Matthijs van Wagtendonk

Tour of Taranaki – Queens Birthday Weekend

The three day tour started off with the age groups and grades taking off around a circuit that challenged a lot of rider’s bike skills, with the strong winds and unexpected gusts. The wind picked up in the afternoon and the conditions were described as ‘a storm’ at times. So the afternoon’s individual time trial was cancelled by the organisers for the rider’s safety. After a rest up in the afternoon the riders returned the next day in the pouring rain for a long hard 70km stage. But that was not all for that day, the ‘keen’ riders changed and dried out their gear before returning that afternoon for a 50km stage that was a real test of the riders endurance. With one stage to go Bike Manawatu had many riders relying on the last stage to determine their General Classification time or sprint ace and King of Mountain points. The last stage was a 27km circuit with one Hill climb and a Sprint ace on each lap. Under 17 girls and D grade did two laps whilst under 17 boys, A, B, and C grades completed three laps.

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