Race Director pleased with NZ Cycle Classic

Feb 3rd, 12. Worthy champions, impressive young riders and great tactical racing made the 25th Anniversary of the NZ Cycle Classic a great occasion says Tour Director Jorge Sandoval.

Racing in the Manawatu for the 1st time ©Adrian Rumney, www.adrianrumney.com

He was thrilled to have what he called the best field he has ever had at one of his tours, but it was the racing which he felt truly honoured the milestone year.

"Lots of riders were race fit, this made the race harder," Sandoval said of the five stage tour which for the first time was raced in the Manawatu.

"Before the tour, everyone was talking about an easy flat tour, after Stage two most riders changed their minds."

In that stage 75% of the field finished more than 15min after the winners!

The original plan was for the tour to have a big climbing stage, but the consequences of the Manawatu Gorge slip meant courses had to be altered. As the riders soon found out, there were other challenges ahead.

"The Manawatu is hilly and windy and may not have the 15km hill climb like Admiral Hill in the Wairarapa, but continuous climbing took its toll," Sandoval explained. 

Unlike previous years there was no criterium race, thanks to strict UCI rules, but there was the exciting addition of a time trial opening stage.

After the time trial there were 39 riders with less than 30 seconds gap between them, and five riders with equal winning time, including NZ Time Trial Champion Paul Odlin (Subway Pro Cycling).

Jay McCarthy (yellow) won the tour ©Adrian Rumney, www.adrianrumney.com

"Most international events start with an ITT world, some riders like it, some don't but is all part of the event promotion," said Sandoval.

"I hope the UCI does review the rule about circuit or criterium stages so we can start with a criterium next year but if they don't, the time trial will stay."

Although Sandoval said the riders endorsed this year's tour course, and the international riders loved the Manawatu area, he is already working on changes for 2013.

He's not ruling out the time trial moving to later in the tour or perhaps making it a hill climb time trial to really test the riders' form.

"I will review the whole route later and I am sure next year's will be just as challenging. A race director is never happy, we always want to improve things," he said.

"A finish to the top of Saddle Road would be good. Let's hope they fix the Manawatu Gorge for 2013 so we can ride it. The area is made for good cycling and from here we can only get better."

After a solid time trial, a stage winning breakaway on Stage 2 and great team tactics to claw back a few seconds, Australian Jay McCarthy (Jayco AIS) won the tour. He denied the Kiwis a three year winning streak after George Bennett (Cardno) won in 2011 and Michael Torckler won in 2010.

Sandoval considers all past winners of the tour as worthy champions, and McCarthy deserving of his 2012 title.

"He deserved to win as he prepared for this event, he rode Tour Down Under and come here with lots of expectations. Some of the stages were very hard with lots of cross winds but even when he wasn't in a break, he organised his team or closed the gap on his own.

"He won the tour on Stage Four in a massive bunch sprint so yes, I do believe he was a worthy winner considering the first three places on final GC were Australians."

Sam Bewley one of two stage winners from the NZ National team ©Adrian Rumney, www.adrianrumney.com

"I was very impressed with Oliver Harding-Sheath on Stage 4. He sprinted against some of the best in a massive sprint finish with top teams doing a lead out for almost 5km, and he finished 5th.

"Joseph Cooper riding for Ricoh has to be the most aggressive rider in the tour, especially in the last couple of days," he commented about the overall King of the Mountain.

Mico Protrain and Subway ProCycling teams stood out, but the NZ National team gets Sandoval's highest praise.

"The New Zealand national team have my top award for the chaos they made every time they got to the front as a team.

"In the last day they were sensational, they rode in the gutter and in less than 3km the whole bunch was a real mess with little bunches all over the place!

"It was great to watch, they would slow down, assess the damage and a few kilometres later they would come back for more. World class riders."

The one disappointment for the tour was the postponement of the inaugural Mitre10 Gran Fondo event for the public. It was postponed for rider safely more than any other reason, explained Sandoval.

"We had the traffic management permits to do it, but because a new farmers event appeared all of the sudden in the same area where the Gran Fondo was to take place, it was just too risky."

The Mitre10 Gran Fondo will now take place on Sunday 26 of February, the final day of the NZCT Women's Tour of NZ.