Cycling: Four breakaways take punt to nail third stage

The United States national team stamped their authority on the women's cycling Tour of New Zealand with 2008 world time trial champion Amber Neben taking the tour lead after yesterday's fourth stage.

Neben recorded 17 minutes, 11 seconds for the 11km individual time trial in Palmerston North, enough to overhaul teammate Shelly Evans, who had held the yellow jersey for three stages, on the general classification.

Evans had the second fastest time with 17min 35sec, but had only a 20-second lead over Neben, who also won the women's Tour de France in 2008.

Australian Institute of Sports rider Tiffany Cromwell was third in 17min 48sec. Neben now leads the tour with a total time of 8 hours, 41minutes and 27 seconds, separated from Evans and Cromwell by less than half a minute.

The best of the New Zealanders was the national team's Linda Villumsen, who is fifth overall, 50 seconds behind the leader. She clocked 18min 01sec for the time trial.

Neben, 35, said the number one goal was to see a member of her team win the tour. "If it stays on my shoulders, obviously it's fun to win, but for us we pride ourselves on being a team so if we win, it's the USA who wins."

The air of predictability hovering over the tour was blown away in this morning's third stage by a quartet of determined riders yesterday who notched career firsts. Australian Irene Digenis (Prime Estate) and New Zealanders Yvette Hill-Willis (Litespeed), Gayle Brownlee and Sia Svendsen (both Handy Rentals) broke out of the main bunch about 30km into the 87km third stage from Palmerston North to Ashhurst and back.

The four, with Melbourne's Digenis calling most of the shots, built up a lead of up to just over a minute until near the end.

The main body of the race energised 5km from the finish, with the United States team leading the push to deliver another stage win for Evans.

With 500m to go there were 54 chasers threatening to swallow up the breakaways. But Digenis, Hill-Willis, Brownlee and Svendsen had enough left in their tanks to take out the stage in close order, with Digenis clocking two hours, 21 minutes, 29 seconds.

Evans was fifth, mere hundredths of a second behind Svendsen, who was riding her first true stage race after recently competing in the South Island's Coast to Coast multisport race.

For Digenis, 28, it was her first stage win in an International Cycling Federation-sanctioned race while Hill-Willis and Brownlee similarly scored their first career podiums.

A former national squad member in 2008, Hill-Willis was eager to race yesterday. "I was keen to have a go and attacked. I haven't been getting results for over a year and I have been training so hard and I'm stoked to be rewarded today."

- NZPA