Bevin, Williams win NZ road time trials
Patrick Bevin and Georgia Williams have won the time trial titles at the national road cycling championships in contrasting fashion.
Bevin, who previously won the title in 2016, was totally dominant in the men’s race, finishing in a time of 50 min 45 sec over the 40.4km course in Napier on Friday, beating last year’s winner Hamish Bond by 1 min 52 sec, with Hayden McCormick a further 12 seconds back in third.
By contrast, Williams had to battle Rushlee Buchanan for almost all of their 20.2km course before eventually prevailing by 11.8 seconds.
Bevin said he was pleased to take the title after setting a goal to win one of the events at the championships.
‘‘I said I wanted to come here and take the jersey back,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s a hard race to really target and it’s the first race of the year, but I’ve really progressed with my time trialling in the past couple of seasons.
‘‘It’s become a real focus so to carry the silver fern in Europe is going to be a huge honour and a source of pride as we start riding the time trials in the World Tour.’’
Although the winning margin looked like a comfortable win for Bevin, he said it was anything but.
‘‘It was tough. It is a super honest course. I was very conscious of pacing it right and making sure I came home at least as strong [as the first half].
‘‘I had a negative split, I was faster on the second lap, which was good. I wanted to be around the 50-minute mark as that is what has won it in the past. It’s a course that is very dependent on conditions, you can probably get a two or three minute split on a good day versus a bad day so you never really know.’’
Bevin will also line up in today’s road race. In the women’s event, Williams defended her title, finishing in a time of 28 minutes and 50 seconds.
‘‘It’s always a close battle, but a good battle between me and Rush,’’ Williams said.
‘‘There’s always a bit of pressure coming in as defending champ. It was super hard, I went out a bit too hard on the way out, with the tail wind I got a bit excited, so I was struggling down the back in the headwind, but I pushed through.’’
Williams will look to complete a doubledouble and defend her road race title on Saturday.
James Fouche and Jenna Merrick won the men’s and women’s under-23 races. National Road Cycling Championships
Time Trials
Women, under-23, 20kms: Jenna Merrick (Mike Greer Homes) 30:18.42, 1; Georgia Christie (Mike Greer Homes) 30:22.84, 2; Libby Arbuckle (Mike Greer Homes) 30:25.65, 3
Elite women, 20km: Georgia Williams (Mitchelton Scott) 28:50.72, 1; Rushlee Buchanan (Waikato BOP) 29:02.53, 2; Holly Edmondston (Velo Project) 30:41.46, 3
Under-23 men, 40kms: James Fouche (Auckland) 52:54.46, 1; Ben Hamilton (Auckland) 54:05.68, 2; Kees Duyvesteyn (Otago) 54:17.87, 3
Elite men, 40kms: Patrick Bevin (CCC Team) 50:45.73, 1; Hamish Bond (Waikato Bay of Plenty) 52:37.72, 2; Hayden McCormick (Waikato Bay of Plenty) 52:49.20, 3