Oceanian Road Championships Preview

The 2016 Oceanian Road Championships kinda conclude the summer of cycling. Always a highlight for especially the smaller teams from Australia and New Zealand, as they get the rare opportunity to race against some names they hardly ever meet again. One of those names actually dominated last year's events: Cameron Meyer completed a double for Orica and denied them smaller teams a title. We will again see a nice mix of riders this year.

2015 | TT - Cameron Meyer (Orica)
2014 | TT - Jack Anderson (Budget Forklifts)
2015 | RR - Cameron Meyer (Orica)
2014 | RR - Jack Haig (Huon Salmon - Genesys)

Timetrial	Road Race
Joseph Cooper	Lachlan Norris
Patrick Bevin	Patrick Bevin
Michael Hepburn	Mark O'Brien
Will Clarke	Sam Crome
Timothy Roe	Timothy Roe
Ben Dyball	Ben Dyball
Cameron Wurf	Lachlan Morton
Jack Anderson	Jack Anderson
Peter Milostic	Ben Hill

Hard to see past Avanti here - yet again: some outstanding depth in both the timetrial (Cooper, Bevin, Dyball) and the road race (Van der Ploeg, O'Brien in addition to those three). There's no doubt, that the half Kiwi, half Aussie team has some pressure to deliver.

Orica again brings a true contender though: Michael Hepburn will surely aim for at least the TT-title. Former World Tour riders like Lachlan Morton or Cameron Wurf add some pure quality. And there's some of Australia's best NRS riders like Sam Crome or Ben Hill and of course Drapac with Timmy Roe, Lachlan Norris or Will Clarke!

Team Budget wants to repeat their success from 2014, where Jack Anderson claimed the timetrial title. Our team may focus on the road race this year, but of course Anderson may pull another surprise already in the race against the clock. One of the strongest teams in numbers, we definitely have high ambitions!

Oceanian Road Championships Timetrial

Avanti Racing and Drapac Procycling showed their strength and entered the Top-4 ahead of World Tour participant Michael Hepburn, who clearly suffered from the hilly parcours to finish 5th eventually. The Kiwis took the top spots, as Patrick Bevin (Avanti) bounced back from his loss against Joe Cooper (Avanti) in the New Zealand National Championships! Timothy Roe (Drapac) completed the podium with being less then a second slower than Cooper.

The poor summer weather continued and a few riders definitely struggled in this challenging conditions. Team Budget's riders apparently went for the wrong tactics, as they totally cracked in the final sector: Jack Anderson was far from repeating his title two years ago and finished 16th as best of the team.

Bevin set the best times at both splits and Cooper couldn't fight back in the final sector. The reigning Kiwi timetrial champion did steal a few seconds from Roe though, which was just enough to make it an 1-2 for Avanti. Will the New Zealand based team deliver in the road race, too?

Lachlan Norris (Drapac)

Patrick Bevin (Avanti)

Timothy Roe (Drapac)

Michael Hepburn (Orica)

Joe Cooper (Avanti)

Unfortunatelly, I'm really not that good in timetrials

Oceanian Road Championships Road Race

Team Budget Forklifts disappointed in the timetrial, but the guys bounce back in style today: Brendan Canty took out the road race in a thrilling sprint against Neil Van der Ploeg (Avanti)! In a pretty similar way, how Jack Anderson had to settle for the runner-up behind Jack Haig two years ago, Canty overtook Van der Ploeg on the very last inches. Jack Anderson made it an 1-3 for Budget, as he held off a 5-men-chasing group!

A two-men breakaway was caught right in time for the big guns to take over the action: Van der Ploeg initiated the first attack about 10km before finish, Canty quickly jumped behind. The duo opened up a small gap and Canty managed to drop Van der Ploeg a few moments later, where a small group of contenders was just a few seconds off: Lachlan Norris, Mark O'Brien, Jack Anderson, Lachlan Morton, Ben Dyball and veteran Peter Milostic.

Canty held on to a 20-seconds-gap, but Van der Ploeg made his way back to the front with less than 3km left! Anderson dropped group Norris/Morton, but couldn't reach the leading duo, that would go for an entertaining sprint decision: Van der Ploeg surely the better sprinter, but Canty played it smart and kicked off his sprint from the better position. A true thriller, but Canty surprisingly managed to outsprint his competitor by the smallest margin! A sensational result for Team Budget, which went for the perfect tactics today.

Van der Ploeg and Canty launching their first moves 10km before finish..

Morton, O'Brien and Anderson jumping behind with 7km left..

Van der Ploeg re-joining Canty with just 2km to go..

Anderson holding off the first chasing group with Norris/Morton..

Canty launching the sprint from Van der Ploeg's wheel..

..coming closer with the line approaching..

..and lunging in for a thrilling victory then!

Brendan Canty celebrating this prestigious win!

Calder Stewart Elite Series Preview

The 2016 Calder Stewart Cycling Series will be over six rounds across the South Island, New Zealand, taking in beautiful scenery and offering a race series like no other.

With the backing of Calder Stewart Industries, the Calder Stewart Cycling Series will showcase some of New Zealand's best riders and teams going head to head over a six race series. Well performed masters, full time career cyclists and age group riders will be given the chance to compete against the country's top based domestic cyclists. We are looking forward to the series, that will hopefully as exciting as last year, where Sam Horgan took the overall victory ahead of Daniel Barry and Brad Evans:

2015 - Sam Horgan (Benchmark Homes/Budget)

For each round, points are rewarded as follows:

Place	Individuals	Teams Bonus	Teams
1st	25	6	12
2nd	22	4	10
3rd	20	2	8
4th	18
5th	16
6th	14
7th	12
8th	10
9th	9
10th	8
11th	7
12th	6
13th	5
14th	4
15th	3

Sam Horgan	Keagan Girdlestone	Michael Vink
Daniel Barry	Sam Lindsay	Robin Reid
Adam Bull	James Williamson	Luke McPherson

Defending Calder Stewart champion Sam Horgan is back home to repeat his success from last season. The Budget professional took out two rounds last year, just like his teammate Daniel Barry (who rode for a different team though). Both are lining up for a strong Mike Greer Homes team now and with also Adam Bull racing the first three rounds, it's definitely the team to beat here.

The competition is fierce though: Keagan Girdlestone (Road Youth Academy) and Michael Vink (Breads of Europe) will race the full schedule and should be Horgan's most dangerous competitors. Also some strong domestic cyclists like Lindsay, Reid or Williamson (8th overall in 2015) can be threats here.

From Team Budget's point of view, it's pretty obvious that we would welcome another victory from Horgan. Also Barry was impressive last year, so we do hope for at least a couple of wins and the overall victory, too.

Sam Horgan	Daniel Barry	Jason Allen
Adam Bull*	Jeremy Inglis	Nick Clark
Ben Johnstone	Sean Hambrook

*first three rounds only
bolded Team Budget members

Calder Stewart Cycling Series Rd1 | Oxford GP

He did it again: Daniel Barry took out the opening round of the South Island Elite Series, as he finished off a great leadout from defending series champion Sam Horgan (both riding for Mike Greer Homes) in style. A thrilling bunch sprint, in which Michael Vink (Breads of Europe) completed the podium behind Barry/Horgan!

The peloton looked always in control of a 3-men-break of the day and also pulled back some solo attacks by Jacob Grieve (L&M) and Adam Bull (Mike Greer). Grieve tried to escape 40km before finish (and finished 4th eventually), while Bull went with less than 10km left. The climber fought hard, but got caught when the bunch kicked off the sprint.. Vink then went for an early and strong kick, but Horgan delivered Barry a strong leadout and then went to make it an 1-2 for the team. It's now our goal to defend this lead in the rankings until the end.

Adam Bull attacked with 10km remaining..

..empty-handed, as it came down to a bunch sprint!

Vink, Horgan and Barry went for a thrilling finish..

..and Barry wins the Oxford GP - just like last year!

Always great to see a Budget rider on the top of the podium!

Calder Stewart Cycling Series Rd2 | Timaru Classic

An entertaining race in Timaru saw Keagan Girdlestone (NZ Road Youth) taking out the second round of the Calder Stewart Series by a few seconds ahead of Adam Bull (Mike Greer). The duo managed to go clear from a reduced peloton with less than 3km left and held on to small gap until the end. Tim Rush and Michael Vink (Breads of Europe) scored valuable points on the further positions.

A breakaway of six riders looked promising, but got reeled in once the first favorites made their moves: Girdlestone's first attack with still more than 30km remaining didn't stand a chance. Also Daniel Barry (Mike Greer) tried to escape about 11km before finish, but the series leader got caught as well.. the next attacks from Girdlestone and Bull appeared to be the winning moves though: Bull tried to shake off Girdlestone, but the latter played it smart to dominate this two-men sprint for a nice victory.

Sam Horgan didn't feel too great, but still finished as 7th eventually. With Michael Vink coming in as 4th though, the lead in the series goes to former Budget teammate Vink.. Barry hadn't much left after his attack and couldn't score a point on this challenging parcours.

Barry showing off the Series leader shirt with an attack..

Bull and Girdlestone going clear with just 2.5km to go..

Girdlestone with the better position close to the line..

..for a clear victory! Bull comes in second..

Vink 4th, Horgan 7th - series lead for Vink!

Calder Stewart Cycling Series Rd3 | Bluespur Classic

He tried once, he tried twice, he came second: Adam Bull (Mike Greer) again finishes as runner-up after going clear as a duo, that would fight for line honours! A strong Chris Nicholson (Tasman Wheelers) managed to fight back to an attacking Bull, while Series-leader Michael Vink totally cracked after being a part of this 3-men-group for the final 20kms!

Vink definitely showed some aggressive racing, when he attacked the peloton together with Nicholson with still about 20km to go. Bull jumped behind quickly, while Sam Horgan failed to join this trio, that managed to hold off the small first bunch by half a minute. Bull kept the pace high and Vink got dropped inside the final 10km. Bull launched an attack and got a gap on Nicholson, too.. but opposing to Vink, Nicholson could counter and outsprint an empty Bull for the win!

The first bunch came in 42 seconds later: Brodie Catterick (TotalPOS) with a stunning 3rd place ahead of Keagan Girdlestone (NZ Road Youth), who takes over the series-lead from Vink, who finished outside the Top-15 eventually! Horgan finished 6th on the day and stays in striking distance for the overall lead.

Vink, Nicholson and Bull going clear with 20km left..

Vink couldn't follow another acceleration from Bull..

..who tried, but couldn't drop a strong Nicholson..

Another unlucky 2nd for Bull, but Nicholson deserved this win!

Girdlestone comes in 5th, Vink misses out on any points eventually!