Road Cycling - Junior Tour of Southland

By Andrew Willmott | Posted: Tuesday October 19, 2021

Over the holidays we had two students competing in the Junior Tour of Southland.

.Harry Summers and James Gardner both competed in the under 17 boys category. The tour comprised of 6 stages including an individual time trial, kermesse, criterium and several road races. Harry finished a respectable 21st out of 30 starters in his debut appearance while James managed to claim 2nd in the general classification (2nd overall).

Here is James’ account of the week:

I had a great time at the YUNCA-Junior Tour of Southland. For the week prior, I was in camp for the New Zealand Road Development under 19 team which was really good preparation. It was an awesome time with just 7 top male riders from all over NZ, lots of learning both on and off the bike.

Day 1 was at Teretonga in calm sunny conditions for the Individual time trial where I placed 1st by 3 sec. The Kermesse was later in the day where I also placed 1st after going solo for 3 and 1/2 laps. So at the conclusion of day one, I had the yellow jersey and the sprint jersey.

Day 2 held two Road Race stages both at Wyndham. After the group had been selected down, they both finished in bunch sprints where I was 7th and 4th with the same times as the winners. At the end of stage 3, I was still holding the yellow jersey but at the conclusion of stage 4, I was second GC by 1 second and was tied with three others for the King of the Mountain jersey.

Day 3 was back in Invercargill for the Criterium where I rode aggressively. Once again it was a selected group of 4 off the front lapping the field where I placed 4th and I was now 2 sec behind GC and still tied in the KOM jersey. The final stage was off to Tisbury for another Road Race where I also finished in a top 8 bunch sprint and placed 4th with the same time as the winner.

With time bonuses, this put me into 2nd place overall for the yellow jersey, 5th overall for the Sprint Ace and 3rd overall for the King of the Mountain Jersey.

Overall, it was an amazing week with lots of learning and experience to be happy with.

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