2020 Coverage - Day 7 - Winton TT & Winton to Invercargill

Video

 

Stage 6 Wrap - Individual Time Trials

 

Defending champ Michael Vink takes slim lead as Gate claims TT honours

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7/11/2020 - Defending champion Michael Vink will take the slimmest of leads into the final stage of the 2020 SBS Bank Tour of Southland.

Vink (Transport Engineering-Talley’s), who is attempting to join an elite club of riders who have won New Zealand’s most prestigious stage race three times in a row, leads 2016 winner Aaron Gate (Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy) by 1 second after this morning’s McConachie Shearing Stage 6 13km individual time trial around Winton.

Gate won the stage with a stunning ride in cold, windy conditions, the only rider to break the 16 minute mark, with Glenn Haden (Coupland’s) second and Logan Currie (Transport Engineering-Talley’s) third.

Gate’s team mate James Oram is in third place, 5 seconds in arrears, with overnight leader Corbin Strong trailing by 37 seconds after placing 23rd on the stage.

“It’s going to be an exciting last stage, everyone wants to see good racing and tight racing and that’s exactly what we’ve got,” Vink said.

This afternoon’s 77km stage gets underway from Winton at 1.30pm and finishes in Invercargill at about 3pm.

Photo credit: James Jubb/Studio Jubb

Stage Results

1. Aaron Gate (BSP) 15m59s; 2. Glenn Haden (CPB) at 07s; 3. Logan Currie (TET) at 19s; 4. James Oram (BSP) at 21s; 5. Michael Vink (TET) at 22s; 6. Dylan Kennett (TET) at 31s; 7. Mark Stewart (VFF) at 33s; 8. Alexander White (BSP) at 37s; 9. Luke Mudgway (BSP) at 45s; 10. Ben Oliver (CBW) at 45s; 11. Ethan Batt (BSP) at 45s; 12. Joel Yates (BSR) at 49s; 13. Paul Odlin (PNL) at 51s; 14. Jordan Kerby (BSR) at 52s; 15. Ollie Jones (PNL) at 54s; 16. Hamish Keast (TET) at 57s; 17. Tom Sexton (BSS) at 01m00s; 18. Bailey O'Donnell (TET) at 01m00s; 19. Laurence Pithie (CCA) at 01m02s; 20. Daniel Bridgwater (CBO) at 01m02s; 21. Madi Hartly-Brown (CPB) at 01m03s; 22. Reuben Thompson (VFF) at 01m04s; 23. Corbin Strong (PNL) at 01m09s; 24. Hugo Jones (BSS) at 01m23s; 25. Kees Duyvesteyn (MEN) at 01m26s;

Overall Standings

1. Michael Vink (TET) 17h37m14s; 2. Aaron Gate (BSP) at 01s; 3. James Oram (BSP) at 05s; 4. Corbin Strong (PNL) at 37s; 5. Ollie Jones (PNL) at 42s; 6. Luke Mudgway (BSP) at 02m23s; 7. Ben Oliver (CBW) at 02m39s; 8. Logan Currie (TET) at 02m46s; 9. Laurence Pithie (CCA) at 03m13s; 10. Reuben Thompson (VFF) at 03m46s; 11. Tom Sexton (BSS) at 05m11s; 12. Theo Gilbertson (CSM) at 05m28s; 13. Paul Odlin (PNL) at 06m28s; 14. Joel Yates (BSR) at 06m32s; 15. Bailey O'Donnell (TET) at 10m01s; 16. Mark Stewart (VFF) at 13m27s; 17. Jack Drage (CBW) at 16m34s; 18. Glenn Haden (CPB) at 17m27s; 19. Hamish Keast (TET) at 17m43s; 20. Kees Duyvesteyn (MEN) at 18m21s; 21. Barnaby Clegg-Shaw (RJS) at 18m57s; 22. Jake Marryatt (RVR) at 19m11s; 23. Cathal Guiney (BMN) at 19m48s; 24. Campbell Pithie (CCA) at 19m57s; 25. Campbell Stewart (BSR) at 20m50s;

Team Overall

1. Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy 52h49m53s; 2. Powernet at 07m37s; 3. Transport Engineering – Talleys at 12m14s; 4. Vet4Farm at 40m00s; 5. Creation Signs – MitoQ at 45m16s; 6. Central Benchmakers – Willbike at 46m10s; 7. Business South at 50m47s; 8. Base Solutions Racing at 53m27s; 9. Circuit Asphalt at 1h07m52s; 10. Real Journeys at 1h07m56s;

Sprints

1. James Fouche (CSM) 57; 2. Matthew Zenovich (VFF) 34; 3. Dylan Kennett (TET) 21; 4. Paul Odlin (PNL) 19; 5. Jordan Kerby (BSR) 18; 6. Jack Drage (CBW) 15; 7. James Williamson (CSM) 14; 8. Paul Wright (CSM) 11; 9. George Jackson (CSM) 9; 10. Corbin Strong (PNL) 8;

King of Mountains

1. Paul Wright (CSM) 43; 2. Ollie Jones (PNL) 17; 3. Jack Drage (CBW) 15; 4. Reuben Thompson (VFF) 14; 5. Aaron Gate (BSP) 12; 6. Laurence Pithie (CCA) 11; 7. Michael Vink (TET) 11; 8. Corbin Strong (PNL) 10; 9. Theo Gilbertson (CSM) 9; 10. James Williamson (CSM) 8;

Stage 7 Wrap - Saturday 7th November 2020

 

Aaron Gate dominates final day to win his second SBS Bank Tour of Southland

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Two stage wins on the final day has propelled Aaron Gate to his second SBS Bank Tour of Southland victory.

Gate (Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy) produced a dominant display in the 13km McConachie Shearing Stage 6 individual time trial at Winton in the morning before claiming line honours in the final 77km Ascot Park Hotel Stage 7 from Winton to Invercargill to back up his maiden win in 2016.

Starting the day 33 seconds behind Southland’s Corbin Strong (PowerNet), Gate was the only rider to go under 16 minutes in the time trial, but still started the final stage trailing defending champion Michael Vink (Transport Engineering-Talley’s) by 1 second.

After claiming a time bonus on the penultimate sprint of the six-day race, Gate and Vink were tied on the same time, with the final result decided by a final, furious sprint to the finish.

“It was going to come down to the wire with Michael and I being on such close time and really having to race for that intermediate time bonus,” Gate said.

“It was going to come back to the time trial on countback and I’d forgotten to check the splits before it so I didn’t want to leave it down to chance so I wanted to get at least third on the stage and to get the win was a bonus.”

In all, Gate won three stages, capping off a great race.

“I’d been training well and with no other racing happening I’d had this as a target and a motivating thing to keep heading out the door,” he said.

“I was definitely keen to have a crack at some stage wins but I thought the Remarkables was going to be too hard for me. The silver lining was the stage being shortened, but even then the way it was raced was just relentless and when I saw the forecast was that there wasn’t much wind I thought my chances of winning the race were gone. I had to take every single opportunity I had.”

Strong had some consolation with victory in the Henderson Construction Under 23 classification, while his PowerNet team mate Paul Odlin took the Stonewood Homes over 35 rider classification.

Gate’s Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy team won the Wensley's Cycles teams classification and Creation Signs-MITOQ ended a successful week with James Fouche taking away the Harcourts Sprint Ace jersey and Paul Wright crowned the Jesco Hydraulics King of the Mountains.

Gate paid credit to the work put in by his teammates during the week.

“The boys just rode super all week and everyone was really motivated to do some damage today. We came here to win it and it’s pretty special to pull it off. To come back and win again is pretty awesome and the thing that hasn’t changed is that I had a great team behind me who were willing to sacrifice their own chances to help me succeed.”

Gate also had a word for Strong, who couldn’t defend the yellow jersey on the final day and secure a first Southland win since 1994.

“Corbin’s a great friend and I was fizzing to see him with the yellow jersey and I definitely wouldn’t have complained if he’d won. Bike racing is bike racing and you have to put your friendships aside a little bit. I was never good at time trials when I was his age and he’s got a massive future ahead of him.”

The Share the Road Ambassador jersey was awarded to Travis Kane (Business South) who finished his 21st consecutive Tour of Southland today.

Photo credit: James Jubb/Studio Jubb

Stage Results

1. Aaron Gate (BSP) 1h38m27s; 2. Campbell Stewart (BSR) ST; 3. Laurence Pithie (CCA) ST; 4. Ben Oliver (CBW) ST; 5. Corbin Strong (PNL) ST; 6. Samuel Ritchie (VFF) ST; 7. George Jackson (CSM) ST; 8. Nicholas Kergozou (CPB) ST; 9. Kiaan Watts (RJS) ST; 10. Josh Kuysten (PNL) ST; 11. William Green (BSS) ST; 12. Michael Vink (TET) ST; 13. James Oram (BSP) ST; 14. James Krzanich (BJC) ST; 15. Joel MacMillan (CBW) ST; 16. James Williamson (CSM) ST; 17. Luke Mudgway (BSP) ST; 18. Daniel Cross (RVR) ST; 19. Alexander White (BSP) ST; 20. Henry Levett (CBW) ST; 21. Joshua Haggerty (CPB) ST; 22. Barnaby Clegg-Shaw (RJS) ST; 23. Ollie Jones (PNL) ST; 24. Dylan Kennett (TET) ST; 25. Madi Hartly-Brown (CPB) ST;

Overall Standings

1. Aaron Gate (BSP) 19h15m34s; 2. Michael Vink (TET) at 06s; 3. James Oram (BSP) at 12s; 4. Corbin Strong (PNL) at 44s; 5. Ollie Jones (PNL) at 49s; 6. Luke Mudgway (BSP) at 02m30s; 7. Ben Oliver (CBW) at 02m46s; 8. Logan Currie (TET) at 02m53s; 9. Laurence Pithie (CCA) at 03m18s; 10. Reuben Thompson (VFF) at 03m53s; 11. Tom Sexton (BSS) at 05m18s; 12. Theo Gilbertson (CSM) at 05m46s; 13. Paul Odlin (PNL) at 06m35s; 14. Joel Yates (BSR) at 06m57s; 15. Bailey O'Donnell (TET) at 10m19s; 16. Mark Stewart (VFF) at 13m47s; 17. Jack Drage (CBW) at 16m52s; 18. Glenn Haden (CPB) at 17m56s; 19. Hamish Keast (TET) at 18m01s; 20. Barnaby Clegg-Shaw (RJS) at 19m04s; 21. Campbell Pithie (CCA) at 20m04s; 22. Campbell Stewart (BSR) at 20m53s; 23. Alex Heaney (PNL) at 22m26s; 24. Camden Feint (BJC) at 22m36s; 25. James Fouche (CSM) at 22m41s;

Team Overall

1. Black Spoke Pro Cycling Academy 57h45m14s; 2. Powernet at 07m37s; 3. Transport Engineering – Talleys at 12m14s; 4. Vet4Farm at 40m00s; 5. Creation Signs – MitoQ at 45m16s; 6. Central Benchmakers – Willbike at 46m10s; 7. Business South at 51m00s; 8. Base Solutions Racing at 54m09s; 9. Real Journeys at 1h07m56s; 10. Coupland’s Bakeries at 1h10m39s;

Sprints

1. James Fouche (CSM) 61; 2. Matthew Zenovich (VFF) 34; 3. Dylan Kennett (TET) 27; 4. Jordan Kerby (BSR) 20; 5. Paul Odlin (PNL) 19; 6. Jack Drage (CBW) 15; 7. James Williamson (CSM) 15; 8. Paul Wright (CSM) 13; 9. Corbin Strong (PNL) 11; 10. George Jackson (CSM) 10;

King of Mountains

1. Paul Wright (CSM) 43; 2. Ollie Jones (PNL) 17; 3. Jack Drage (CBW) 15; 4. Reuben Thompson (VFF) 14; 5. Corbin Strong (PNL) 13; 6. Aaron Gate (BSP) 13; 7. Laurence Pithie (CCA) 11; 8. Michael Vink (TET) 11; 9. Theo Gilbertson (CSM) 9; 10. James Williamson (CSM) 8;