Cycling: Kiwis set pace on first day of Tour

Jeremy Yates. Photo / Getty Images

The talent-stacked New Zealand national team threw down the gauntlet early on the opening day of the cycling Tour of Southland yesterday, and rivals Share the Road responded in emphatic fashion.

Those predicting the 54th running of the tour will be a two-horse race between the two highly-rated teams were not disappointed as the coveted yellow jersey swapped between them.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Hayden Roulston donned the yellow jersey for the 81.63km second stage to the top of Bluff Hill yesterday afternoon after his Calder Stewart-BikeNZ national team powered through the morning's opening stage team time trial around Queens Park in Invercargill, earning an 11sec lead over Subway Avanti with Share the Road another 0.17sec shy in third.

But Share the Road's Jeremy Yates grabbed the tour leader's jersey from Roulston and will wear it in today's 165km trek from Invercargill to Gore - the longest stage of the six-day tour - after claiming line honours at the top of Bluff Hill.

With Pure Black Racing's Roman van Uden leading the charge, an early break of six riders held their own for the majority of the stage before the chasing peloton reeled them in approaching the seaside port. Only Southland Vehicle Sales rider Alex Meenhorst, of Auckland, managed to resist - albeit briefly - to start the gut-busting ascent ahead of the pack.

But it was Yates, of Hastings, who claimed bragging rights, and ultimately the yellow jersey, at the top of the formidable climb, followed closely by teammate Jack Bauer, of Nelson, and Roulston.

"It was just a matter of timing it to make sure you had a little bit of gas left at the bottom of the climb - I knew I had good legs," said Yates, who won the tough K2 event at Coromandel Peninsula on Saturday.

Share the Road's intentions were reinforced with Yates' teammates, including two-time tour winner Gordon McCauley, riding his 18th Tour of Southland, also finishing well.

Roulston was unfazed at losing the lead.

"It doesn't worry me if we've got yellow or not as long as we've got it at the end," he said.

"As the tour goes on, we'll get stronger and stronger and I'm pretty confident we're in with a good shot."

Disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis finished fourth in the second stage to sit fourth on general classification. Landis' Orca Velo Merino team finished well back in the tour-opening 8.42km teams' time trial, but the American was more at home in the afternoon's hilly 81.6km second stage yesterday.

Bauer snatched the King of the Mountain jersey, van Uden's efforts earned him the Sprint Ace jersey, and Benchmark Homes young gun Daniel Barry holds the lead in the under-23 classification.

- NZPA