February 9th, 2012
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling riders had extremely successful National Champs
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling update for stakeholders, sponsors and team management and riders
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling riders had an extremely successful RaboDirect National Track Cycling Champs in Invercargill.
Dylan celebrating the Madison Win
Peter Latham won the individual pursuit title on the first night of finals, beating his SUBWAY® Pro Cycling team mate Westley Gough. Pete and Wes are two of eight team pursuit riders vying for the four Olympic team pursuit spots.
Pete said that they were all “hungry guys” wanting spots in an Olympic year. “It’s a pretty good position for BikeNZ to be in. It makes the competition between all of the guys pretty tight. We just want to make the team go faster.”
Pete had topped the qualifiers in 4:21.730 just ahead of Wes’s 4.22.065. Pete was able to repeat that effort with a 4:21.975 in the final, taking control in the second half of the 4000m battle.
Young-guns Dylan Kennett (Christchurch) and Hayden McCormick (Te Awamutu) teamed up wearing SUBWAY® Pro Cycling skin suits to upstage Beijing Olympians and much more experienced senior riders to win a spectacular 40 kilometre Madison. The 18-year-old pair rode a smart race to collect points early by winning the first three sprints before putting a lap on the very strong field which sealed their win.
Oceania champions Jason Allen and Tom Scully collected the most points but had to settle for second as they could not make up the lap needed to take them into the lead. Defending national champions Aaron Gate and Myron Simpson, and Beijing Olympians Sam Bewley and Marc Ryan were active in the race but were outclassed by the junior pairing.
Waikato Bay of Plenty riders Sam Bewley and Hayden McCormick combined with Pete and his SUBWAY® Pro Cycling teammate Scott Creighton to blitz the men’s field in the team pursuit. After qualifying fastest, the team caught their Canterbury rivals, which included SUBWAY® Pro Cycling riders Dylan Bennet and Tayla Harrison, with four laps to go in the final ride off.
Tom Scully caused an upset in the point’s race when he beat Wes and Marc Ryan (Timaru) in controversial circumstances for the title. It was a tight race decided on the final sprint which was won by Wes, giving him the point’s race win. However Ryan was relegated for an infraction during the final three laps which promoted Scully, giving him the bonus point needed to steal the title from Wes.
Dylan also dominated the under 19 Omnium event, winning gold after a series of impressive performances over the discipline’s five events, a 200m flying time trial, 5km scratch race, 3km individual pursuit, 15km points race and 1km time trial.
Wes also earned silver in the 1000 metre time trial, and was rewarded with a place in BikeNZ’s squad for next week’s UCI World Cup track cycling event in London after his strong showing.
He beat Pete for the final place in the men’s team pursuit quartet, replacing Jesse Sergent, who is unavailable with his professional road team commitments, and was rapt to join the Oceania winning trio of Sam Bewley, Marc Ryan and Aaron Gate in the men’s team pursuit.
Wes is determined to help make an impact and push his selection case for April’s world championships in Melbourne and the London Olympics in July. Mirroring what Pete has said, Wes stressed that the standard of Kiwi track riders is as formidable as ever and that the cut-throat nature of racing and the battle for spots brought out the best in everyone.
Wes and BikeNZ’s 15-strong squad for the UCI World Cup in London go into camp in Invercargill this week before leaving for England at the weekend.
After a series of strong results, including the national track champs, Dylan and Tayla have both been named in New Zealand Under 19 Team for Oceania Road Cycling Championships in Queenstown being held in March.
Key results
- Dylan Gold Under 19 Omnium
- Pete Gold Individual Pursuit
- Wes Silver Individual Pursuit
- Wes Silver points race
- Wes Silver kilo
- Pete and Scott Gold teams pursuit
- Dylan and Tayla Silver teams pursuit
January 30th, 2012
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Harrison wins Blackball Classic
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Tayla Harrison won the prestigious 100 kilometre Blackball WMC Cycle Classic on the South Island’s West Coast on Saturday.
Tayla wins the prestigious Blackball WMC Cycle Classic on the South Island’s West Coast on Saturday
In an impressive display of strength the 17 year old Christchurch rider rode away from his two breakaway companions on the final lap of the 25 kilometre race circuit to record his best senior result.
“With one lap to go I attacked the two riders I was with, built up a lead and was rapt to win the race solo by over three minutes,” he said.
“It was a tough challenging circuit and I’m looking forward to more good results in SUBWAY® Pro Cycling colours.”
There was sponsorship and prizes of more than $4000 up for grabs, and newly-crowned BikeNZ Under-19 coach and former national champion Gordon McCauley showed he still has some bike racing form finishing fourth.
Harrison’s breakaway companions Hamish Schreurs and Tom Hubbard held on to finish second and third.
January 28th, 2012
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Lovegrove takes sprinters jersey at New Zealand classic road cycling tour
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Nick Lovegrove backed up yesterday’s impressive effort to take the lead today in the sprinters classification
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Nick Lovegrove is interviewed after winning the sprinters jersey at the New Zealand Cycle Classic in Manawatu today
at the New Zealand Cycle Classic in the Manawatu.
Lovegrove attacked the field just over two kilometres before the first sprint of the day to win valuable sprint points and take the lead in the sprinters competition.
Lovegrove’s usual strengths are time trailing and breakaway efforts over rolling and flat terrain. The Auckland based rider used these strengths well yesterday to escape from the field and stay away for most of the stage with BikeNZ’s Sam Bewley. It resulted in a well earned second place for the stage after Lovegrove failed to match the finishing power of Olympic bronze medallist Bewley in the sprint for line honours.
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling Team Manager Graeme Miller said the team was keen to take the sprinters jersey home but it would “be hard to keep it (the sprinters jersey) with a rider who can’t sprint.”
Miller however says he has a “cunning plan” to try to keep the sprinters jersey on Lovegrove’s back tomorrow.
“We have a few things we can do tomorrow to hopefully keep the jersey. We’ll see what happens and how the race goes but we have options to try to keep the jersey until the end of the race.”
Lovegrove said it was a rewarding day that saw a team plan work out perfectly to put him in a position to take the jersey.
“I’m really happy to have the jersey. Its great reward for all the work the SUBWAY® Pro Cycling boys put in today.”
Australian Jay McCarthy (Jayco–AIS) was second over the line today which moved him up into the race leader’s yellow jersey. Fellow Australian Thomas Palmer (Drapac) won the bunch sprint and New Zealander Patrick Bevin (Hudson Gavin Martin) was third.
SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Paul Odlin remains well placed overall, lying in sixth position on general classification just over one minute and 30 seconds behind tour leader McCarthy.
Tomorrow’s final fifth stage is a 111 kilometre circuit stage that starts in Palmerston North and loops through rural areas north of the city including Ashhurst before finishing back in Palmerston North about 12.15pm.
Leading provisional results, stage 4, 111km: Thomas Palmer (Drapac) 2.29,08, 1; Jay McCarthy (Jayco-AIS) same time, 2; Patrick Bevin (Hudson Gavin Martin) same time, 3.
General Classification after stage 4: McCarthy 9.57.53, 1; Darren Lapthorne (Drapac) at 3 seconds, 2; Campbell Flakemore (Genesys Wealth Advisors) at 1:17, 3.
