At the start of the final 120km stage held in hot conditions in Masterton yesterday, McCormick was sitting second on general classification behind Skoda Racing’s Robert Stannard, with only 5sec separating the pair.
It became evident early into the first lap that this was going to be fast and furious, as both the New Zealand and Skoda teams, along with English-based team JLT Condor,were involved in a series of breakaways. By the time it came down to the final lap of 12, the breakaway roared towards the finish line with a group of around 11 riders fighting it out for line honours. Brisbane Continental rider Jordan Kerby launched a powerful sprint finish to win the stage in 2hr 38min 4sec. JLT’s Ian Bibby was second, Thomas Stewart third and McCormick fourth.
McCormick finished ahead of Stannard, who crossed the line in 17th and it was enough to claim the overall honours.
McCormick was delighted to take the victory — his first major tour win since he was a 19-year-old.
"The pressure wasn’t on us [at the beginning] but we knew it was going to be a hard day, whatever happens.
"The boys were absolutely fantastic. There’s something to be said for morale of the team this week," McCormick said at the finish line.
"We turned up with nothing and we’ve left with absolutely everything."
Stannard was gutted to lose the yellow jersey but paid tribute to the New Zealand team and was one of the first to congratulate McCormick.
"It was pretty sad. The team did a great job, but we just didn’t have a lot of help out there today. I don’t think our team could have done anything else so full credit to New Zealand," the 19-year-old said.
Race director Jorge Sandoval said yesterday’s final stage was the most exciting race he had witnessed in his 31 years of racing.
"With 400m to go we didn’t know who was going to win the tour. It was just incredible. Incredible," he said.
