New Zealand's Championships feature both a flat road race and timetrial around Christchurch.. both profiles also feature some difficulties, but we better expect the road race to suit one certain rider the most..
Sam Bewley (Milka) is coming off a stellar season, which finally made him one of the very best cyclists in the world. He's the clear favorite - just like his teammate Jesse Sergent for the timetrial. Milka also as the strongest team in numbers (3).
Bauer (Heineken) may be the most dangerous contender in both disciplines, while a climber/puncheur like Bennett (Red Bull) may hope for the climb featuring a chance to attack.
A young gun (Atkins/Cisco) and a veteran (Roulston/WWE) go for an ever dangerous breakaway attempt early into the race. With no rider in the break, will Milka now try to control the race/gap?
A small "yes", but a much bigger "no".. unfortunatelly (for the spectators at least) it only looks like Milka would lead the bunch in order to chase the escapees.. but the gaps grows bigger and bigger, leaving a superstar like Bewley without a chance to grab national honours.. a shame, really.
But of course we have to "search" the next Kiwi-champ... the race is close to the finish now and we see an interesting sprint:
veteran Roulston had a little chat with much younger Atkins, who then misses Roulston kicking off his sprint! A wise man he is. Or - at least - he knows how to put pressure on a young gun..
Easy win for Hayden Roulston then, even though Atkins find his sprinting legs in the last few hundred metres. A maybe important victory from Roulston's personal point of view: securing the road title with his current team WWE disbanding may give him a chance for a new contract somewhere else.
The remaining riders, by the way, had to abandon the race. A shame, really..
A tricky, partly hilly timetrial may give top-favorite Sergent a hard time against better climbing Bauer, who looks like the only real threat for Milka's TT-specialist though..
And yes, it's indeed much closer as Sergent might have hoped for: Bauer is 6" in arrears at the second split! Still the lead for Sergent, of course and only a few kilometres to go..
Bauer crushes the previous competition by almost 40 seconds to set a new BT, unsurprisingly. Enough to gain back those seconds on Sergent?
Let's keep it short: no! Sergent defends his 6-seconds-gap to claim the TT-title! So Milka at least delivered in the race against the clock.
New Zealand's Championships feature both a flat road race and timetrial around Christchurch.. both profiles also feature some difficulties, but we better expect the road race to suit one certain rider the most..
