James Oram (born 17 June 1993) is a New Zealand former cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2012 to 2023.[6] His career took him from the American development team Bontrager–Livestrong, to British UCI continental team ONE Pro Cycling, before a year with Chinese Mitchelton–BikeExchange and finally riding for New Zealand Bolton Equities Black Spoke.[6] He achieved one professional win in his career, the national road race championship in 2023.
Career
Early years
Oram started cycling to school but didn't get into competitive cycling until high school where he met his first coach Scott Guyton.[7] Oram rode for PureBlack Racing's development squad for the 2011 season.[8] He won stage 1 of the Tour de l'Abitibi from a sprint of eight riders.[9] His teammate Dion Smith took second and the pair held their positions over the seven-day race to take first and second overall.[7]
At the end of the year Oram rode the time trial at the UCI Junior Road World Championships. He set the best time of the early starters so was in the Hot-seat most of the day. Mads Würtz Schmidt beat Oram's time by 4 seconds to take the win with Oram moved to second.[10]
Bontrager–Livestrong (2012 to 2015)
Oram's plan for the 2012 season was to originally ride for the professional PureBlack Racing team but they folded late 2011 leaving him without a contract.[11] Instead he rode for Bontrager–Livestrong run by Axel Merckx.[12]
At the end of the 2013 season Oram rode the National event Tour of Southland. He won the Queen stage 2 up Bluff hill to take the lead, which he held onto over the following six stages.[13][14]
After ONE Pro Cycling folded at the end of 2018 Oram was once again looking for a team. He approached Australian Mitchelton–Scott but they did not have space.[18] While searching for a team Oram raced the New Zealand Cycle Classic for Team Skoda-Fruzio an amateur team, where he placed ninth. It wasn't until early March that he found a team the development team of UCI WorldTeamMitchelton–Scott, Mitchelton–BikeExchange. The team focused on Chinese races which was an area of the world Oram was not familiar with.[18]
Black Spoke (2020 to 2023)
In 2023 Oram won the overall of the New Zealand Cycle Classic a race where he had finished in the top 10 on 8 previous occasions and on the podium twice. Oram won the opening stage out-sprinting four other on the hill-top finish. He held the lead all the way to the end.[19] The following month Oram took his only professional win of his career in the New Zealand National Road Race Championships sprinting team-mate Ryan Christensen on the line.[20] While 2023 was the best year for Bolton Equities Black Spoke Murray Bolton pulled his funding and the team disbanded leaving Oram without a team for 2024. Because of this Oram decided to retire from professional cycling.[21]
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