Piccoli takes a tumble as Vink takes command

Canadian James Piccoli’s defence of his Tour of Southland title looks to have been sabotaged by a nasty crash on the Coronet Peak climb in Queenstown.

Piccoli, riding for the Kia Motors-Ascot Park Hotel team, crashed heavily at the hard right hand corner leading into the climb on the third stage.

He eventually recovered his bike and tried to mount a brave last ditch assault, but it’s likely the 27-year-old’s chances of winning the title again are over.

He sits 13th on the overall classifications, 3 minutes 35 seconds behind Michael Vink, who was the star of the day.

Vink came into this year’s tour under the radar, but that has all changed now.

The 26-year-old Cantabrian made the torturous 12km Coronet Peak climb look like an escalator at the end of a 138km stage from Mossburn to Queenstown, to take a 1min 20sec lead overall at the midway point of the race.

Vink has been one of the top riders on the New Zealand cycling scene for a decade, including finishing third overall and leading under 23 rider in the 2012 Southland tour, and runner-up for the past two years.

A seven-strong breakaway led by under-23 Australian rider Jensen Plowright (Aardvark Excavators) took the tour through northern Southland and around Lake Wakatipu, edging out to a lead of nearly four minutes. Plowright would eventually take on the Coronet Peak climb alone, before being joined by Vink, Hamish Bond, Sam Gaze and Lionel Mawditt.

Vink bossed the climb to finish well over a minute ahead of Commonwealth Games gold medallist mountainbiker Gaze, with Bond third.