Evans clinches Cheviot cycling event
Brad Evans, Mikayla Harvey and Dave Rowlands have won the opening races of year’s Calder Stewart Cycling Series in Cheviot.
Racing on a tough 27km circuit featuring a race-defining challenging climb out of Gore Bay, the elite men covered 135km while the masters raced 108km and the women tackled 82km.
Dunedin-based Evans, racing for PKF - Waterproofing Concepts, had to work hard for his elite men’s win in the Kings Electrical Classic, beating Sam Horgan from Mike Greer Homes in a five-riders sprint winning in 3hr 28mins.
Harvey (Mike Greer Homes Women’s Racing) also won from a select group of four riders that included defending series champion Sharlotte Lucas (Roxsolt Attacquer) and former steeplechaser and triathlete Kate McIlroy, racing on loan from the Australian Specialized Women’s Racing team for Benchmark Homes.
Harvey won an exciting sprint in 2hr 28min.
Wellington’s Rowlands (Christchurch Mitsubishi) was the overall winner of the master’s race that contained three age groups, bridging across to the leaders in the second half of the race, and then holding off Yancey Arrington (Champion System), Warwick Spence (Freshchoice Richmond Pomeroys) and Placemakers’ Brent Allnut to win in 2hr 53mins.
‘‘It was super challenging for everyone in the race,’’ Evans said. ‘‘All the riders attacked it well and it was a super hard course as the race was changing every five minutes with guys going up the road and different guys coming back. It really was turned on its head.’’
Evans said a strong team was needed to tactically stay in touch. He was ‘‘on the back foot a couple of times’’, but was lucky he still had enough team mates to put him back in contention for line honours.
‘‘They all knew I was the fastest left at the end, so they were all attacking me but I just chased after everything and didn’t let them get to much leeway at all and then I just nailed the last sprint.’’
Finishing third, Jake Marryatt (Black Max Performance) claimed under-23 leaders’ jersey while Hamish Keast (Transport Engineering Velo South), who was 10th won the Under 19 jersey and Christchurch cycling coach Paul Odlin (Tineli Invitational Team) won the Small Business Accounting King of the Mountain title.
Horgan and Evan’s team mate Ollie Jones attacked from the gun, eventually getting joined by Odlin, Matt Zenovich (Mike Greer Homes) and Brett Grieve (PKF Waterproofing Concepts). This group worked well together but were eventually caught halfway through the race, swelling the lead bunch to nine riders that included Evans.
The fourth lap saw Odlin and Marryatt make a move on the second climb that Horgan quickly covered. These three were joined on the final lap by Evans, Tim and Kris Rush, James Oram and Andrew King, with Oram, Kris Rush and King fading on the run in to the finish, leaving five riders to battle for line honours.
The shorter women’s race was aggressive with all the teams keen to have an early impact.
The key move happened on the second lap when Harvey, Lucas, Mcllroy and Small Business Queen of the Mountain winner Deborah Paine caught and passed Sophie Pulford (Mike Greer Homes) who had escaped on the first lap.
The four women built a lead that at one point was two minutes, with Elyse Fraser from Benchmark Homes eventually making a solo effort to bridge across to the leaders on the final lap, hanging on the claim fourth, only 24 seconds behind the leaders and just seconds ahead of the fast closing chasing bunch.
‘‘I’m extremely happy with the win,’’ Harvey said.
‘‘It was really positive racing and all the teams were being very competitive so it made for some awesome racing.
‘‘Once we were away we worked really well together and then coming into the finish I managed to have a good sprint.
‘‘Sharlotte almost sneaked up on me across the line so I was very happy to take the win.’’