Cycling: Moore outguns fancied rivals

Te Awamutu's Karl Moore pulled off a surprise win in the Tour of Southland at the weekend to take a place in cycling history.

Moore won both the tour's general classification - ahead of riders with better credentials, such as New Zealanders Glen Mitchell and Graeme Miller, American John Lieswyn and Canadian Eric Wohlberg - and the under-23 category.

The 22-year-old bolted into the lead after a tremendous ride in stage nine on Friday and managed to maintain the gap during Saturday's final two stages.

Going into the final day of racing, Moore had a 29s advantage over Southroads team-mate Ryan Russell. With the big guns always capable of stealing back the lead, Moore said he was nervous heading into the showdown.

"I just couldn't sit up at all. I was worrying the whole time, but I felt strong and confident," he said.

A professional rider in Italy for the past two seasons, Moore said winning New Zealand's most prestigious cycle race was a big honour.

"I'm just really pleased to have been able to win during one of the tour's strongest years."

Moore finished the race with a combined time of 21h 16m 19s - 29s ahead of Russell and 1m 34s ahead of Southland's Jeremy Robinson. Wellington's Gordon McCauley, of the So Fresh team, won the sprint ace title and Southland Times rider Scott Guyton was king of the mountains.

The Calder Stewart Roofing team of Miller, Lieswyn, Wohlberg, Chris Horner (US) and Hilton Clark (Australia) won the team title.

- NZPA