Cycling: Atkins holds on to the yellow jersey

Josh Atkins of Christchurch talks to the media. Photo / Getty Images

A courageous ride by Tim Gudsell has won him the sixth stage of the Tour of Southland but 19-year-old Josh Atkins is still on track to become the youngest ever winner of the race.

Heading into today's 167km stage from Invercargill to Gore, Pure Black Racing's Gudsell was more than two minutes off the pace in 9th overall, but his breakaway thrust him into contention for the yellow jersey, and he now trails PowerNet's Atkins by just 1min 5sec.

With just two stages remaining tomorrow, including an individual time trial at Winton, the 2011 race remains wide open.

But if the tenacious exploits his teammates displayed today are an appropriate gauge Atkins-who claimed the race lead after four-time champion Hayden Roulston withdrew yesterday-could become the youngest victor in the Tour's 56-year history.

"It was a super hard day on the bike and I owe it all to my teammates. They did an amazing job today and were on the front for 160km and helping me the whole way," Atkins said.

"When I was riding in those crosswinds and thought I wouldn't make it, I just had to go super deep for them. The boys give me a heap of crap every night but I'm pretty flattered at how much work they're doing for me."

The time trial, a new addition to the Tour, now looms as the critical factor.

"I'm just going to go all out for that and ride as hard as I can and hopefully go into the final stage with a good advantage," Atkins said.

Gudsell, whose next big event will be his wedding to fiancee Sarah in three weeks, said he was not short of incentive during his decisive attack.

"There were lots of things running through my head when I was solo with 25km to go. It was extremely tough but as I saw the time gaps going out it gave me more and more motivation to push harder and harder. By the end I'd turned myself inside-out to get a much time as I could.

"We've had a frustrating week as a team. We banked everything on trying to win the yellow jersey and we didn't worry about stage wins or anything else other than that but then we struck a bit of bad luck.

"I've had a fairly successful year but I'm still just coming back from a couple of years of numerous injuries and this is just a way to say thank you to all the people who have put up with the hard times."

Barry Stewart Builders-GMC rider Gordon McCauley has an unassailable 71-point lead over Share the Road's Chris Macic in the Sprint Ace standings, while the King of the Mountain jersey now belongs to Joe Chapman, who maintained a 32-point advantage over Creation Signs-L&M Group Racing teammate Brendon Sharratt.

In the team classification, Pure Black Racing has an imposing lead of more than 18min over PowerNet, while Ascot Park Hotel's Patrick Bevin, who is in third place overall, trails Atkins by 1min 9sec in the tussle for the Under-23 jersey.

Results from today's Stage 6 of the Tour of Southland, from Invercargill to Gore:

1. Tim Gudsell (PBR) 4h02m02s; 2. Jason Allen (CST) at 01m06s; 3. Chris Macic (STR) at 01m06s; 4. Marc Ryan (CST) at 01m06s; 5. Shem Rodger (PBR) at 01m06s; 6. Patrick Bevin (APH) at 01m06s; 7. Glen Chadwick (PBR) at 01m06s; 8. Josh Atkins (PNT) at 01m06s; 9. Andi Bajc (STH) at 02m34s; 10. Scott Lyttle (PBR) at 02m34s.

Overall standings:

1. Josh Atkins (PNT) 19h38m25s; 2. Tim Gudsell (PBR) at 01m05s; 3. Patrick Bevin (APH) at 01m09s; 4. Chris Macic (STR) at 01m19s; 5. Shem Rodger (PBR) at 02m35s; 6. Scott Lyttle (PBR) at 02m58s; 7. Andi Bajc (STH) at 03m06s; 8. Jeremy Yates (STR) at 03m09s; 9. Marc Ryan (CST) at 03m45s; 10. Mike Olheiser (JPW) at 04m03s.APNZ ks lb