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PowerNet Tour of Southland - 2.2
New Zealand, November 7-12, 2005
Main Page Results Overall standings Stage Details Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 8 - November 11: Winton-Te Anau, 163.6 km
McCauley in Yellow after controversial stage
By Alan Messenger
The PowerNet Tour of Southland this year has been regarded as one of the most exciting in its fifty year history but after today's 163km Stage from Winton to Te Anau it is also one of the most controversial.
With a gale blowing onto the bottom of the South Island from the Antarctic region the race manager, chief commissaire and the race police chief decided to stop the race at the top of the Blackmount Hill climb, forty eight kilometers from the stage finish.
After a meeting with team managers it was decided to restart the race from a point further down the road and only thirty kilometers from Te Anau.
When the stage was stopped , three riders - Gordon McCauley and Jaaron Poad (Trek Zookeepers) and Anthony Chapman (Creation Signs) - still held a break of 3 minutes 42 secs on the peloton though at one stage they had been seven minutes clear.
When the race restarted the trio jumped straight into their work but the peloton went into a slow cruise mode at about 25kph.
At Te Anau Chapman took the stage win from Poad with McCauley happy enough to take over the yellow jersey but he was disappointed with the attitude of the peloton riders. "John Lieswyn [last year's winner] spoke to me before the restart and said that I shouldn't ride, but what would he do in my position? I slogged my guts out all day in the wind. Who says that they would have caught us."
The new leader, as always was forthright about the situation. " I came down here to win the bike race and I made no secret of that. I've won this stage before and I picked it out as one of the hardest. The winds blew up and for me that's good and the opportunity just arose," McCauley said.
Eight times winner of the tour Brian Fowler also was disappointed at the attitude of the peloton riders. "They should have raced and got stuck in. After all there is still one day left," he told Cyclingnews.
The race finishes with the two short stages tomorrow but it is extremely hard to see anybody reducing the massive lead enough to win and McCauley looks set to become a double winner of New Zealand's most prestigious cycling event.
John Lieswyn's report from the peloton
Officials apparently knew about the dangerous wind conditions at the top of Blackmount (km 110 of 160) 90 minutes before our arrival, but waited until 25 minutes from our arrival at that point to tell the chasing bunch that we would be stopped at the summit. No further instructions were given, as in a restart was planned or that we would have final stage time taken then.
The top teams in the race excepting Gordon McCauley's Zookeepers team each had their own plans for the stage based upon a 160 kilometre distance. With such short warning, the chase was on. Subway, Calder Stewart, Rabobank and Southland Times all threw in together and pulled back the break from over 7 minutes to under 5. Shaving 2-plus minutes in just 10 kilometres of racing, it became immediately apparent that the horsepower was there to bring the breakaway back before the finish, were we allowed to continue.
The commissaires got everyone in the vans and we were driven 30 kilometres closer to the finish, although there was no difference in wind strength at the base of the mountain or 30 kilometres down the road. The further we drove, the less time there would be to chase back the breakaway.
Incredulously, the officials made no adjustment for distance covered and set us all off at the same time gaps that existed at kilometre 110. Their decision favoured the two teams in the break at the expense of the other top teams. Why stop at 20 kilometres to go then? Why not keep driving to 10 kilometre to go point, and set us off with an even more impossible task?
The yellow jersey team of Calder Stewart was justifiably incensed by the unfair decision. Along with most of the other top teams set to lose out heavily, we supported their on-the-bike protest.
McCauley is a champion New Zealand cyclist. He and his Zookeepers team simply followed the commissaires orders and cannot be faulted. Unfortunately for him, we will never know if his win is true or hollow.
An analogy from the world of cricket: when the game is rained out, the officials reduce the number of wickets to go. I'm told it's called a Duckworth Lewis. Any other solution is grossly unfair to one side or the other.
John Lieswyn
Results
1 Anthony Chapman (NZl) Creation Signs 4.12.30 2 Gordon McCauley (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 3 Jaaron Poad (Aus) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 4 Joe Chapman (NZl) Creation Signs 15.01 5 David Thomson (NZl) Cycle Surgery 15.05 6 Stephen Tilford (USA) Hilo Decorating 18.39 7 Neil Wylie (NZl) Rabobank 8 Christof Bischof (Swi) Share the Road 9 Lex Nederlof (Ned) Share the Road 10 Andrew Wyper (Aus) Sycamore Print 11 Matt Gilbert (NZl) KiwiVelo 12 Gustavo Carrillo (USA) Hilo Decorating 13 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Subway 14 Karl Menzies (Aus) Calder Stewart 15 Glen Mitchell (NZl) Southland Times 16 Sergio Hernandez (USA) Hilo Decorating 17 Philippe Schnyder (Swi) Subway 18 Logan Hutchings (NZl) Rabobank 19 Miles Watson (NZl) Jackson::Wills 20 Greg Henderson (NZl) Southland Times 21 Richard England (Aus) Calder Stewart 22 Richard Bowker (NZl) KiwiVelo 23 Clinton Avery (NZl) Pro4 CycleOps 24 Aaron Strong (NZl) Team MG XPower 25 Marcus Roy (NZl) Fulton Hogan 26 Sam Bewley (NZl) Subway 27 Ashley Whitehead (NZl) Fulton Hogan 28 Robin Reid (NZl) Rabobank 29 Geoff Burndred (NZl) Rabobank 30 Will Alexander (NZl) Jackson::Wills 31 Matt Haydock (NZl) Pro4 CycleOps 32 Paul Odlin (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 33 Michael Northey (NZl) KiwiVelo 34 Hayden Godfrey (NZl) Subway 35 Mick Tolhurst (Aus) Team MG XPower 36 John Lieswyn (USA) Southland Times 37 Marc Williams (Aus) Team MG XPower 38 Travis Kane (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 39 Fraser Macmaster (NZl) Subway 40 Ryan Cull (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel 41 Jack Bauer (NZl) Fulton Hogan 42 Karl Murray (NZl) Calder Stewart 43 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Calder Stewart 44 Tim Gudsell (NZl) Southland Times 45 Kieran Langley (NZl) Riverside Rentals 46 Darren Lapthorne (Aus) Team MG XPower 47 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Calder Stewart 48 Chris Burr (NZl) Riverside Rentals 49 Philip Dickinson (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 50 Peter Latham (NZl) Southland Times 51 Mathew Gorter (NZl) Riverside Rentals 52 Ross Mackintosh (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 53 Phillip Thuaux (Aus) KiwiVelo 54 Justin Ralph (NZl) Riverside Rentals 55 Eugene Moriarty (Irl) Sycamore Print 56 Heath Blackgrove (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 57 Scott Wilder (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 58 Brian Fowler (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 59 Jason Allen (NZl) Pro4 CycleOps 60 Dayle Cheatley (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 61 Marc Ryan (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 62 Josh Akarsu (Aus) Share the Road 19.57 63 Aaron Rusden (NZl) Sycamore Print 20.09 64 Scott Hodges (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 65 Paul Kircher (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel 66 Nick Atkinson (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 67 Logan Hunn (NZl) KiwiVelo 68 Paul Gough (NZl) Cycle Surgery 69 Andrew McQuaid (Irl) Sycamore Print 70 Steven Hands (NZl) Jackson::Wills 71 Ben Oleson (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 72 Joseph Cooper (NZl) Creation Signs 73 Jonathan Atkinson (NZl) Team Ultimo 20.39 74 Ray Dunstan (NZl) Cycle Surgery 25.40 75 Craig Scott (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel 26.09 76 Dave Beadle (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 77 Daryl Cleghorn (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 78 Chris O'Connor (NZl) Cycle Surgery 79 Craig Padman (NZl) Cycle Surgery 36.09 80 Andrew Wells (NZl) Jackson::Wills 81 Heath Turnbull (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 82 Ben McKinnon (NZl) Team Ultimo 83 Courtney Black (NZl) Sycamore Print 84 Mike Anderson (NZl) Fulton Hogan 85 Chris Van Houtte (NZl) Creation Signs 86 David Comerford (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 36.38 87 Oliver Pearce (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 88 Geoff Mackle (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 46.07 DNF Eliot Crowther (NZl) Rabobank DNF Tony Mann (Aus) Team MG XPower DNF Darren Shea (NZl) Pro4 CycleOps DNF Ross Machejefski (NZl) Share the Road DNF Adam Coker (NZl) Share the Road DNF Robert Coble (USA) Hilo Decorating DNF William Stolte (USA) Hilo Decorating DNF Scott Allen (NZl) Creation Signs DNF Richard Scott (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel DNF Garry Smith (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel DNF Jon Richardson (NZl) Fulton Hogan DNF Sam Horn (NZl) Team Ultimo DNF Tim Pearce (NZl) Jackson::Wills General classification after stage 8 1 Gordon McCauley (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 17.40.10 2 Jaaron Poad (Aus) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 4.43 3 Anthony Chapman (NZl) Creation Signs 5.27 4 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Calder Stewart 17.35 5 Greg Henderson (NZl) Southland Times 18.10 6 Glen Mitchell (NZl) Southland Times 18.37 7 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Subway 18.47 8 Karl Menzies (Aus) Calder Stewart 18.59 9 Robin Reid (NZl) Rabobank 19.48 10 Fraser Macmaster (NZl) Subway 20.10 11 Aaron Strong (NZl) Team MG XPower 20.11 12 Joe Chapman (NZl) Creation Signs 20.17 13 Logan Hutchings (NZl) Rabobank 20.20 14 Geoff Burndred (NZl) Rabobank 20.58 15 Ryan Cull (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel 21.34 16 Peter Latham (NZl) Southland Times 21.50 17 Phillip Thuaux (Aus) KiwiVelo 21.57 18 Sam Bewley (NZl) Subway 22.08 19 Philippe Schnyder (Swi) Subway 22.49 20 Stephen Tilford (USA) Hilo Decorating 23.24 21 Eugene Moriarty (Irl) Sycamore Print 23.42 22 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Calder Stewart 23.56 23 Lex Nederlof (Ned) Share the Road 23.59 24 Andrew Wyper (Aus) Sycamore Print 24.12 25 Clinton Avery (NZl) Pro4 CycleOps 24.28 26 Miles Watson (NZl) Jackson::Wills 25.21 27 Tim Gudsell (NZl) Southland Times 25.47 28 Christof Bischof (Swi) Share the Road 26.57 29 Marcus Roy (NZl) Fulton Hogan 27.10 30 Richard Bowker (NZl) KiwiVelo 27.14 31 John Lieswyn (USA) Southland Times 27.56 32 Darren Lapthorne (Aus) Team MG XPower 27.59 33 Michael Northey (NZl) KiwiVelo 28.15 34 Matt Haydock (NZl) Pro4 CycleOps 28.44 35 Heath Blackgrove (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 29.40 36 Ashley Whitehead (NZl) Fulton Hogan 30.13 37 Kieran Langley (NZl) Riverside Rentals 30.39 37 Chris Burr (NZl) Riverside Rentals 39 Hayden Godfrey (NZl) Subway 30.42 40 Dayle Cheatley (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 31.15 41 Marc Ryan (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 31.24 42 Joseph Cooper (NZl) Creation Signs 31.29 43 Gustavo Carrillo (USA) Hilo Decorating 32.13 44 Scott Wilder (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 32.18 45 Steven Hands (NZl) Jackson::Wills 32.20 46 Travis Kane (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 32.21 47 Sergio Hernandez (USA) Hilo Decorating 32.49 48 Marc Williams (Aus) Team MG XPower 33.05 49 Josh Akarsu (Aus) Share the Road 33.16 50 Logan Hunn (NZl) KiwiVelo 33.24 51 Jason Allen (NZl) Pro4 CycleOps 33.31 52 Paul Odlin (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 33.52 53 Philip Dickinson (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 34.02 54 Mick Tolhurst (Aus) Team MG XPower 34.49 55 Will Alexander (NZl) Jackson::Wills 35.23 56 Brian Fowler (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 38.51 57 Matt Gilbert (NZl) KiwiVelo 38.55 58 Ross Mackintosh (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 39.59 59 Neil Wylie (NZl) Rabobank 40.15 60 Jonathan Atkinson (NZl) Team Ultimo 41.22 61 Nick Atkinson (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 42.40 62 Paul Gough (NZl) Cycle Surgery 43.24 63 Justin Ralph (NZl) Riverside Rentals 46.29 64 Andrew McQuaid (Irl) Sycamore Print 46.55 65 Richard England (Aus) Calder Stewart 48.28 66 Mathew Gorter (NZl) Riverside Rentals 48.57 67 Jack Bauer (NZl) Fulton Hogan 50.20 68 Scott Hodges (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 51.49 69 Aaron Rusden (NZl) Sycamore Print 52.58 70 Karl Murray (NZl) Calder Stewart 54.29 71 Chris Van Houtte (NZl) Creation Signs 55.51 72 Geoff Mackle (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 57.57 73 Craig Scott (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel 59.02 74 Andrew Wells (NZl) Jackson::Wills 59.13 75 Paul Kircher (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel 1.00.50 76 Dave Beadle (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 1.04.43 77 Oliver Pearce (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 1.05.45 78 Ben Oleson (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 1.06.13 79 David Thomson (NZl) Cycle Surgery 1.16.32 80 David Comerford (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 1.18.10 81 Mike Anderson (NZl) Fulton Hogan 1.22.02 82 Heath Turnbull (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 1.23.19 83 Daryl Cleghorn (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 1.29.30 84 Ben McKinnon (NZl) Team Ultimo 1.32.06 85 Courtney Black (NZl) Sycamore Print 1.36.48 86 Craig Padman (NZl) Cycle Surgery 1.37.18 87 Chris O'Connor (NZl) Cycle Surgery 1.39.22 88 Ray Dunstan (NZl) Cycle Surgery 1.54.46 Sprints classification 1 Hayden Godfrey (NZl) Subway 62 pts 2 Jaaron Poad (Aus) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 44 3 Stephen Tilford (USA) Hilo Decorating 32 4 Anthony Chapman (NZl) Creation Signs 25 5 Ryan Cull (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel 25 6 Darren Shea (NZl) Pro4 CycleOps 23 7 Paul Odlin (NZl) Winton's Middle Pub 17 8 Gordon McCauley (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 15 9 John Lieswyn (USA) Southland Times 13 10 Aaron Rusden (NZl) Sycamore Print 13 11 Greg Henderson (NZl) Southland Times 12 12 Andrew McQuaid (Irl) Sycamore Print 11 13 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Subway 10 14 Joseph Cooper (NZl) Creation Signs 9 15 Geoff Burndred (NZl) Rabobank 8 16 Phillip Thuaux (Aus) KiwiVelo 8 17 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Calder Stewart 7 18 Aaron Strong (NZl) Team MG XPower 6 19 Peter Latham (NZl) Southland Times 6 20 Dave Beadle (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 6 21 Karl Menzies (Aus) Calder Stewart 5 22 Fraser Macmaster (NZl) Subway 5 23 Robin Reid (NZl) Rabobank 5 24 Jason Allen (NZl) Pro4 CycleOps 5 25 Joe Chapman (NZl) Creation Signs 5 26 Darren Lapthorne (Aus) Team MG XPower 5 27 Marc Ryan (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 5 28 Dayle Cheatley (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 5 29 Richard Bowker (NZl) KiwiVelo 4 30 Ben Oleson (NZl) SIT - Zero Fees 4 31 Andrew Wyper (Aus) Sycamore Print 3 32 Tony Mann (Aus) Team MG XPower 3 33 Glen Mitchell (NZl) Southland Times 3 34 Philippe Schnyder (Swi) Subway 2 35 Heath Blackgrove (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 2 36 David Thomson (NZl) Cycle Surgery 2 37 Sam Bewley (NZl) Subway 2 38 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Calder Stewart 1 39 Richard England (Aus) Calder Stewart 1 40 Richard Scott (NZl) Ascot Park Hotel 1 41 William Stolte (USA) Hilo Decorating 1 42 Tim Gudsell (NZl) Southland Times 1 43 Ashley Whitehead (NZl) Fulton Hogan 1 44 Mick Tolhurst (Aus) Team MG XPower 1 45 Travis Kane (NZl) Southwest Helicopters 1 Mountains classification 1 Anthony Chapman (NZl) Creation Signs 34 pts 2 John Lieswyn (USA) Southland Times 28 3 Joseph Cooper (NZl) Creation Signs 28 4 Jaaron Poad (Aus) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 14 5 Robin Reid (NZl) Rabobank 12 6 Aaron Strong (NZl) Team MG XPower 10 7 Tim Gudsell (NZl) Southland Times 10 8 Andrew McQuaid (Irl) Sycamore Print 8 9 Werner Riebenbauer (Aut) Subway 8 10 Gordon McCauley (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 6 11 Joe Chapman (NZl) Creation Signs 6 12 Logan Hutchings (NZl) Rabobank 6 13 Gustavo Carrillo (USA) Hilo Decorating 6 14 Fraser Macmaster (NZl) Subway 6 15 Karl Menzies (Aus) Calder Stewart 6 16 Christof Bischof (Swi) Share the Road 4 17 Hayden Godfrey (NZl) Subway 4 18 Heath Blackgrove (NZl) Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 2 19 Andrew Wyper (Aus) Sycamore Print 2 20 Glen Mitchell (NZl) Southland Times 2 21 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Calder Stewart 2 Teams classification 1 Trek/Zookeepers Cafe 53.30.22 2 Creation Signs 24.55 3 Southland Times 28.25 4 Calder Stewart 29.59 5 Rabobank 30.35 6 Subway 31.12 7 Team MG XPower 34.37 8 KiwiVelo 43.21 9 Share the Road 51.47 10 Pro4 CycleOps 52.12 11 Hilo Decorating 54.04 12 Jackson::Wills 1.02.06 13 Sycamore Print 1.02.19 14 Winton's Middle Pub 1.06.56 15 Fulton Hogan 1.11.18 16 Riverside Rentals 1.16.02 17 SIT - Zero Fees 1.16.08 18 Ascot Park Hotel 1.19.26 19 Southwest Helicopters 1.34.46 20 Cycle Surgery 2.19.49
