The young Aucklander, a former junior world track cycling representative, was determined to do well on the 166km stage from Invercargill to Lumsden after a crash and a puncture on the same stage last year led to him finishing towards the back of the field.
Part of a five-strong breakaway that launched about 25km into the stage, Morton was only caught with 8km left in the day and somehow found the strength to kick again on Lumsden’s main street and leave the other stage contenders grasping.
"It’s every cyclist from New Zealand’s dream to win a stage here," Morton said.
"I remember 2024 .. . I had a lot of unfortunate mishaps on this stage. I wrote down on my goals that I wanted to do something special on this one and the Gore stage, and with a dropped chain on the Gore stage I had to get something done.
‘‘I put everything into taking a win, so it’s so satisfying."
Morton’s bold move to bridge across to the initial four-strong attack by Keegan Hornblow, William Cooper, James Krzanich and Jack Clark paid dividends.
Behind them the peloton were playing cat and mouse, never letting them get beyond a lead of about 2min, but the big mover turned out to be Hornblow, who launched his way into the sprint ace jersey.
Christchurch rider Krzanich was also rewarded with most combative honours.
PowerNet were able to control the pace of the race for their leader, Josh Burnett, who finished the day comfortably retaining the orange jersey.
He holds a 15sec lead over Matthew Wilson with Australian Ben Dyball at 39sec in third place overall and the leading over-35 rider.
"My team-mates did a fantastic job,’’ Burnett said.
‘‘It’s the first time a lot of them have had to ride the front like that and I was super proud of them.
‘‘To be honest I didn’t have to do too much today and they did everything so a big thanks to them.
"Kiaan [Watts] got close at the end but credit to Dan. That’s pretty impressive to have another go off the front after a big day in the break like that."
Noah Hollamby leads the under-23 classification by only 2sec in fifth place overall, William Heffernan leads the king of the mountain classification and Macaulay Ford-Goodtech have defended their lead in the teams classification.
Burnett, who is chasing his third title on the SBS Bank-sponsored tour, was looking forward to stage six from Invercargill to Bluff, a 154km circuit that takes in eastern and southern Southland and goes past his family home twice before arguably the most iconic climb in New Zealand cycling.
"The race is wide open. So much can happen tomorrow before we even get to Bluff and everyone knows that so we’ll have to have our wits about us. It’s my favourite climb so I’m excited about that." — Tour of Southland
