Tour of Wellington - 2.5New Zealand, January 3-7, 2001Stage 1 - January 3: Hutt City Centre Criterium, 45 km
Jenner takes pole positionFor the last three weeks, the Wellington nor'-wester has been blowing at about a zillion miles an hour. The kind of wind that all but brings you to a standstill when you're pedaling flat out in your 39x21. Thank goodness, the pummelling stopped today for the first stage of the Wellington tour. But in its place came the French mistral, also known as Chris Jenner. The Credit Agricole rider comes from these parts but is now pretty much un homme de France, and he showed perfect timing in coming out of the bunch and blasting across the finish line in first place in the one-hour-plus-three-lap circuit race. Impressive stuff. In second, a length back from Jenner's victory salute was Gordon Bearman of the Auckland team, with Graeme Miller third. Back in the bunch it was a fairly non-eventful day. The odd puncture, the odd nasty pothole, the odd mechanical. There was an early breakaway by Bryce Shapley, Miller and Braam de Waard, and a hopeful-looking late one by Sean Sullivan and Shapley. In both cases the bunch strung out single-file for a spell, hurt the old legs a bit, got the start-finish line crowd excited - and brought the leaders back to heel. There will, everyone knows, be plenty of opportunity to blast things to pieces over the next four days. Hopefully without the nor'-wester, because it gets awfully blustery up there in the Rimutakas. But as the sun starts to lower in the Wellington sky, it's getting stronger..
Results1 Chris Jenner (NZl) Fuji Xerox-New Zealand 1.07.30 (40 km/h) 2 Gordon Bearman (NZl) Auckland Team 3 Graeme Miller (NZl) Avanti Cycles 4 Sean Sullivan (Aus) Fuji Xerox-New Zealand 5 Robin Reid (NZl) Avanti Cycles 6 Brad Mills (Aus) Penny Farthing-Australia 7 Ric Reid (NZl) Auckland Team 8 Niels Eriks (Ned) BRC Kennermerland-Holland 9 Leung Chi Hang (HKg) Hong Kong National Team 10 Philip Burns (NZl) VIC Cycles 11 Brendon Vesty (NZl) Fuji Xerox-New Zealand 12 Scott Guyton (NZl) Fuji Xerox-New Zealand 13 Lee Vertongen (NZl) Fuji Xerox-New Zealand 14 Darren Murray (NZl) Auckland Team 15 Chris Boerson (NZl) Auckland Team 16 Garry Chapman (Aus) Penny Farthing-Australia 17 Phil Chapman (Aus) Penny Farthing-Australia 18 Peter Biddington (Aus) Penny Farthing-Australia 19 Tim Bartholomew (Aus) Penny Farthing-Australia 20 Jim Robinson (NZl) Penny Farthing-Wellington 21 Steve Blair (NZl) Penny Farthing-Wellington 22 Darren Gordon (NZl) Penny Farthing-Wellington 23 Steve Bale (NZl) Penny Farthing-Wellington 24 Aaron Stagg (NZl) Penny Farthing-Wellington 25 Warren Simpson (NZl) VIC Cycles 26 Daniel Warren (NZl) VIC Cycles 27 Andrew Bott (NZl) VIC Cycles 28 Gareth Aplin (NZl) VIC Cycles 29 Paul Davis (NZl) Pins Cycles-Wellington 30 Jamie Thynne (NZl) Pins Cycles-Wellington 31 Christian Wengler (NZl) Pins Cycles-Wellington 32 Ken Buist (NZl) Pins Cycles-Wellington 33 Paul Hattan (NZl) Pins Cycles-Wellington 34 Ho Siu Lun (HKg) Hong Kong National Team 35 Lau King Yu (HKg) Hong Kong National Team 36 Lau King Nin (HKg) Hong Kong National Team 37 Wong Ngai Chin (HKg) Hong Kong National Team 38 Braam De Waard (Ned) BRC Kennermerland-Holland 39 Tino Haakman (Ned) BRC Kennermerland-Holland 40 Gerard Windhouwer (Ned) BRC Kennermerland-Holland 41 Francis De Jager (Ned) BRC Kennermerland-Holland 42 Greg Campbell (Aus) Burkes Cycles-Australia U/23 43 Brad Edmonds (Aus) Burkes Cycles-Australia U/23 44 Ryan Moody (Aus) Burkes Cycles-Australia U/23 45 Nathan Jones (Aus) Burkes Cycles-Australia U/23 46 Todd Parnell (Aus) Burkes Cycles-Australia U/23 47 Jeremy Yates (NZl) Avanti Cycles 48 Bryce Shapley (NZl) Avanti Cycles 49 Erin Hartwell (USA) Avanti Cycles 50 Andrew Ward (NZl) Southend Cycles 51 Matthew Gilbert (NZl) Southend Cycles 52 Brett Backhouse (NZl) Southend Cycles 53 David Rae (NZl) Southend Cycles 54 Chris Thompson (Aus) Southend Cycles 55 Geoff Burndred (NZl) Pack & Pedal 56 Kris Withington (NZl) Pack & Pedal 57 James Stevenson (NZl) Pack & Pedal 58 Mark Mackay (GBr) Pack & Pedal 59 Glen Wilson (Aus) Pack & Pedal 60 Stephen Elden (NZl) Lupi Pasta Team 61 Andrew Mildenhall (NZl) Lupi Pasta Team 62 Simon Morris (NZl) Lupi Pasta Team 63 Richard Starr (NZl) Lupi Pasta Team 64 Willie Aitken (NZl) Lupi Pasta Team 65 Salis Cullen (NZl) Pins Wellington 2 66 David Shaw (NZl) Pins Wellington 2 67 John Freiberg (NZl) Pins Wellington 2 68 Dean Hill (NZl) Pins Wellington 2 69 Joseph Chapman (NZl) Giant Bicycles 70 Tim Paviel (NZl) Giant Bicycles 71 Tim Kerr (NZl) Giant Bicycles 72 Brad McFarlane (NZl) Giant Bicycles 73 David McGuigan (NZl) Pins Wellington 2 0.22 74 Paul Sumich (NZl) Auckland Team 2.34 75 Scott Mitchell (NZl) Giant Bicycles 8.00 Results and report courtesy of Jorge Sandoval/Jim Robinson |