Cycling: Mitchell misses victory by a wheel

MACAU - A bike wheel separated New Zealand cyclist Glen Mitchell from the winner's jersey and second place in the South China Sea Tour, which finished in Macau yesterday.

In the sixth-stage 5km time trial - a basic out-and-back flat course - Mitchell needed to gain 7s on Hong Kong's Wong Kam Poi to regain the leader's jersey, while compatriot and team-mate Brendon Vesty needed 9s to move into third place.

Mitchell just failed in his quest, beaten by 0.6sec by Wong for second place, while Vesty accomplished his mission to take third.

He also made up enough time to move into third overall in general classification.

The final stage, a 90km road race (10 laps of a 9km circuit), turned farcical and was eventually scrapped from the results after Mitchell and Vesty had burned Wong off.

The Kiwi pair had opened a gap of three minutes with about 40km to go, and with Wong out of the equation were heading for first and second on general classification.

But cars on the course created havoc, with three riders in the main bunch crashing and with three laps to go the race was halted because of dangerous conditions.

Officials decided the last stage would not count so any advantage the Kiwis had gained was annulled. - NZPA