Jun 14th, 09. Kiwi Mike Northey the 22 year old racing for Land Rover ORBEA took over the Best Young Riders' classification in the Nature Valley Grand Prix today. He also placed 3rd in the stage.
"We have been waiting for today's stage to make the move on the jersey," Land Rover ORBEA manager Lorrene Godfrey told RoadCycling.co.nz. "All week our team has been making Ciclismo work hard to defend the young rider jersey, while resting our two young riders, Mike and Bobby Sweeting."
Northey (in Yellow) 3rd in today's stage finish (c)Matt Moses Images
Northey in the Young Riders' jersey
(c) Land Rover ORBEA
"Mike attacked 14 miles into the race and the break never came back and we took the jersey today like planned. The plan is to keep it in yellow - Bobby is seating in second and tomorrow's final stage is a climbers criterium," said Norrene.
Editors update June 15th, Land Rover ORBEA won the overall Best Young Riders' Classification, but it was Bobby Sweating with top honours, Mike Northey finished in 3rd place.
Northey was one of three riders who outlasted a breakaway of fourteen to finish on the podium in today's penultimate stage.
“I didn’t know [if we could last],” Northey said. “I thought we would get caught in the finishing circuit.”
Instead of being caught, the trio finished 17 seconds ahead of a charging pack that included all of the overall contenders, including Bissell Pro Cycling's two top riders kiwi Peter Latham and current leader Tom Zirbel, as well as OUCH-Maxxis’ Rory Sutherland. Mike Northey finished in the final sprint.
Another standout ride of the day goes to the kiwi Jazz Apples team. Their American rider Dotsie Bausch was 2nd in the stage after great support from kiwi Marina Duvnajk.
"Marina was awesome, she was off the front all day going for break after break, and Steph was back getting bottles. I saw two major teams go, then the third, and I knew we had to get somebody on this, so I went for it. I just gritted it out because I wanted to get a podium for the girls."
Today's short stage summary (ignore the picture)...
Yesterday the kiwi rider of the day was Jo Kiesanowski who did a great job helping her TIBCO team mate Brooke Miller win the stage with a huge push in the final lap of the criterium.
Tomorrow's final stage, another criterium features a trek up Chilkoot Hill every lap. This lung-busting hill climb, along with the heart stopping downhill turns is likely to stretch the riders' bike handling skills to their limits. Jo Kiesanowski was 3rd in this stage last year.
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Jun 14th, 09. Kiwi Mike Northey the 22 year old racing for Land Rover ORBEA took over the Best Young Riders' classification in the Nature Valley Grand Prix today. He also placed 3rd in the stage.