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19th Trust House Classic (Tour of Wellington) - 2.2
New Zealand, January 25-29, 2006
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Stage 1 - January 25: Hutt City Criterium, 45 km
Gudsell takes opening crit
By Nick Warren
Kiwi Tim Gudsell (Samsung NZ National Team) produced a fine sprint after a tough evening’s racing to claim stage one of the Tour of Wellington in Lower Hutt. He out-sprinted breakaway companion, 19 year-old Sam Bewley (Team Subway) by just half a wheel after the pair had escaped the main field early on in the hour-long criterium.
Those riders who had flown to New Zealand from Australia after the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under, which was held in scorching hot weather, must have wondered what they had got themselves in for. Sudden gusts of wind, low temperatures and consistent rain made stage one’s tight-cornered circuit around Lower Hutt’s CBD treacherous. Although arm warmers and thermal under-shirts were the order of the day, race speeds were still high, often touching 55km/h.
Team Subway, featuring a number of Kiwi pre-race favourites, were on the attack from the gun and after 10minutes Bewley had broken clear, soon to be joined by Gudsell. The bunch rapidly fragmented, among the early casualties being Credit Agricole professional Julian Dean. Dean looked to be riding cautiously, perhaps wary of crashing so close to the beginning of the European season.
After 30minutes, Bewley and Gudsell had a 90 second lead over the bunch and suddenly Team South Australia-AIS began some serious chasing, aware that significant time was being lost.
Olympic Team Pursuit champion Peter Dawson went clear, bringing with him two Team Subway riders, Hayden Roulston and Greg Henderson plus New Zealand national champion Gordon McCauley (Samsung NZ National Team). Their four-man chase group gradually pulled away from the field, but failed to make a serious dent on the leading duo’s lead, who with just 10minutes of race time remaining, caught the rear of the peloton.
Race organisers made the decision to pull out the lapped riders, but chaos reigned as Bewley, Gudsell and other riders failed to understand the instructions passed on to them. After two laps of increasingly confused gestures and looks, from Bewley in particular, all lapped riders withdrew leaving just the young duo to sprint it out ahead of the four chasers.
Gudsell came into the final straight leading out, but even a fast-finishing Bewley could not overhaul him.
“When we went clear I just put my head down,” said Gudsell. “It was easier cornering in those conditions when there was just two of us than in the bunch.”
As stage one winner Gudsell will be the first wearer of the tour’s yellow jersey. “I hope to wear it at least for a few more days and maybe even all the way to the finish on Sunday.”
Bewley praised his breakaway companion but said Team Subway were keen for overall victory: “He (Gudsell) did a lot of the work today and deserved to win.”
“It’s a great start to the tour for us. We’re here to win it, it would be rude not to!”
Greg Henderson won the sprint for third ahead of Dawson and McCauley. Roulston finished in sixth place. All other riders will have a time calculated on the position of the race in which they withdrew.
The race continues tomorrow morning with a 117km stage from Featherston to Masterton and an evening criterium in Masterton.
Results
1 Tim Gudsell (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 1.05.20 2 Sam Bewley (NZl) Team Subway 3 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Subway 0.27 4 Peter Dawson (Aus) SouthAustralia.com - AIS 5 Gordon McCauley (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 6 Hayden Roulston (NZl) Team Subway 7 Rob MacLachlan (Aus) Trust House Team 1.31 7 Stuart Shaw (Aus) Trust House Team 7 Michael Cupitt (Aus) Trust House Team 7 Fabio Calabria (Aus) Trust House Team 7 Darren Lapthorn (Aus) Trust House Team 7 Cameron Holt (NZl) Mercedes Benz - Wellington Star 7 Stephen Stannard (NZl) Mercedes Benz - Wellington Star 7 Michael Torkler (NZl) Mercedes Benz - Wellington Star 7 Dean Windsor (Aus) Mercedes Benz - Wellington Star 7 Evan Oliphant (GBr) UKNZjobs.com Scotland National Team 7 Alex Coutts (GBr) UKNZjobs.com Scotland National Team 7 Duncan Urquhart (GBr) UKNZjobs.com Scotland National Team 7 Logan Hutchings (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 7 Peter Latham (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 7 Marc Ryan (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 7 Jason Allen (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 7 Miles Olman (Aus) SouthAustralia.com - AIS 7 Stephen Wooldridge (Aus) SouthAustralia.com - AIS 7 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) SouthAustralia.com - AIS 7 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) SouthAustralia.com - AIS 7 Will Alexander (NZl) Pravda 7 Darrin Strahan (NZl) Pravda 7 Ben Oleson (NZl) Handy Rentals 7 Geoff Burndred (NZl) Penny Cycles 7 Justin Kerr (NZl) Penny Cycles 7 Dan Warren (NZl) BP NZ 7 Hayden Godfrey (NZl) Team Subway 7 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Team Subway 7 Edwin Crossling (NZl) Tait Communications 7 Josh Wilson (Aus) Infinity Solutions 7 Mitch Chapman (Aus) EMC2 Bikes 38 Michael Northey (NZl) Team Subway 1.41 38 Scott Lyttle (NZl) Infinity Solutions 40 Graeme Stone (NZl) R+R 2.09 40 Brady Gibbons (NZl) R+R 40 Adam Coker (NZl) Tait Communications 43 Aaron Wheeler (NZl) Cytosport 2.13 44 Dylan Cooper (Aus) Trust House Team 2.35 44 James Mccallum (GBr) UKNZjobs.com Scotland National Team 44 Sean Finning (Aus) SouthAustralia.com - AIS 44 Justin Ralph (NZl) Penny Cycles 44 Josh Brannigan (NZl) BP NZ 49 Michael Frankovich (NZl) Mercedes Benz - Wellington Star 2.42 49 Don Oakley (NZl) Handy Rentals 49 Matthew Gorter (NZl) Penny Cycles 49 Scott Wilder (NZl) BP NZ 49 Dan Waluszews (NZl) Infinity Solutions 49 Matthew Gilbert (NZl) EMC2 Bikes 49 Laurent Beuret (Swi) EMC2 Bikes 49 Ross Steward (NZl) EMC2 Bikes 57 Gareth Montgomer (GBr) UKNZjobs.com Scotland National Team 3.16 57 Dion Neems (NZl) Cytosport 57 Blair Brydon (NZl) Cytosport 57 Blair Sutherland (NZl) Cytosport 57 Paul Odlin (NZl) Handy Rentals 57 Saul Webb (NZl) BP NZ 57 Matt Sillars (NZl) Infinity Solutions 57 Patrick Frutschi (Swi) EMC2 Bikes 65 Courtney Black (NZl) Handy Rentals 3.53 66 Mark Jamieson (Aus) Pravda 4.26 67 Paul Sumich (NZl) Cytosport 4.56 67 Scott Strong (NZl) Cytosport 67 Joseph Crooks (NZl) Pravda 67 Ross Mackintosh (NZl) Handy Rentals 67 Sam Horn (NZl) Tait Communications 67 Julian Dean (NZl) Tait Communications 67 Benjamin Mackinnon (NZl) Infinity Solutions 74 Andrew Thompson (NZl) EMC2 Bikes 5.39 75 Chris Van Houtte (NZl) Penny Cycles 8.53 Sprints classification 1 Tim Gudsell (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 11 pts 2 Sam Bewley (NZl) Team Subway 9 3 Marc Ryan (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 3 4 Peter Latham (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 2 5 Jason Allen (NZl) Samsung New Zealand Team 1 6 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Subway 1 7 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) SouthAustralia.com - AIS 1 8 Dean Windsor (Aus) Mercedes Benz - Wellington Star 1 9 Hayden Roulston (NZl) Team Subway 1 Teams classification 1 Team Subway 3.16.54 2 Samsung New Zealand Team 1.04 3 SouthAustralia.com - AIS 2.35 4 Mercedes Benz - Wellington Star 3.39 5 Trust House Team 6 UKNZjobs.com Scotland National Team 7 Penny Cycles 4.43 8 Infinity Solutions 5.00 9 BP NZ 5.54 10 EMC2 Bikes 6.01 11 Pravda 6.34 12 Handy Rentals 6.35 13 Tait Communications 7.42 14 Cytosport 7.51
