Share The Road's Jack Bauer, right, congratulates
Zookeepers-Cycle Surgery's Heath Blackgrove on his win.
Photo by NZPA
United States-based cyclist Heath Blackgrove enjoyed the
biggest day of his New Zealand career, winning the 53rd Tour of
Southland on his wedding day.
His Zookeepers-Cycle Surgery team only had to cover the
options on the final 65km stage into Invercargill after main
rival Marc Ryan (Timaru, ColourPlus) missed the key break in
the morning's 79km stage from Te Anau to Lumsden.
Blackgrove, the Waimate rider who rides in the US for Team
Hotel San Jose, had the luxury of enjoying the final three
laps around Queens Park in Invercargill to savour his first
major stage tour win, in a race that has become special to
him.
Blackgrove barely had time to complete the formalities after
his victory before he was whisked away to marry Saryon Johns
at the home of team manager Paul Clark.
The 28-year-old met local triathlete Johns during the 2001
tour at the Zookeepers Cafe where she worked.
"It's obviously a big day for me," Blackgrove said. "In terms
of the race I am very proud to be a New Zealander to win this
race. While I've won the nationals twice, this is the premier
road race in the country and it's eluded me until now."
Blackgrove, who has twice finished third in the Tour, said
the weather is the key factor and he was delighted to be able
to bounce back after losing the tour leader's yellow jersey
midway through the tour.
"I had a great team around me and they really did it for me."
Blackgrove, the Athens Olympian, fronted a strong combination
including Beijing Olympians Sam Bewley (Rotorua), Westley
Gough (Waipukurau) and Glen Chadwick, who lives in Europe,
along with world rowing champion Hamish Bond (Cambridge).
He held a slim 11-second lead into this morning's eighth
stage from Te Anau to Lumsden from Ryan with a minute back to
Nelson's Jack Bauer (Share The Road). However Ryan and his
ColourPlus team missed the crucial break in the 79km stage.
With the leading group of six riders, including Blackgrove,
his teammate Chadwick, Bauer and under-23 leader Tom Findlay,
rushing along at an average speed of nearly 55kph, the tour
aspirations of Ryan turned into a nightmare.
American Michael Olheiser (Jackson Plumbing) won the stage
into Lumsden from Chadwick and Blackgrove, who had opened a
generous buffer of more than a minute over Bauer and Findlay
with the final 65km stage from Winton to Invercargill to
contend with.
While the winds blew fiercely, Blackgrove's team were always
on the ball as a group of 25 riders broke clear before
Frenchman Romain Fondard (Share The Road) took out the final
stage in a sprint.
Blackgrove took the overall honours by one minute, three
seconds from Bauer with Findlay (Bici Vida) third at 1min
16sec, Ryan fourth at 1min 34sec and Peter Latham (Bissell
Pro) fifth at 2min 45sec.
It proved an outstanding performance from the 24-year-old
Bauer, who held the yellow jersey for two days and impressed
with his power on the flat and fortitude on the hills. The
winner of nine races in Belgium this year moves to his first
full professional contract with a UK-based pro continental
team next year.
Findlay won the under-23 honours, while another talented
young rider, Patrick Bevin (Taupo, Ascot Park Hotel), who
competed in the world junior championships this year, took
out the sprint honours as well as two stage victories.
Zookeepers-Cycle Surgery easily won the team honours.
The high profile American Floyd Landis, caught in the chaos
of the mass crash on the opening day, finally rode with
prominence on the final two days to finish 17th overall.
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