News: Mike Cuming powers to Stage 5 victory

2014_August_Prendas_Bannerr4

Britain’s Mike Cuming who now lives in Australia, wins final stage of the UCI 2.2 New Zealand Cycle Classic and Stevie Williams is third overall

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News: Mike Cuming powers to Stage 5 victory

Britain’s Mike Cuming who now lives in Australia, wins final stage of the UCI 2.2 New Zealand Cycle Classic and Stevie Williams is third overall

EVENT PRESS RELEASE

Whilst Ben O’Connor, a 20-year-old Australian, claimed his first UCI yellow tour jersey, the final stage was won by a familair name in British cycling, Mike Cumming riding for an Aussie team.

Like previous tour winners him including Julian Dean, Robbie McEwen and Hayden Roulston, O’Connor looks certain to be one of the next young riders to make an impact on the international stage.

Making his debut in this tour with Avanti IsoWhey Sports, O’Connor finished top of the general classification points ladder in 15.52.54, 31 seconds ahead of his Avanti team mate Mark O’Brien while Welshman Stevie Williams, racing for JLT Condor, was third overall.

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Welshman Stevie Williams, who raced for Pedal Heaven in 2015, was third overall

There was no denying how happy Ben O’Connor was after upon being presented his yellow jersey in Masterton – his smile was a mile wide. “It’s unbelievable. I am super relieved to get through today and the Avanti one, two – we couldn’t have done any better, I am super happy,” said O’Connor.

His comments came after a day of fast and furious racing during the fifth and final stage of the tour – a 122km route that took riders through rolling countryside north east of Masterton.

The final stage was eventually won by State of Matter/MAAP’s Mike Cuming who came off the front of a breakaway group with 10km to go. Cuming managed to hold onto his lead and crossed the finish line in 2.51.4secs, seven seconds ahead of New Zealander and current road cycling champion Jason Christie, racing for Kenyan Riders Downunder Australia, and team-mate Jesse Kerrison.

This was followed by a group of 17 riders five second behind which included O’Connor and O’Brien; ONE Pro Cycling’s James Oram, Dion Smith and Hayden McCormick and New Zealand National team member Michael Vink.

With valuable GC points on the line O’Connor said he knew it would be a tough day. “(The other teams) threw everything at us – it was unbelievably tough,” he said. “There was a little bit of cross wind today and short punchy climbs out there and it left us isolated. The first half, the boys rode brilliantly and then we went to get some bottles and there were some cheeky moves made, which left the boys out, and left me and Mark to try and nurse her home.”

“You’re kind of hoping for an easy (final) day where it’s all nice and controlled and have a team bunch sprint but that didn’t happen at all today. That’s bike racing, that’s what makes it such a great sport,” said O’Connor.

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Mike pictured in his last season in Britain, 2015

Mike Cuming
Stage winner Cuming said he knew he had the stage win in the bag with 1km to go. “I looked around over my shoulder and knew there was a bit of distance there, so just went for it,” he said.

Prior to that, however, it could have been any number of riders to take the win with an active peloton chasing several breakaway groups featuring riders from ONE Pro Cycling, Kenyan Riders DownUnder, Oliver’s Foods and Data#3 Cisco Racing.

“It was non-stop today. Our break got away and got two minutes but it was just real hard all day. There were little splits going and with the cross winds and stuff it was tough … you could even say it was painful,” said Cuming.

Christie, who finished second across the line, was thrilled to end the tour on the podium. It comes just after a week of being crowned New Zealand National Road Cycling Champion. “The whole week wearing the National Champ jersey I’ve been a target in the race.”

“I can’t move without 10 guys following me, but today I managed to get into the break and had a team mate there with me, Morgan Smith, and we kept riding steady. Then the peloton split in half and then there was another split with 15km to go so I jumped across to the front group and finished second. I just love riding in the heat.”

Also finishing their tour on a high was State of Matter who won the overall team classification finishing 16 seconds ahead of runner-up ONE Pro Cycling and third place Data #3 Cisco third.

Kiwi Ryan Christensen, racing for Oliver’s Real Food, won the Mitre 10 Mega King of the Mountain Jersey two points ahead of Avanti’s Sam Crome; Australian Dylan Newberry, racing for Data #3 won the Fagan Motors Sprint Ace jersey two points clear of Cuming and O’Connor also won the Ricoh U23 jersey 34 seconds ahead of JLT’s Stephen Williams.

At the presentation ceremony race director Jorge Sandoval thanked the New Zealand Police who helped make the event safe for riders and the public; UCI representative Peter Tomlinson; Destination Wairarapa, the regional tourism organisation; Trust House, NZ Community Trust; sponsors and all volunteers who’d helped out during the week. Sandoval also said he looked forward to staging the event again in 2017.

Meanwhile Huri Huri: Wairarapa’s Bike Festival being held in conjunction with the New Zealand Cycle Classic continued this weekend. In fact on Saturday four of our pro team riders who were unable to continue the tour after being timed out took part in the Pedal for Parkinsons Cycle Race.

Carl Wells and Chris Sanson from Bikebarn, Charles Salmon from MCS Cycling and Alex West from Team Seasucker were happy to ride with “weekend warriors” who completed the road race around Gladstone and that finished atop of Admiral Hill. The quartet said it was great to support a good cause and be given the opportunity to keep the legs turning over.

The four pro riders stayed with the main bunch through the first 60km of the ride until they got to Admiral Hill when they showed they’re class. West cleared off and lead the way to the top of Admiral Hill.

Catherine Rossiter-Stead, Huri Huri Festival organiser said she was so pleased to see these pro riders out mixing with the community in such a worthwhile event.

 

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Stage No. 5 Classification
1 CUMING, Michael SOM 2:51:04
2 CHRISTIE, Jason KRD 00:07
3 KERRISON, Jesse (U23) SOM
4 GRIFFIN, Logan (U23) ORF 00:09
5 THOMAS, Ryan (U23) DSR
6 SUTTON, Frank (U23) TSR
7 THOMAS, Scott DSR
8 ORAM, James OPC
9 KATSONIS, Nicholas (U23) SOM
10 IRVINE, Saxon DSR
11 WILLIAMS, Stephen (U23) JLT
12 GORDON, Callum (U23) TSR
13 LAMPIER, Steven JLT
14 BULL, Adam (U23) SOM
15 O’CONNOR, Ben (U23) ART
16 O’BRIEN, Mark ART
17 VINK, Michael NZL
18 TORCKLER, Michael THT
19 SMITH, Dion OPC
20 MILLER, Nick KRD
21 MCCORMICK, Hayden (U23) OPC 00:18
22 CARTER, Tom (U23) SSK 07:10
23 EVANS, Brad NZL 10:27
24 ATKINS, George JLT 13:16
25 FRAME, Alex JLT
26 GOUGH, Fraser ART
27 CROME, Sam ART
28 NEWBERRY, Dylan (U23) DSR
29 AITCHESON, Liam (U23) ART
30 SCHUURHUIS, Rien ORF
31 CHRISTENSEN, Ryan (U23) ORF
32 CULEY, Marcus MCS
33 HOUSE, Kristian OPC
34 MORT, Logan SFT
35 LEWER, Flynn FMT
36 WYNNIATT, Cameron THT
37 ALDRIDGE, Joshua THT
38 TROY, Michael GPM
39 THOMASON, Jason THT
40 LANGHAM, Jacob (U23) MCS
41 SMITH, Morgan KRD
42 PHIPPS, Sam (U23) GPM
43 ROBINSON, Tom SOM
44 CHRISTISON, Shamus (U23) SFT
45 STANDRILL, Calvin (U23) FMT
46 GILMORE, Jordan NZT
47 LEVIN, Nate (U23) BBT
48 ROWLANDS, David FMT
49 MCDERMOTT, Luke MCS
50 HEANEY, Alex (U23) TSR
51 HILL, Samuel (U23) GPM
52 RUSH, Tim NZT
53 MARRYATT, Jake (U23) BBT
54 FIELD, Rylee (U23) GPM
55 NEUMANN, Mitchel COB
56 VOLKERS, Samuel DSR
57 LAWLESS, Christopher (U23) JLT
58 HUNT, Joshua OPC
59 HAGAN, Andy TSR
60 CAMERON, Tim NZT
61 PRETE, Joshua COB

FINAL General Classification
1 O’CONNOR, Ben (U23) ART 15:52:54
2 O’BRIEN, Mark ART 00:31
3 WILLIAMS, Stephen (U23) JLT 00:34
4 ORAM, James OPC 00:40
5 LAMPIER, Steven JLT 00:47
6 TORCKLER, Michael THT 01:01
7 VINK, Michael NZL 02:25
8 THOMAS, Scott DSR 03:46
9 KATSONIS, Nicholas (U23) SOM 03:50
10 IRVINE, Saxon DSR 03:59
11 CHRISTIE, Jason KRD 04:09
12 SMITH, Dion OPC 04:44
13 THOMAS, Ryan (U23) DSR 04:49
14 GORDON, Callum (U23) TSR 05:12
15 BULL, Adam (U23) SOM 05:28
16 SUTTON, Frank (U23) TSR 07:18
17 KERRISON, Jesse (U23) SOM 09:39
18 CARTER, Tom (U23) SSK 12:14
19 CUMING, Michael SOM 12:21
20 MILLER, Nick KRD 13:31
21 MCCORMICK, Hayden (U23) OPC 15:59
22 HOUSE, Kristian OPC 17:46
23 CAMERON, Tim NZT 17:52
24 SMITH, Morgan KRD 17:54
25 CROME, Sam ART 18:14
26 RUSH, Tim NZT 18:20
27 EVANS, Brad NZL 18:26
28 MARRYATT, Jake (U23) BBT 18:39
29 ROWLANDS, David FMT 19:02
30 WYNNIATT, Cameron THT 19:55
31 PRETE, Joshua COB 20:51
32 GRIFFIN, Logan (U23) ORF 22:23
33 CULEY, Marcus MCS 24:47
34 NEWBERRY, Dylan (U23) DSR 25:16
35 ROBINSON, Tom SOM 27:42
36 VOLKERS, Samuel DSR 27:59
37 ATKINS, George JLT 28:01
38 HILL, Samuel (U23) GPM 28:14
39 CHRISTENSEN, Ryan (U23) ORF 29:00
40 MCDERMOTT, Luke MCS 30:36
41 ALDRIDGE, Joshua THT
42 LAWLESS, Christopher (U23) JLT 34:36
43 GOUGH, Fraser ART 34:39
44 AITCHESON, Liam (U23) ART 35:30
45 SCHUURHUIS, Rien ORF 37:27
46 HUNT, Joshua OPC 37:36
47 NEUMANN, Mitchel COB 38:24
48 HAGAN, Andy TSR 38:54
49 HEANEY, Alex (U23) TSR 40:08
50 THOMASON, Jason THT 42:03
51 FRAME, Alex JLT 42:44
52 STANDRILL, Calvin (U23) FMT 44:20
53 LEWER, Flynn FMT 45:00
54 MORT, Logan SFT 46:01
55 TROY, Michael GPM 48:07
56 FIELD, Rylee (U23) GPM
57 CHRISTISON, Shamus (U23) SFT 49:15
58 LEVIN, Nate (U23) BBT 1:01:51
59 PHIPPS, Sam (U23) GPM 1:07:59
60 GILMORE, Jordan NZT 1:11:21
61 LANGHAM, Jacob (U23) MCS 1:14:36

Final Fagan Motors Sprints Classification

1 NEWBERRY, Dylan DSR 17
2 CUMING, Michael SOM 15
3 TORCKLER, Michael THT 6
4 CHRISTIE, Jason KRD 3
5 VOLKERS, Samuel DSR 3
6 MCCORMICK, Hayden OPC 3
7 RUSH, Tim NZT 3
8 EVANS, Brad NZL 2
9 THOMAS, Scott DSR 2
10 GORDON, Callum TSR 2
11 GRIFFIN, Logan ORF 2
12 CHRISTENSEN, Ryan ORF 2
13 MILLER, Nick KRD 1
14 HUNT, Joshua OPC 1

FINAL Mitre 10 Masterton KOM

1 CHRISTENSEN, Ryan ORF 32
2 CROME, Sam ART 30
3 O’CONNOR, Ben ART 10
4 TORCKLER, Michael THT 8
5 GRIFFIN, Logan ORF 8
6 O’BRIEN, Mark ART 8
7 WILLIAMS, Stephen JLT 6
8 ORAM, James OPC 4
9 THOMAS, Scott DSR 4
10 THOMAS, Ryan DSR 4
11 MCCORMICK, Hayden OPC 4
12 LAMPIER, Steven JLT 2
13 VINK, Michael NZL 2
14 SMITH, Dion OPC 2
15 BULL, Adam SOM 2
16 CUMING, Michael SOM 2
17 HUNT, Joshua OPC 2
18 HAGAN, Andy TSR 2

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