KEY POINTS:
Otago cyclist Alison Shanks added another entry to her burgeoning resume with a convincing win in the national road championships at Hutt Valley yesterday.
The victory means Shanks pulled off the double, having comfortably won the time trial on Thursday.
In the 156km men's race, Julian Dean marked his return to racing from a broken hand with a sprint finish victory over Heath Blackgrove.
Shanks was expected to do well in the time trial as defending champion but had no such expectations in the 101km road race.
"It's been a great weekend. It [the double] wasn't in my sights really. I came here for the time trial, my main event, and just lined up for the road race thinking 'well, anything can happen in road races'.
"I just went out there, went hard, had good legs so used them."
Shanks, 24, is one of New Zealand's most versatile sportswomen, representing Otago at basketball and making the New Zealand A team in netball.
She took up cycling in the summer of 2004-05 only to spend more time with then-boyfriend Greg Henderson.
In one of her first competitive rides, she won a 40km handicap race before putting her cycling career on hold for netball.
However, when her netball career failed to take flight, she opted for cycling again. A year later, she finished seventh and fourth respectively in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games time trial and individual pursuit.
Yesterday she showed the benefits of increasing maturity and experience on the bike. She attacked on the penultimate hill and never looked like being headed. Melissa Holt finished second and Sarah Ulmer, returning from injury, was a creditable third, both 38s behind Shanks' 2h 59m 01s.
"I had no pressure," Shanks said. "It was rather nice lining up on the start line knowing it didn't really matter what happened to me.
"I had a feeling I'd be strong in the hills so I went to the front in the second-to-last climb, pushed the tempo pretty hard and when nothing really happened, I put in an attack.
"I expected the climbers to come with me but when none did, I went into time trial mode and pushed it through to the finish."
Shanks now returns to Dunedin to train for the Manchester world cup at the end of February. From there, she'll head to Valencia to prepare for the world champs in Majorca. There's also the thought of the 2008 Beijing Olympics firmly planted in her mind.
"It's only a year-and-a-half away and there's plans to try to qualify . . . the Olympics are the ultimate."
Dean, 31, has been-there, done-that as far as Olympics go but the Credit Agricole rider was still unsure how he would stack up yesterday after a long lay-off from racing. The injury-blighted pro was succinct when asked if he felt good during the race.
"Not particularly, no," he said. "I was suffering a little bit but Heath never went so hard that he managed to drop me."
Those two went with about 5km to go, dropping a pack that included third-placegetter Gordon McCauley. In the sprint for the line, Dean thought he might have blown it.
"It was a pretty close call. I think I went a bit too early but just managed to hang on." He won in 3h 49m 23s.
Hayden Roulston has withdrawn from the Tour Downunder because of injuries sustained while training last week. He has been replaced by Masterton's Scott Lyttle. Jeremy Vennell has also withdrawn and has been replaced by McCauley.
Participating in the Tour Downunder, which begins in Adelaide on Tuesday, will be 112 cyclists from 20 countries.
