Success for Kiwis in Tour of Tasmania

Atkins (left) 2nd in Tour of Tasmania ©Shane Goss – licoricegallery.com

Oct 10th, 11. NZ's Alex Ray secured the Sprint and Most Aggressive titles and Josh Atkins finished 2nd on GC after yesterday's final stage of the Tour of Tasmania in Australia.

Atkins, racing for Jayco 2XU, also placed 2nd in the KOM classification in the ten stage event won by Nathan Haas of Genesys Wealth Advisers.

It is the second year in a row Kiwis have shown the Australians a thing or two at this tour - last year Gordon McCauley won the overall tour title and George Bennett placed 2nd. 

The final stage included twelve laps of a not-flat 4.5km circuit with five sprints and five KOM sprints along the way  - each with bonus seconds on offer to keep the Kiwis on their toes.

Atkins' battle for success

The 19 year old Kiwi, who spent most of season racing for Trek Livestrong in the USA, started the day with a one point lead in the KOM classification and was 2nd placed overall - 12sec behind the leader and just 2sec in front of the 3rd placed rider.

The ensuing KOM battle between Atkins and Nathan Earle (Genesys Wealth Advisers) was intense.

After the first KOM, where Earle won and Atkins placed 2nd, the two were even on points. Atkins placed 3rd in the second KOM to take back the lead but the Australian won the 3rd KOM to Atkins 3rd place. It was enough for Earle to secure the jersey as breakaway riders took all the final points on offer.

Unlike Earle, Atkins was also in a second fight, the fight for the General Classification podium.

While Atkins was busy earning KOM time bonuses, his GC rival Cam Peterson (V Australia) was earning bonus seconds at the sprints.

If Atkins had not contested and placed 3rd in the final sprint before the break got free he would have finished 3rd overall rather than 2nd.

Heading to the stage sprint finish, after the break was reeled in, Peterson was 3sec behind Atkins (on virtual GC). He tried his best to earn those extra seconds back with a top stage finish - he placed 5th, but the two bonus seconds he earned still left him 1sec behind the Kiwi.

Ray's double defense

Although 21 year old Ray (Team Down Under) began the stage with a healthy 13 point lead in the Sprint Classification, with the number of points available he knew the jersey could still be taken off him - especially as the tour leader was the 2nd placed sprinter.

Ray's plan was to take a sprint win early to give him a more comfortable margin and to see how the race panned out from there. The results show he did not earn more sprint points, but his lead was not threatened and he finished the tour with a solid margin in the Sprint Classification.

It is the second year in a row Ray has won both the Sprint and Most Aggressive Rider jerseys in this tour. It is also the second Sprint and third Most Aggressive Rider title he has earned this season in Australia's four Scody Cup stage races to date.

For Ray's views on his season to date, please read Alex Ray - one ride away from sprint title defense