The Tour of Southland 2007 came to a solid conclusion today. Today we contested two stages, the morning stage being 77km and the afternoon stage 64km. Although the weather conditions this week have been INDIFFERENT, today was no exception. The morning stage was run under overcast skies but with slight winds which was perfect for racing and the afternoon stage light rain and huge winds.
Stage 8 was slightly uphill with a tailwind for the first half and then the second half was slightly downhill with a tailwind. The race started off very very fast with attacks thick and fast from the gun. After about 10km Will managed to get himself in the move of the day. 10 riders went clear and the zookeepers led peleton kept them steady throughout the entire distance at approximately 45sec. The only counter attack came after about 40k from Jeremy Vennel from the Priority Health Team. That was nullified by the Zookeepers as Jeremy is a bit of a threat to the yellow. The break went out a bit but by the end it was bought back on the line. Will kept his sprint going and ran a credible 9th place, a great ride by him. Will also took the only KOM of the day and that put him in third overall for that jersey behind Jeremy Yates. Nic and myself kept Graham in pretty good position for the sprint but in the end he got boxed in a touch and didn't have the greatest of runs.
The afternoon stage started off in drizzle and a major crosswind. At the start we rode exceptionally well attacking off the front but they were all bought back. I was blown off the group after about thirty k's in the crosswinds but the other boys were all going ok. It was only a short stage and Nic was the only one to finish in the lead group. Overall Nic was the best place and Will ran a credible 3rd in the KOM jersey.
Nathan Jones
Comments