Nicholas Narraway is bubbling with confidence ahead of his first cycling road race of the season.

The Bermudian will be competing for the first time for his new squad, Team California, at the Valley of the Sun, a three-day event, which consists of a time-trial, a road race and a criterium between Friday and Sunday.

Narraway, 21, formerly with Spanish team Telcom-On Clima-Osés Const, is counting on conditions to work in his favour.

“I’m feeling really good for this race,” Narraway said. “Being at altitude gives me that little extra boost when coming back down to lower levels and it’s always seemed to help me pull out some good results.

“The training has come along fairly well and I think that I have the legs, but the luck just has to come as well.

In terms of his prospects, Narraway, whose last race was in December when he finished second in the Presidents Cup in Bermuda, is optimistic of a good result, especially in the time-trial.

“For expectations I think that the time-trial could be good for me,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say it’s perfect really flat, but the time-trial is something I can do fairly well in.

“The second day is the road race and I believe there is a climb at the finish, which could really mix things up in my favour.

“The third day is the criterium and I personally don’t have much ambition for that, but I’ll be playing the team-mate and rolling in to set the others up for a good result.

“It’s still a month or more till the first major race and goals so it is still early days. That being said I don't know what to expect in terms of results, but I’d say the expectation on myself are always quite high.”

Narraway is No 3 in the Bermuda pecking order behind Conor White and Kaden Hopkins but he is improving fast and picked up a bronze medal behind his two compatriots in the Caribbean Championships last year.

“I think it’s really good to have some older riders I can follow and see a way of getting things done in the sport,” Narraway said

“It’s great to have team-mates that can feed off each other and be supportive to one another on and off the bike.

“We are friends outside of the sport and it really gives us a strong bond that the others don’t have in the races.”

This is Narraway’s last year as an under-23 competitor and he has huge aspirations for 2024 after retaining the services of his Spain-based coach, Josep Codinach Terradas.

“In 2024 I’m looking to make my mark in my final under-23 year,’’ he told The Royal Gazette.

“I’m going to be targeting some big races with big ambitions and we will just have to wait and see if they come true.

“The past few months have been really good. I’ve been home in Bermuda over Christmas and am now back in the USA at school and getting in the training hours.

“I’m fortunate enough to stick with my coach from last year. He and I work very well together and so I’m looking forward to another year with him backing me.

“I got the chance to meet my team-mates at a mini-camp back in November where we got to know each other and had some performance testing done.

“They are a great group of riders and the staff is super supportive, so I think it will be a really good year.”