KEY POINTS:
Ashburton cyclist Hayden Roulston overcame his heart condition and critics to win his first Tour of Southland yesterday.
Roulston, of the Cycle Surgery team, took little time regaining the yellow jersey he lost on Friday to Hastings rider Jeremy Vennell of Calder Stewart.
Roulston finished fifth in yesterday's 78.65km eighth stage from Te Anau to Lumsden, 77 seconds ahead of Vennell, who was 10th. The stage was won by under-23 star Sam Bewley in 1h 27m 56s.
Roulston consolidated his hold on the yellow jersey by staying with the leading group throughout the 64.4km ninth and final stage from Winton to central Invercargill.
He was 17th in the final sprint to the finish line to clock an accumulated time of 21h 23m 32s and take first place on general classification.
Second was Calder Stewart's Rob MacLachlan, who was 58 seconds behind, with Vennell third another second back.
"It's another step along the way to prove I'm back. It's important to me," a beaming Roulston said.
"It was an emotional win considering six to seven weeks ago, I was told I would not race again."
Roulston had come into the race aiming to win a few stages as he had been late starting his training schedule.
In the end, he won only one stage - the prologue - but that was an important one for him.
"Just starting was special but taking the yellow jersey on the prologue was big."
Even when Roulston lost the jersey twice, he was not too worried, particularly yesterday when he thought anything was still possible, especially with the climb over Gorge Hill.
He is planning several more races, including the New Zealand criterium in Christchurch next month, the Tour of Nelson and Australia's Tour Down Under.
"Everything's on track for the world champs in Spain," he said.
He had been talking to the New Zealand selectors during the tour.
The final stage started in wet and blustery conditions from Winton and 17 riders, including Roulston and Vennell, were in the leading bunch. The lead blew out to more than a minute as the rain grew heavier and they reached Invercargill.
Kristian House attacked once the group was nearing Queens Park and Fraser MacMaster chased him, with the rest content to pace their way home.
Trek/Zookeepers Cafe rider Bewley won the morning's 79km eighth stage after going out with the leading group from the beginning.
Joe Chapman (Creation Signs) took out the King of the Mountains classification by winning the hill climb in the stage.
