Cycling: Big effort on hill puts Yates in front on the tough Tour of Southland

After just one day, New Zealand's former world junior cycling champion Jeremy Yates has established himself as the favourite to win the Tour of Southland.

After a superb ride up Bluff Hill, reminiscent of a similar effort on the Crown Range last year, Yates has taken a big 51s lead heading into stage three this morning.

His effort on Bluff Hill was sensational.

He was in the middle of a powerful break which seized control of the tour early in stage two as the peloton finally stretched their legs through Otatara.

Making the most of the blustery winds, the 15-strong group effectively shut the other 75 riders out of the race.

As the front bunch hit Bluff, Yates and Scott Guyton looked the most likely to wrest the yellow jersey from Gordon McCauley.

But halfway up Bluff Hill, McCauley's chances ended when the chain on his bike broke.

A replacement bike was found, but he was forced to run the remaining 500m while Yates smoked his way past Guyton to snatch the stage victory and the yellow jersey.

"The break worked together really well," Yates said.

He said the race was run in "true Southland conditions."

After starting in bright sunshine, the cyclists encountered swirling winds, then driving rain.

Yates said "zebra-power" had helped him overtake Guyton on the hill, a reference to his Zookeepers team's colourful strip.

Southland's Matt Randall also made the most of the enterprising break, eventually finishing seventh on the stage and overall, and was the first local home.

But it will be Yates, surrounded by team-mates McCauley, Julian Dean, brother Matthew Yates and Heath Blackgrove, who has the upper hand today.

The Zookeepers produced a strong ride in yesterday's opening stage, a two-lap teams' time trial around Queens Park.

The team finished in 9m 57s, reaching speeds of up to 70km/h, the only squad to break the 10-minure mark.

Winton's Middle Pub was second in 10m 15s, and the Southland Times third in 10m 21s.

With three riders in the top 10 on general classification, the Times leads the team standings by more than four minutes from Meadow Fresh, with the Zookeepers a further 8m 39s back.

Yates is determined to hold the yellow for the rest of the week.

"There's been a lot of planning put into this."

- NZPA