Teenage world champs claim elite criterium honours

New Zealand’s teenage world champions, Laurence Pithie and Ally Wollaston, grabbed their first elite cycling titles when they took out the men’s and women’s Vantage Criterium National Championships in Christchurch yesterday.

Pithie, from Christchurch, and Wollaston, from Cambridge, both prevailed in exciting sprint finishes in downtown Christchurch,

staged around a 1.1km course in the CBD.

Pithie was part of a six-strong break that featured his Canterbury team-mate Andrew Bidwell, Marlborough’s Ethan Batt, Manawatu’s Joel Yates, Dutchman Antonie van Noppen and Vantage New Zealand track squad rider, Josh Scott (Christchurch).

They pushed clear after a crash split the 41-strong pack, and while the chasing group worked hard to close to just seven seconds behind in the race over 40 minutes plus three laps, the catch never came.

Bidwell and Pithie had worked hard in the middle stages of the race but it was Batt who made the break in the home straight, only to be out-kicked by the young Christchurch rider to now add a national champions jersey to his two rainbow jerseys won on the track.

‘‘It was awesome to bring it home in front of a home crowd. I am really stoked with it. I have to thank Andrew Bidwell. If it wasn’t for him, I would not have had the energy at the end. He towed me around all day. It was great teamwork.”

Wollaston grabbed her first elite national title when she outsprinted the select bunch of four riders to claim the women’s title.

The junior track world champion had to work hard to bridge a gap after her Vantage New Zealand track team-mate Bryony Botha and World Tour road professional Sharlotte Lucas turned up the wick on the sixth lap in their 35 minute race.

Wollaston and another Vantage New Zealand track teammate Michaela Drummond rejoined and the quartet rode away from the chasers.

Botha worked hard to push the pace but the four remained together until the final lap when they eased up for the final sprint, with the young sprinting legs of Wollaston prevailing over Drummond and Lucas, who was also third last year.