12/01/2023
NZCC Stage 2
The second day of racing at the greeted the team with some slightly nicer conditions.
A solid day on the bike saw the team tick the goals set out by
moran made the move of the day and took control of the KOM leaders jersey, our first UCI leaders jersey since the mighty donned the yellow at the Tour of Flores.
sprinted for a solid 5th across the line with the rest of the team staying safe in the bunch ahead of tomorrows Queen stage.
Sean’s stage 2 race report:
“Todays weather was a lot better than yesterday, we started out on wet roads but luckily the rain stayed away. The only weather obstacle we were facing was the headwind all the way down to Martinborough. My legs were feeling pretty fresh after a pretty controlled stage yesterday, so my plan was to get in a break to contest the KOM jersey. Brent came up to me quite early on in the race and towed me to the front of the peloton I attacked straight away and the peloton didn’t react so I just decided to TT to the KOM, I got a gap quite quickly and I just stuck at a high tempo till I crossed for the KOM. I backed off straight after but was still gaining time, so decided to see how far I can get. Luckily 2 riders bridged across to make life a bit easier and we worked well together all the way to Martinborough, where we were doing 9 laps of a 7km circuit, including 3 Primes, all of which I was able to contest. 3 laps to go of the circuit the peloton was breathing down our neck and the decision was made to sit up and let the pelo tow us to the line. Josh and Brent worked their way right up to the front of the peloton 2km to go and Josh did a stellar job to lead Brent out for a fantastic 5th place and fast sprint finish!! It was a great day for the team, and we look forward to what will come of the queen stage tomorrow as we climb up Admirals.“
