KEY POINTS:
Winning the six-day Tour of Southland cycling race will come down to a monumental team effort in the unpredictable southern climate, veteran Robin Reid says.
Reid, competing in his 11th tour, should know every one of the nine stages like the back of his hand and he says Southland Times Trek, Colourplus, Subway Avanti, Kia Motors, Delmaine R&R, Hilo Decorating and Raboplus have the players to dominate the tour.
Southland Times are led by Hayden Roulston, who is chasing a hat-trick of tour titles, Colourplus by Heath Blackgrove, Subway by Jeremy Yates, Kia by Swiss Philip Schnyder, Hilo have a choice of Americans Chuck Coyle or Omar Kem, and Reid's Raboplus have in-form New Zealand Olympics road racer Glen Chadwick.
Reid, who finished second in the Tour of Wellington in February, writes his chances off, despite a few Southland stage wins over the years.
"I haven't really challenged for the overall title and I'm pretty much a part-time rider now. I'm in as a support rider for Glen and to lend my experience guiding the team."
Reid said it would all boil down to which team committed 100 per cent to their leaders.
"Experience is going to play a big part of that - some of those teams are strong but a lot of those guys have not ridden the tour very much. I won't be in my best shape but at least I know what can happen there."
Chadwick will be competing in his first Powernet Tour of Southland but brings impressive form, having won the Tour of Arkansas in May and the Tour of Mexico for his American trade outfit, Team Type 1. He recently finished sixth at the Sun Tour in Australia, just over a second behind winner Stuart O'Grady.
The rest of the Raboplus team are Peter Latham, a Beijing Olympian who won the tour's under-23 title in 2004, Justin Kerr and Shem Rodger.
Reid said Latham would be an able backup to Chadwick.
"Glen is probably strongest climber on the team, Pete is a good finisher and he'll be hoping to finish well up in the general classification as well.
"Shem wants to have a crack at under-23 honours so it looks like Justin and I will be carrying the water bottles."
He expected this year's tour to be no different from any others he has competed in - unpredictable, to say the least.
"Because of the conditions down there, something can happen every single day. Quite often, something decisive happens on the first day - seven or eight guys will have taken charge after the Bluff Hill [stage two].
"But it's not to say the race is over - it's just so volatile that something happens every day and it can happen on the least expected stage. It can blow up a bit with a bit of wind and towards the end when guys get tired.
"When it breaks apart, you can really pull back minutes so you are never out of it - there is no reason to give it away if you miss something on the first day.
"Sometimes you get more of a chance if you go out there with an aggressive approach - you can pull it back."
- NZPA
