but probably my favourite would have to be a tie between Fight Club and American History X.

TV? No, I don't watch much.

Music? I'm pretty into my music, Radiohead, Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Favourite holiday destination? I'm a big fan of Wanaka. And I like heading back to Nelson, and the old roads I used to train on.

Meal? Something involving pasta.

Ideal night on the town? Ideal would be last Saturday after winning the tour! We had a dinner with the team and a few drinks and celebrated!

Last book you read - apart from the textbooks? Guests of the Ayatollah, about the 1979 hostage crisis in Iran.

Any superstitions? Not really. I'm pretty meticulous with my gear, and often end up playing with things and adjusting things on the start line, which everyone thinks is a bit silly, but I can't help it.