Cycling: Champion leads breakaway in Tour de Vineyards

National road champion Heath Blackgrove emerged as the new race leader after day two of the Tour de Vineyards road cycle race in Nelson yesterday.

With stage-one winner Robin Reid, of Blenheim, still hurting from the blistering pace he set in Thursday's 60km stage, Blackgrove was among an eight-rider breakaway to set the early pace in the 90km second stage from Richmond to St Arnaud.

The eight-man bunch was whittled down to three as Christchurch's Alistair Duncan and Te Puke's Logan Hutchings joined Blackgrove in a break at the top of Spooners Range.

Hutchings fell off the pace as Blackgrove led the trailing bunch by 1m 47s at the finish. He now leads Reid by 30s on general classification with two stages remaining. Wanganui's Dayle Cheatley is third, 1m 24s behind Blackgrove.