Roulston Wins Powernet Tour Of Southland

Roulston Wins Powernet Tour Of Southland

Just 1/1000th of a second secured Calder Stewart-Bike NZ cyclist Hayden Roulston his fourth PowerNet Tour of Southland title in Invercargill today.

The photo-finish win in this morning’s 79km penultimate stage from Te Anau to Lumsden – and the time bonus it earned – saw Roulston snatch the yellow jersey, and ultimately overall victory by a meager 2sec, from Share the Road’s Jack Bauer, of Nelson.

“It came down to the wire and Jack was leading coming out of the last corner so it was just about won in the last millimetres,” Roulston, of Ashburton, said.

“This is probably the best to be honest because I had to stay quite focused. It’s really coming down here with the weight of expectation on your shoulders … everyone just expects you to win, they just don’t know how hard it is to win.

“There are some very classy bike riders in New Zealand and I really take my hat off to them – they gave me a good run.”

Team-mate Greg Henderson won the bunch sprint to the finish line in the final stage from Winton to Invercargill – denying Bauer the time bonus he desperately needed.

Henderson said he hadn’t planned to claim the stage but was forced into it by Bauer.

“If Bauer had of won the stage then he would have taken the jersey back off Roly so it was a bit of a panic sprint in the finish but luckily enough I had the legs to get him on the line,” he said.

Notching up his 16th stage win, Henderson admitted he had his own aspirations to win the iconic Southland tour.

“I’d love to come here in great condition but really for me it doesn’t pay the bills. I have to win in Europe and if I’m flying now in November then I can’t be flying in January,” he said.

“I’d love to come down and show the public exactly what I can do in good condition … it’s just a timing thing.”

Although somewhat of a consolation prize, Share the Road’s powerful display throughout the arduous six-day Tour earned it the overall team title.

“We did what we could … Roly has a lot of mates down here and, as you saw in this morning’s stage, it’s pretty hard to go up against that kind of manpower,” Bauer said.

“Second’s the same as getting 100th I guess but I laid it all out there, put 150 percent in and just didn’t come out on top.

“It’s really disappointing to work the team so hard over the whole course of the week and then come second – they deserve the yellow for the work they put in.”

Bauer believed Share the Road’s campaign suffered when team-mate Jeremy Yates, wearing the yellow jersey, was tipped off his bike by a motorcycle on stage six near Queenstown.

“Our tour kind of fell apart under the most bizarre circumstances but that’s cycling – anything can happen and it did,” Bauer said.

“You take away lessons and there’s always a positive in it – just not a yellow positive.”

Despite at least seven bandages covering his wounds, Yates, of Hastings, was “battered and bruised” but vowing to return for an 11th shot at winning the tour.

“I’ve finished the tour in much worse condition … this tour usually has a hard luck story and maybe this year I’m it,” he said.

The potent climber was keen to see tour officials inject some course changes.

“Maybe over the top of the Crown Range and down the other side and back up again a few times, then Coronet Peak – what else have you got down here?,” he quipped.

“I’d like to see the tour mixed up in terms of race routes just to keep things interesting. Nobody likes to know how it’s going to go down and how it’s going to be won so I’d like to see them make some changes – but in saying that, it’s not my tour.”

A formidable performance earned Subway Avanti’s Joe Cooper the King of the Mountain title over Team SVS’ George Bennett, of Nelson, and Alex Meenhorst, of Auckland.

“That was sort of plan B or C. The team came into the tour with high hopes for yellow but that crash on the first day forced us to change the plan,” Cooper said.

“The team’s worked really hard to put me in the right positions … without them I can’t do the grunt work.”

Pure Black Racing’s Roman van Uden, of Auckland, secured the Sprint Ace classification with a commanding lead over Clinton Avery, of Rotorua, and fellow Aucklander Karl Murray.

“I just smashed away at it – I didn’t want to come into the last day having to battle for it,” van Uden said. “I had to get up the road almost every single day to get the early points … it’s been a tough week.”

Benchmark Homes rider Josh Aitkins, of Christchurch, proved too strong in the battle for the Under-23 jersey.

Results: Stage 8, Te Anau to Lumsden

1. Hayden Roulston (Calder Stewart-BikeNZ National) 1h44m44s;
2. Clinton Avery (Ascot Park Hotel) ST;
3. Mike Northey (Pure Black Racing) ST;
4. Greg Henderson (Calder Stewart-BikeNZ National) ST;
5. Alexander Ray (Orca Velo Merino) ST;
6. Joseph Chapman (Creation Signs-Ultimo) ST;
7. Jack Bauer (Share the Road) ST;
8. Cody Stevenson (Jackson Plumbing-Plumbing World) ST;
9. Samuel Witmitz (Orca Velo Merino) ST;
10. Shane Archbold (PowerNet) ST;
11. Marc Prutton (Sycamore Print) ST;
12. Sam Steele (Team Motatapu) ST;
13. Mark Spessott (Placemakers) ST;
14. Aaron Gate (Team Motatapu) ST;
15. Sergio Hernandez (Jackson Plumbing-Plumbing World) ST;
16. Alex Meenhorst (Team SVS) ST;
17. Sean Joyce (Placemakers) ST;
18. Hamish Presbury (Team Motatapu) ST;
19. Jason Allen (Share the Road) at 06s;
20. Ryan Obst (Radio Sport) at 06s;
21. Daniel Barry (Benchmark Homes) at 06s;
22. Matt Benson (Radio Sport) at 06s;
23. Josh Atkins (Benchmark Homes) at 06s;
24. Michael Olheiser (Jackson Plumbing-Plumbing World) at 06s;
25. Pedro Palma (Placemakers) at 06s;

Stage 9: Winton to Invercargill

1. Greg Henderson (Calder Stewart-BikeNZ National) 1h27m20s;
2. Shane Archbold (PowerNet) ST;
3. Jack Bauer (Share the Road) ST;
4. Joseph Chapman (Creation Signs-Ultimo) ST;
5. Mike Northey (Pure Black Racing) ST;
6. Alexander Ray (Orca Velo Merino) ST;
7. James Northey (moxxchopper.com) ST;
8. Myron Simpson (PowerNet) ST;
9. Marc Prutton (Sycamore Print) ST;
10. Sean Joyce (Placemakers) ST;
11. Hayden Roulston (Calder Stewart-BikeNZ National) ST;
12. Sergio Hernandez (Jackson Plumbing-Plumbing World) ST;
13. Cody Stevenson (Jackson Plumbing-Plumbing World) ST;
14. Aaron Strong (Ascot Park Hotel) ST;
15. Sam Steele (Team Motatapu) ST;
16. Aaron Gate (Team Motatapu) ST;
17. Alex Meenhorst (Team SVS) ST;
18. Clinton Avery (Ascot Park Hotel) ST;
19. Samuel Witmitz (Orca Velo Merino) ST;
20. James Gibson (Creation Signs-Ultimo) ST;
21. Matt Wheatcroft (moxxchopper.com) ST;
22. Mark Langlands (Pure Black Racing) ST;
23. Anthony Chapman (Creation Signs-Ultimo) ST;
24. Hamish Presbury (Team Motatapu) ST;
25. Justin Kerr (Share the Road) ST;

Final Overall Standings

1. Hayden Roulston (Calder Stewart-BikeNZ National) 20h58m23s;
2. Jack Bauer (Share the Road) at 02s;
3. Jeremy Yates (Share the Road) at 01m34s;
4. Floyd Landis (Orca Velo Merino) at 03m12s;
5. Michael Olheiser (Jackson Plumbing-Plumbing World) at 03m22s;
6. Josh Atkins (Benchmark Homes) at 03m40s;
7. Sergio Hernandez (Jackson Plumbing-Plumbing World) at 04m07s;
8. Clinton Avery (Ascot Park Hotel) at 04m18s;
9. Mike Northey (Pure Black Racing) at 04m20s;
10. Glen Chadwick (Pure Black Racing) at 04m33s;
11. Shem Rodger (Pure Black Racing) at 05m13s;
12. Alexander Ray (Orca Velo Merino) at 05m46s;
13. Pedro Palma (Placemakers) at 06m13s;
14. Matthew Marshall (The Southland Times-H&J's Outdoor World) at 06m24s;
15. Daniel Barry (Benchmark Homes) at 06m28s;
16. James McCoy (Benchmark Homes) at 08m04s;
17. Kevin Nicol (Jackson Plumbing-Plumbing World) at 08m22s;
18. Brad Carter (PowerNet) at 08m40s;
19. Gordon McCauley (Share the Road) at 09m07s;
20. William Tehan (Orca Velo Merino) at 09m12s;
21. Joseph Chapman (Creation Signs-Ultimo) at 09m48s;
22. Karl Moore (Team SVS) at 10m01s;
23. Aaron Gate (Team Motatapu) at 10m08s;
24. Ryan Obst (Radio Sport) at 10m09s;
25. Benjamin Blaugrund (moxxchopper.com) at 10m23s;

Team Overall

1. Share the Road 63h06m20s;
2. Pure Black Racing at 02m46s;
3. Jackson Plumbing-Plumbing World at 04m34s;
4. Benchmark Homes at 06m03s;
5. Orca Velo Merino at 06m56s;
6. Team SVS at 12m04s;
7. Calder Stewart-BikeNZ National at 13m16s;
8. PowerNet at 18m38s;
9. Ascot Park Hotel at 21m27s;
10. Creation Signs-Ultimo at 25m44s;

Sprints

1. Roman Van Uden (Pure Black Racing) 88;
2. Clinton Avery (Ascot Park Hotel) 47;
3. Karl Murray (Share the Road) 29;
4. Bevan Mason (Ascot Park Hotel) 24;
5. Mike Northey (Pure Black Racing) 21;
6. Alexander Ray (Orca Velo Merino) 19;
7. Glen Chadwick (Pure Black Racing) 18;
8. George Bennett (Team SVS) 18;
9. Joe Cooper (Subway Avanti Pro Cycling) 17;
10. Jason Allen (Share the Road) 15;

King of Mountains

1. Joe Cooper (Subway Avanti Pro Cycling) 52;
2. George Bennett (Team SVS) 26;
3. Alex Meenhorst (Team SVS) 22;
4. Josh Atkins (Benchmark Homes) 16;
5. Jeremy Yates (Share the Road) 14;
6. Clinton Avery (Ascot Park Hotel) 10;
7. Anthony Chapman (Creation Signs-Ultimo) 8;
8. Wade Mangham (Ascot Park Hotel) 6;
9. Hayden Roulston (Calder Stewart-BikeNZ National) 6;
10. Jack Bauer (Share the Road) 6;

ENDS

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