Cycling: Day to forget for Menzies

INVERCARGILL - Australian cyclist Karl Menzies vowed to win back the yellow jersey after a day of calamities yesterday that saw Glen Mitchell grab pole position in the Tour of Southland.

Menzies, of the Calder Stewart team, began yesterday with a three-second lead over Mitchell, of the Southland Times team, but got off to a bad start when he forgot his asthma inhaler at the start of stage three from Invercargill to Tuatapere.

Zookeepers rider Marc Ryan would go on to claim the stage, his first in the race, ahead of Werner Ribenbauer (Subway) and Geoff Burndred (Rabobank) but his delight was contrasted by the frustration of race leader Menzies later in the afternoon.

Just a handful of kilometres into the fourth stage, Menzies broke a chain -- a serious enough situation in itself, but one that was about to get worse.

The Calder Stewart team did not have a suitable bike ready and Menzies was forced to swap with teammate Richard England as well as changing pedals.

The delay saw the peloton head off into the central Southland sunset while Menzies' team worked feverishly on the roadside.

Race protocol usually dictates the peloton take the foot off the throttle if the yellow jersey strikes mechanical problems, but for some reason the race continued for several kilometres before the call came to "sit up".

Meanwhile, Menzies had a request to be motorpaced back into the race turned down, which didn't enhance his mood.

Eventually, after methods which occasionally bordered on legal, he was able to rejoin the peloton after some selfless riding by teammates England and Karl Murray.

A sprint finish on the main street of Winton saw Southland Times rider and world track champion Greg Henderson take the stage, ahead of Gordon McCauley, of Trek Zookepers, with Menzies back in 10th.

Menzies said after the stage he was disappointed the peloton had not slowed for him and that head commissaire Walter Ka Lok Yue, of Hong Kong, had turned down his request for a tow.

"It's usually the thing with the yellow jersey that you wait up, but not everyone had radios so not everyone knew what had happened. By the time it got around it was 40km into the race.

"It's been two days, this could happen to anybody and we'll definitely come out swinging the next four days."

Menzies' cruel run of luck saw him drop to seventh place, 1min 37sec behind the new race leader.

Henderson said the stage win had been made sweeter given his team's decision to slow the peloton and wait for Menzies.

"We don't want to take the yellow jersey that way and I think it was a good idea."

Menzies' teammate Jeremy Vennell, who is in third place, 16sec behind Mitchell, now loomed as a major threat, Henderson said.

"Vennell is a mountain goat, set him loose on the Crown Range tomorrow (today) and he could be in yellow.

"Today was my forte with a sprint finish and tomorrow's his, straight up the side of a mountain so they are definitely not out of it."

Mitchell ended the day holding a 1sec lead over his teammate Greg Henderson.

Today's 132.8km fifth stage will take the riders from Lumsden around Lake Wakatipu and up the Crown Range near Queenstown.

- nzpa