Stage Two of the New Zealand Cycle Classic event came down to a battle between two Kiwi sprinters, which Kiaan Watts narrowly won.
"I had a look under my shoulder when I threw my bike to the line and yeah there wasn't much in it, maybe half a bike wheel," the 2019 Junior World Champion told 1News.
The 22-year-old completed the 136km race in two hours, 56 minutes and 21 seconds, securing a spot on the left for the sprint finish where he was protected by the group from strong winds. He's keeping hold of the Stage Two victory, after winning last year as well.
The stage started in Masterton, then snaked through country roads towards Martinborough where the peloton raced nine laps of a 7.1km circuit in Martinborough, ending near the town square.
NZ National team member George Jackson took second place.
The pair were lead out by world champion cyclist Aaron Gate, who dropped off with 150m to go.
"He sort of very selflessly said to us this morning [Thursday], 'You know boys this is... you and George can go for the win' and it's... yeah we're more pure sprinters than maybe Aaron but his help was invaluable today [Thursday]," 22-year-old Watts said.
Gate said he wanted to repay the favour for the New Zealand team supporting him to take the win on Wednesday.
"It’s always nice when it does go to plan because it’s always a bit of a gamble, especially when you’ve got a pretty sketchy corner with less than a kilometre to go and coming off a pretty big headwind into a crosswind, everyone's like cats in the wind running around so it was a bit crazy but good to finish it off," the 33-year-old said.
"It's all about positioning going into that corner because if you're too far back you simply don't have enough road to catch up and unfortunately there was a crash too which is the sort of thing you need to be in front of. I heard there was a bit of a stack so hopefully everyone is OK there but we managed to stay out of trouble and get the job done."
Gate retains the yellow general classification jersey and the green jersey for top sprint points heading into the Third Stage today which starts in Masterton and heads south with hill climbs.
"I'll keep it going tomorrow [Friday] but it's definitely anyone's jersey up for grabs.
"The infamous Admiral Hill is always one that shakes the race up. It's known as the 'Queen' stage and often decides who's going to take the yellow overall so we'll set Logan (Currie) up and see how it goes but I'll still give it everything I've got to get up there as fast as possible," Gate said.
Yesterday's stage saw attacks from cyclists to get out in front, with USA National team rider Anders Johnson pulling out at 29km for a solo effort of nearly 5km before joining the peloton again.
Just over an hour into the race, Australian Tali Lane Welsh and New Zealanders Ari Scott and Camden Feint formed a breakaway, extending their lead on the main group to around two minutes and 40 seconds at their peak before having that gap reduced over time as the circuits continued in Martinborough. By the final lap, the peloton was together again.
The five day tour ends on Sunday in Wellington, with a race through the inner city.
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