KEY POINTS:
Australian comeback queen Lorian Graham moved a step closer to the Beijing Olympics with an impressive win in the mountain classification during yesterday's second stage of the women's cycling Tour of New Zealand.
Graham, in her first year out of the Australian Institute of Sport team, powered up a brutishly steep but mercifully short Te Wharau hill to lead the queen of the mountain category after the 100km Martinborough to Masterton stage.
Riding for the Dutch team Vrienden van het Platteland, Graham finished a narrow second overall in stage two behind compatriot Oenone Wood's winning 2hr 54min 30sec. She moved into fourth place on the general classification, 57 seconds behind tour leader Wood.
Wood's United States-based defending champions Team High Road crew dominated yesterday's racing, taking three of the top 13 spots to lead the team's classification after two days of the five-day, six-stage tour.
But Graham was more than satisfied with her effort, in her second year contesting the Tour of New Zealand after an horrific crash 2-1/2 years ago in Germany which saw five of her Australian teammates badly injured and one, Amy Gillet, killed.
Graham suffered a daunting array of injuries, including multiple collarbone fractures, broken ribs, a cracked sternum, fractured lumbur and a badly shattered kneecap when a teenage driver ploughed through the group out on a training ride.
Last year, the Queenslander finished third overall on the Tour of New Zealand. This year, she's looking for further improvement, and got a good indication yesterday that she is on the right track.
"I wanted to see where I sat amongst the climbers today, so when I hit that climb I thought the place to be would be at the front.
"I sat on the front pretty much from the start, climbed it at my own tempo, and it got me the points at the top," she said yesterday. "I don't think I would have been comfortable sitting behind anybody else."
Graham's experience from last year, when she mistimed the severity and distance of the climb, paid dividends yesterday.
"I was always watching underneath my arm as I was getting to the top. This year, I knew where the finish line was - I certainly wanted those points and no-one came over the top of me when I sprinted for that line."
With the Beijing Olympics looming in August, Graham is looking to garner the maximum benefit from the Tour of New Zealand, which finishes on Sunday with a 35km criterium around the Wellington CBD.
"It's a big year with the Olympics coming up, but I'm feeling good now and I'm sure there's only better things to come. All the results from here on in are going to count."
Of the New Zealanders in yesterday's race, Serena Sheridan was the first to finish, 3min 37sec down on Wood in 23rd place, with young time-trialler Rachel Mercer of Wellington (Mercedes Benz) on the same time in 26th place.
Sheridan is also the first New Zealander in the general classification after two stages, 4min 40sec down on Wood in 26th place.
Joanne Kiesanowski, riding for the Swiss-based Cervelo-Lifeforce team, took third in yesterday's opening 35km criterium but couldn't maintain momentum yesterday, finishing 55th and 5min 18sec behind stage winner Wood. The New Zealander now lies 45th on the general classification, 5min 30sec in arrears of the leaders.
- NZPA
