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Josh Atkins wins Le Race |
Josh Atkins wins Le Race ©Bruce WIlson
Oct 15th, 11. 19 year old Josh Atkins made his intentions known with his first attack, and after 100km he delivered on his goal by winning Le Race solo.
Within 15mins of the cold Christchurch start line, Atkins was off the front of the peloton.
Joining him after his attack up Dyers Pass Road were his two teammates from the US season, Michael Vink (defending champion) and George Bennett plus domestic rider James Early (Benchmark).
Atkins claimed the first KOM in the fog at the Sign of the Kiwi, before the flat roads allowed the front bunch to swell to 24 riders.
At the second major climb it was Atkins who again took the KOM honours as the field strung out once more.
With Nick Lovegrove (Subway Pro Cycling), Atkins rode away from Joe Cooper who was then chased by Bennett, Early and Cooper's Mico Protrain teammate Vink.
At the 20km to go mark, Atkins had a gap on Lovegrove, while the chasers were spread out over 90sec back.
Lovegrove worked hard in pursuit of Atkins on the final descent, but it was Atkins who crossed the Akaroa finish line solo with a 19sec lead.
"Nick Lovegrove stayed with me along the top of the Summit Road. I knew with him being a bigger guy I just had to get rid of him because he was going to go a lot faster than me downhill," said Atkins.
After a season racing in the US with U23 development team Trek Livestrong, Atkins has brought great form back to Australasia. Last week he placed 2nd in Australian's tough Tour of Tasmania, a ten stage race, and today he was motivated to take the win - and the $1250 prize purse for 1st place and 1st KOM.
Today's cold weather and rain made an impact on the race speed. Atkins won in 2h39m35s and although that is still a quick time for a hilly 100km, it was 2min slower than Vink's record winning time last year, despite the course being 2km shorter this edition. "It was pretty hard up there in the rain. It was really tough. I like riding in the rain but I don't really like starting when it's cold. Once I got riding it was ok, it just kind of numbs the pain," said Atkins, whose next big race is the PowerNet Tour of Southland.
Reta Trotman from Kaiapoi was the 1st woman home, +3h05m05s, 5min ahead of Hayley Mercer.
Unofficial men's results
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