For someone whose attention is somewhat distracted, Australian rider Rochelle Gilmore has done an excellent job of dominating the first two days of the Wairarapa-based women's cycle Tour of New Zealand.
Gilmore won yesterday's 122km second stage in precisely the same way she won the first stage over 127km on Wednesday - set up immaculately by her team in a mass sprint home.
Gilmore said the support from her teammates had again been vital over the last stages of her three hours 06 minutes 13 seconds win.
"I had one teammate stay with me, Peta Mullens, she's like my right-hand man. She's always there and I know I can rely on her," she said afterwards.
"Everything went to plan... we still had a few girls there coming round the last corner. I just put my faith in them and followed them for the last 100m.
"Really, I get the easy job - I rely on my team and if they do all right I can finish it off."
Although Gilmore goes into the final day's racing today wearing the yellow jersey and - as a bonus - leading the sprint classification, she has no illusions of hanging onto the lead.
The last 125km stage today involves a draining series of ever-increasing climbs, culminating in the infamous Admiral Hill and while Gilmore is a classy rider, she knows her limitations and now focuses her attention on Sunday's one-off 119km UCI-backed International Cup round a fast Masterton street circuit.
"The tour is important , but just not for me personally - I'm not a tour rider and I don't expect to finish high on GC tomorrow," she said yesterday.
"I'm here for Sunday - the first two days have been a real bonus but Sunday's my main focus. Even the last two nights going to bed, I've been thinking about Sunday, not these first two stages.
"I'm a one-day racer. I'll really take advantage of having two days' rest and focus on Sunday."
Gilmore's idea of rest doesn't, however, preclude putting in an honest last-stage effort, working for her team in the opening 50km just as they supported her in the first two days.
"I'm saying that clearly I won't win the tour, but we have girls in our team who can. The pressure's off me now, and it's on our team because we came to win the yellow jersey."
Gilmore said three of her five Australian teammates were climbers who could take out the punishing final stage - Vicki Whitelaw, Tiffany Cromwell and Carlee Taylor, all 24 seconds down on the overall lead.
But to do that they'll have to destroy Queen of the Mountains leader Ruth Corset, riding for the Champions Systems team.
The gritty Australian has completely dominated the climbs, winning every hill stage to date and is also 24 seconds off the pace on general classification.
Gilmore said the team was well aware of the dangers posed by Corset.
"Ruth has climbing legs, and she has a lot of power at the moment so she's probably the main one to watch. And she's done really well on this course before, so that's got to be good for her confidence as well."
Joanne Kiesanowski heads the New Zealand hopes going into the final stage, lying 20 seconds off the pace to share fourth place with four others, including New Zealand national teammate Emma Peterson.
Kiesanowski finished 22nd overall yesterday, credited with the same winning time as Gilmore, and undoubtedly has the tenacity to feature at the finish.
