KEY POINTS:
Olympic champion cyclist Sarah Ulmer continues to search for a cure to a prolonged leg injury despite a "good day" in the final stage of the women's Tour of New Zealand in Wellington yesterday.
Belying a lack of fitness, Ulmer won the sprinter's green jersey for the five-day tour and finished second in the sixth and final stage, a 35km criterium in the capital's CBD.
The tour was won by German former world champion, Judith Arndt, of the T-Mobile team, who clocked 12 hours 26 minutes 23 seconds.
Second was Canadian Leigh Hobson of the American Cheerwine team, 2m 9s back, with the Australian Institute of Sport's (AIS) Lorian Graham third, 3m 35s behind the winner.
The best Kiwi was Wanganui's Catherine Cheatley, who finished seventh for Cheerwine, 3m 57s back.
T-Mobile dominated the tour winning five of the six stages, with only yesterday's time trial in the capital eluding them. They become the first overseas team to win the tour.
Ulmer won the tour last year, and as an indicator of her form then, she took just 16m 6s in the time trial over the same distance in more difficult conditions. Yesterday she clocked 18m 25s over the same course.
A frustrated Ulmer, who finished the tour 11th, 5m 05s behind Arndt, has been battling a long-term problem with her left leg that slows her down when she wants to go hard.
Her racing calendar is now clear and she has another battery of tests next week to look for a solution.
"I'm taking it as it comes. I had a couple of real bad days this week, and a couple of actually quite good days so it's just a matter of trying to get as many good days as possible," said Ulmer, who turns 31 on Wednesday.
"It's frustrating not getting any progress - it'd be all right if we knew which direction we were heading ...
"But we are back to the drawing board now for tests and stuff next week so hopefully after this week we will have a few more things to go on."
Because of the injury, which has bugged Ulmer for a year, she is not yet thinking about the world road championships in Stuttgart, Germany, in September.
"I have no idea about the worlds, and I'm not trying to be diplomatic ... we just have to try and find some concrete answers in terms of where I am at and make a decision from there."
Arndt said it was pleasing to be the first international rider to win the tour and she credited superb teamwork for the result. "The best thing is to do it as a team," she said, adding T-Mobile would head to the US for more racing before the European season started next month.
- NZPA
