Cycling: Blackgrove leads after Roulston crashes out

Three-time champion Hayden Roulston crashed while United States-based New Zealand professional Heath Blackgrove grabbed the leader's yellow jersey after a tumultuous opening day of cycling's Tour of Southland.

Blackgrove, originally from Waimate, was 13th in yesterday's prologue and second in the climb to the top of Bluff Hill in the 82.6km second stage to top the general classification in the six-day tour.

The day was dominated by a major pile-up involving more than 40 riders midway through the second stage, from Invercargill to Bluff Hill.

The crash brought down a number of key riders, among them defending champion Roulston, who was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury.

Roulston was bidding for a fourth successive win in New Zealand's premier road tour before he moves to the Columbia Highroad team which will make him ineligible for the Southland event for at least the next two years.

"I'm gutted really," Roulston said.

"I have trained really well for this event. It was my last chance possibly ever to win it again and to crash out when it is none of your own fault is absolutely gutting.

"It happened because you have riders not knowing what to do and how to handle the conditions.

"I got going again but knew straight away that something was wrong. My knee is really sore and it left me with no alternative."

The riders had to cope with fierce crosswinds in the second stage, with the crash occurring on a narrow bridge near Wallacetown about 30km out of Invercargill.

Organisers stopped the race for 25 minutes to tend to the injured riders and allow teams the chance to sort out the carnage of machinery, with some teams planning to ship in replacement bikes overnight.

Once the race restarted a break left Cantabrians Michael Vink, of The Southland Times team, and Alan Williams, of Winton's Middle Pub, out front.

The race broke up with 10km remaining as Karl Moore (Hamilton, KIA Motors) and Dylan Newell (Australia, Praties Cycling) joining them to open an advantage of 50 seconds.

Nelson's Jack Bauer, second in last week's national club championship, pushed up from the third pack to join Blackgrove, of Zookeepers Cycle Surgery, in an attack on the gruelling climb over the final 3km up Bluff Hill.

Bauer managed to edge ahead in the last attack to claim the biggest win in his career, in a time of two hours 28 minutes 15 seconds.

Blackgrove was 4sec back in second and Vink 21sec behind in third.

Blackgrove holds a 14sec buffer over Bauer on general classification after two stages, with Timaru Olympian Marc Ryan, of ColourPlus, third at 24sec after leading home the team time trial this morning.

Hawkes Bay's Jeremy Vennell, of Team Bissell, is poised in fourth place at 29sec ahead of American teammate Ben Jacques-Maynes after the pair rode strongly up Bluff Hill.

American drawcard Floyd Landis, of cyclingnzshop.com-Biosport, was 33rd overall, 3min Blackgrove at the end of the day.

He was 21st in the first stage 33rd in the second stage.

Landis won the 2006 Tour de France but was disqualified and suspended for two years when doping tests revealed abnormal testosterone levels.

Ryan's ColourPlus team dominated team time trial around an 8.4km course in Invercargill, with Ryan leading teammates Roulston and Jesse Sergent across the line 12sec ahead of Subway Avanti, led by Hayden Godfrey, of Christchurch.

It will be a busy night for team mechanics repairing damaged bikes and preparing replacement machinery for tomorrow's third stage, a 165km journey from Invercargill to Gore via Riversdale.

- NZPA