KEY POINTS:
Waikato's Melissa Holt completed a double when she won the women's cycling road race at the national championships in Hawkes Bay yesterday.
Holt followed her win in the 30km time trial on Friday when she took the sprint finish to upset her rivals in the 104km road race near Taradale.
The Athens Olympian showed her cycling career is far from over despite training for the Ironman New Zealand triathlon in Taupo in March.
She was too strong in the sprint for Canterbury's Rosara Joseph and young Auckland prospect Kaytee Boyd, winning in 3h 10m 32s.
"This is great. I'm really pleased," Holt said. "I'm not currently in the high performance squad and I always wanted to do an Ironman. So I have been riding less to mix in the swimming and running training."
Auckland's Marina Duvnjak set the race alight when she broke away on the 5km climb on the first of four laps, stretching her lead to a surprising 4m 50s. Her margin was reduced to 3m on lap two and her breakaway ended on the climb on lap three.
Julian Dean scored the first victory for his new Slipstream team in successfully defending his title. .
Dean outsprinted Waimate's Heath Blackgrove to the finish in a repeat of their one-two finish last year, with Wellington's Scott Lyttle third.
With temperatures in the mid 30C, Dean made his move in the final 20km of the 182km race.
- NZPA
