If only Ben Hill could get up hills faster he would be in a commanding position when the Tour of Southland concludes today.
The 24-year-old Australian lost the yellow jersey on the demanding 187km stage from Te Anau to Coronet Peak on Thursday.
But he was back at the front yesterday, and out sprinted a breakaway group on stage five from Invercargill to Lumsden to grab his third stage win.
Fellow Australian rider Mitchell Lovelock-Fay (Avanti Racing Team) still leads the general classification but only by four seconds.
Michael Torckler had trailed the race leader by 1min 19sec but rode strongly to finish just behind the leading group and crucially 1min and 15sec ahead of Lovelock-Fay.
Sunny and calm conditions greeted the riders as they set off from Invercargill to Lumsden.
The first break to get free after 40km contained a number of leading contenders.
A concerted effort from the chasing peloton saw them brought back before another group featuring Mike Northey (Kia Motors-Ascot Park Hotel), Torckler (Barry Stewart Builders), Tom Vessey (H&J Smiths Outdoor World) and Hill (McCallums Group) broke free.
The gap blew out to 2min 39sec and, despite the efforts of Team Avanti Racing, it remained constant for much of the stage.
The traditional tailwind from Mossburn to Lumsden did not materialise and the break riders had to continue to work hard.
The peloton began to creep closer but had left it too late.
Hill sprinted clear to take the stage win.
There are just 24sec separating the top four riders, setting up an exciting final day which features a 13km individual time trial and a short stage from Winton to Invercargill.
Gordon McCauley (GMC Coaching Hawkins) leads the over 40 category.
Thomas Stewart (Team Cromwell) retains the king of the mountains jersey.
Mathew Zenovich (H&Js Outdoor World) has a 10-point buffer over Mosgiel's Jacob Grieve (Pure South) for the sprint ace title and Avanti Racing Team leads the team classification.
