Expectations that Saturday's third race in the North Island Cycling Series could test the resilience of the riders proved to be spot on.
Those in the elite division had to cover seven laps of the 17km circuit at Carrington, with each lap involving 1.1km of gravel road, a "first" for this particular event.
It was noticeable on the first lap that riders were keen to be on the pace heading into the gravel section but generally most bunches were intact when they came out the other end.
The pace was hot right from the outset and a small group of six riders " Gordon McCauley, David Rowlands, Robert Stannard, Jared Gray, Michael Naylor and Andy Hagan " upped the ante by breaking away in lap two. Working well together, they managed to get a break of almost two minutes on the chasers but the rigours of confronting not only the gravel section but a decent hill climb on every lap eventually took its toll on them and six became two, Rowlands (Meo GP) and Hagan (Wheelworks) being left to fight out the finish.
And, after playing "cat and mouse" for virtually a lap, it came down to the final sprint with Hagan leading out and Rowlands finding something extra to haul him back and take the honours.
