STAGE THREE – 2024 NZ Cycle Classic

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Hi i’m Tom McCallum an Elite Cyclist from New Zealand, I am currently riding for the Couplands Bakeries Elite Cycling Team.

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The 2024 M 10 mega masteron New Zealand cycle classic will once again see Riders from across the world Converge on wire raer for 5 days of international stage racing the 37th Edition has 15 teams which will compete on the roads around the winery District before racing the final stage in New Zealand’s Capital

Wellington since its Inception in 1988 the tour has seen several Champions successfully compete at the highest levels of the sport these have included the likes of Robbie mccuan Julian Dean rich Port George Bennett and Corbin strong at the end of the week who will add their name to the illustrious list

Of winners of New Zealand’s only UCI 2.2 sanctioned race the hot temperatures matched the hot Pace set from the start of stage two as The Paton rocketed along at up to 60k an hour towards martinb brgh a trio got clear entering onto the circuit around the winery Township with

A 2minute Advantage as the time began to fall over the nine laps of the 7K circuit It Was Keegan hornblow of the Copeland’s team who jumped out of the bunch and rode across to the break before going solo hitting into the Bell lap however the everpresent New Zealand

Team was firmly on the front pacing things to Perfection to ensure they would lead the bunch kick coming down the finishing straight when it counted T leer gate dropped off his two teammates Kean watts and George Jackson with 150 M to go to allow them to go head-to-head

In a tightly fought Sprint with wats winning for the second consecutive year Well Josh we’ve uh made it to the queen stage and it’s very tight at the top at the moment this could be the determining stage yeah I think we see it quite a lot

In this race um a break may go on the first day uh us today is pretty much always a bunch sprin and then today really sets the tone for the GC so um it’s an exciting day and I’m sure a lot of teams are it’s the one that had pin

With in all week of course 12 months ago you took this out was your first ever UCI stage what’s been happening over the past 12 months for you yeah so after that I was um fortunate to have the year in Europe with black spoke and then uh

Unfortunately that um came to an end just at near the end of uh last year so pretty lucky to have James Kenny supporting me and welcoming back straight into the team and it’s like I never left so uh yeah back with the boys and back in in Maron well Bailey the

Oxford Edge team there certainly been pretty prominent right from the GetGo on this tour yeah we’ve actually been nailing today we’ve had uh every day someone in the break which was the the goal and then I was up there second on the first stage and Josh was seventh

Yesterday so yeah we prettyy happy with how we gone so I think it’s only a matter of 20 30 seconds covering the top 30 odd riders in the GC we expect to see quite a massive Shuffle there with the GC Over The Hills today yeah I think so

It’ll be hard I be interesting to see how it’s it’s race whether they go hard early or just leave it to the last climb but definitely it was going to be a shuffle up the top yeah well it’s fantastic to have here a team full of the Riders from the Netherlands and B

Joining us here to speak a little bit about the experience the global cycling Team B can you tell us a bit about how that’s come to be um I think it’s it’s it’s like the team is over like 25 years old um and it came out of like

Enthusiasm out of cycling so guys really enjoy riding bikes and riding bikes in races and then figured out like we really enjoy going abroad and experience a lot of stuff as well and so 25 years ago some guys pretty much same guys as us like enjoying everything started it

Up and it it began going on ever since and they did like heaps of races already in Australia I think they never rode New Zealand so that’s I think that’s a new one um for us but we’ve been all over the world and uh now we’re here and

How’s the experience been for the team so far well it’s pretty good we are um the thing is we’re coming out of like five degrees back home in the Netherlands and it would been raining for two months I think so um it’s it’s interesting and but we are impressed by

The the quality of the peton CU sometimes we had to countries and then it’s complete chaos but it’s like full on and it’s like there 90 guys in the race and like 60 of them going really really fast and so we have to adjust to the to the speed especially coming out

Of training in the winter and like the season have to start up for us against as well so um yeah but it’s going good and we had a fine result yesterday uh with six with theano so uh we’re happy with that and we’ll see uh we got some

Guys pretty good uphill today so we see what we can get for the GC well it’s fantastic having you here in New Zealand all the best for today yeah first thanks a lot thanks guys thank you we’re here with tour director George sandville and George five nations 90 Riders and 30

Degrees in the sunshine here in Maron you’re going to be pretty pleased with the way things have transpired yeah yeah we are very pleased and very privileged to have all those ders from different countries coming here uh for the mitro 10 psycho classic uh you don’t see this

In cycling very often in New Zealand so you know we’re very privileged I’m proud of my team of people working today here so and the Heat going to be really hard on the roers today but we got uh you know we’re prepar for the condition to H

The M as much as we can and of course this has been a defining stage in the tour over the years I think it’s something like the last 10 times seven of the overall winners have been determined by the stage yeah in the past has been that you know whoever wins the

Admiral Hill stage go on to win the race the next few days I changed this a little bit for this year because this St used to be only on the last second to the last day in the past after today they got two more days of rising so may

Change but I still think that whoever win the race to day he may have got to win the Tour and an event like this how is it for our New Zealand young guys developing in that there where do you see that sort of sitting in their calenda well if you look at the

Background George Bennett hien Rolston Corin strong s buly all those rers who went to ro the T of France Tour of Spain win medals at the games or whatever they all started here so we H these young guys in sand R to Rise Against some of

The best Ries around the world in their own home and they see see how good they are and the ones who are really Keen disciplined and want to carry on they will but this is the best way to test yourself you know against this gu who

Are you to rise all around the world and finally of course we’re in Wellington on the last day that’s quite a unique experience for a lot of riders being able to ride in the capital city around Lampton key yeah we are very privileged that Wellington city council all us to

Rise around Lampton key the golden M uh that’s the only time that get close for the sa rice uh we expecting a lot of people there on the day and I think the Riders really enjoy ring in front of a large crowd the weather looks look going

To be really good we got some community events we got children’s races so hopefully people tune up and have a great fun well congratulations it’s been a fantastic race so far and I’m sure it will be over the next few days yeah thank you very much over 2,700 M of

Altitude reached for the 90 Riders as they take on6 km in the queen stage in this year’s tour starting in masterton Riders has faced the first of the climbs within the first 20 km as they climb to faru Hill for the first of two ascents down the

Other side The Paton will reach speeds of up to 100 kmph before making their way back across to masteron and restarting the circuit again on the final circuit the Riders turn on to Admirals Road with 10K remaining to take on the wall and ultimately the renowned

Finish at the top of Admiral’s Hill so outstanding conditions here as we leave out of masteron once again in the neutral section a full field of 90 Riders as the flag is dropped and it looks like a Nick kirazu there of the St George Continental team doing the first

Little bit of a move but straight away there’s a number of other Riders very keen to try and get themselves off the front and we expect to see this today as we know it is the queen stage there is significant amount of climbing so the guys who don’t really back themselves in

The climbs will want to try and get themselves off the front get themselves a reasonable sort of a buffer and hope that they can hold off the the chasing peleton rather than sitting there during the day and get done over by some of the big time climbers and it’s James Harvey

A man who in fact took the most combative in this particular stage in the last couple of years always Keen to go off the front he’s riding this year for the quality food South team great looking kit for those who’ve been around sing for a number of years of course

That multicolor reminds us of the mapy team back in the 1980s and it looks like now he’s been joined by one of the Australian Riders and no surprise once again as we’ve seen them every single day here that of course is the team Cas Ki parou and that’s and it looks like

It’s Bentley n Alton who’s decided to go off the front now from memory he may well have actually been with Harvey in the last couple of years on this particular stage so these two teaming up once again yes they’ve got two separate colors but they’ll work well together

Here if they’re going to secure any dollars any points on the road and there’s plenty up for grapes with them today with a couple of hill climbs relatively early on in fact they hit here as we can see into the first climb of the day just under 20 km into the

Stage so not a long time for the Riders to warm up into it and it is warm out there at the moment sitting at around 26° here just after 10:00 in the morning here on day three as these Riders start to set themselves up for the first of

The king of the mountains points so it’ll be interesting to see who decides to go for it no surpris it’s the polka dot Jersey as he digs deep into it white takes it on out there it looks like one of the Southern Cross Academy Riders there who got himself second and then I

Think the king of the mountains teammate might have secured third place those guys are very much Keen to hold on to that polka dot Jersey and as I said there are two claims that is the first of it they’ll come back to it a second

Time and then of course the final one at the top of Admiral Hills Hill today here which will give them extra points as well great shot there of the motorbike giving us a great indication after the first of the climbs of the speed of which these Riders will descend on this

Long descent here of this course over 100 km an hour and it’s a tight turn at the bottom of the course so these Riders they’re getting a bit fatigued but fortunately good conditions will allow them to get around those Corners they pretty smoothly there as again we see

Riders still trying to get themselves off the front here and get themselves in an established and a reasonable sort of a break we’ve got those two Riders at this point in time and then the vast majority though saying that looking at the numbers stretched out along there we

May have lost a few the first time over the hill now we see a rider from Pista Corsa now this is a great team here from New Zealand introducing a lot of the Young Guns from around the country into the sport or into this level of the

Sport as a bit of a pathway and they’ve decided to hit off the front as it looks like Harvey and Co have been sucked back into the fold as we head round into the corner here and we can see now that we’ve just end about 30 odd km into the

Stage the feeding zone is opened up and as we have seen the past 2 days it is at about that point where we see often Riders get themselves off the front as the peton sits up often having a nature break having a feed and these Riders take that opportunity to sneak off the

Front here and we can see quite a mix of the different teams being represented here as they make their way through down as I said just over 30 km Campbell piy back in the mix once again again he loves going off the front this man from Copeland’s here he’s got one of the

Riders from Russ Ridley with him as well in the red and white we haven’t seen too much of these guys so it’s great to see them out in front they’re a little bit like the pisac Corsa team again another opportunity to introduce some of our New Zealand Riders into this International

Racing and it’s a great opportunity for these teams and that to bring these Riders along into these sort of events one of the Riders also from the United States of America there you can see the US just on the far sides we’ll pick up their numbers and names in a moment

Aliot crowler sitting in second wheel at the moment here he is great shot of him here this is a man formerly of Southland now based in the United States for a number of years recently came back in November rode the S SPS Bank tour of Southland and he took out in a breakway

Just like this here the queen stage up the remarkables and for those of you know that the ski field a very difficult challenging climb so interesting to see him once again trying to do the repeat of what he was doing just a few months ago as he’s returned back here to New

Zealand to contest this tour and a strong team they are from quality food South and to contest this particular competition great aial aerial shot once again we can see the yellow Jersey hovering there and about a dozen back with his teammates up towards the front they know full well what the time gaps

Are looking like at the moment hovering around that minute and a half sometimes extending out to around 2 minutes they’re not allowing them to go much further here but these six look like they’re sitting say here and have decided they’re going to work well together as a unit which is all

Important as we’ve said every single day here as they roll on through as I said great to see one of the Riders here from the United States going off the fronti here with this group and said they’ve had a hard few days as they start to line themselves up that’s Brendan rim of

The United States number 25 sitting there in second wheel as we get themselves ready for the Sprints for the wiiz wiress Sprint Ace but looking like no one really wanted to contest it they would have wed it out they know the points they have or in particular don’t

Have it probably wasn’t really worth their while they’re really out there for the major honors today to take out the stage of VI treat but people like s George Jackson here on the front are not interested in allowing that to happen and he’s got Ryan Christensen with him

There and we got a few of the other teams now starting to make themselves available towards the frontier Kenan cycling have been up there team bridgelane also see their colors towards the Forefront along with m q they allow these guys to sit there for a long time

But eventually try to reel them back in but they got to time it well here it’s a challenging course to be able to get it right as the winds will slowly start to pick up during the day no doubt as they traditionally have and it’s now Hayden

Strong of inago here a man that’s been based in the state for the last few seasons riding for the m q team he goes on towards the front the Southern Cross Racing Academy team you can see Ole Jones is sitting back at about third or fourth wheel as we start to approach the

Next of the K here of Hill here the second time over and again same team different Rider will pick up the points here for the Australian combination that the team which is this year signed up as Australia’s only track Continental team here and they’re performed extremely

Well as we see more efforts going on here with m q and it’s uh a lot of effort going on here and stretching them right on out here but there are certainly the same sort of color starting to appear towards the front front Logan Curry sitting at about third

Wheel the man in the New Zealand squads colors that they are keeping a very close eye on things as they get another great shot about 10 back of Aaron Gates but these guys now looking at the numbers we’ve lost one of the Riders as we get to about a one minute Gap so

They’ve hared it here the pallet on as they make their way around so that group out in front will be starting to try and make some decisions they’ll no doubt beginning the calls as to what’s going on in the main peton who are looking fairly relaxed and speaking of relaxed

Here George Jackson the her is Flowing as he cruises on down the streets here with his teammates in tow as they ensure that they try and keep things well and truly under control here today I mean Aaron will know full well this is a very tough finish here and he doesn’t want to

Lose any sort of a time so they want to ensure that they can just maintain a solid pace and speaking of solid Pace here it looks like we’ve got a move going off the front of the actual Breakaway itself and it looked like the Copeland rid so again we’re seeing some

Disturbance happening up the front they were starting to fatigue a little bit Campbell py has decided he’s had enough there and he’s going to try and stretch things on out that will come back to the Riders here in the main pet on they’ll be hearing exactly what’s going on as we

See two Chasers going with them it looks like Crowder and Co trying to get themselves across to py but he looks like he set sail and is in solid form there to try and stretch things out as much as possible here great shot here of the equipment of these bikes here as

These boys push it in they’re now looking for the bons because as we’ve said it’s pretty warm out there today the winds are starting to pick up making life just that little bit more challenging potentially going to be a bit of a headwind as they head up

Towards Admirals Hill these guys here a second on the road here after that splintering of that half dozen off the front but this is the man in Solo effort as he’s starting to approach around 100K and you can see in Campbell’s face life is getting tough out there there on the

Roads on day three here of this New Zealand cycle classic but he continues to build into it there he’s looking for a bit of form as he heads towards the New Zealand Elite Road Nationals in Timaru in a number of weeks time here and he said he will take the opportunity

To use this as it cuts down to around 34 seconds and you can see the body the temperament of the the change of body language there in the group amongst a number of those riders that the pressure has gone on they want to get rid of the

Last challenge as the Kenan team comes forward they’ve got a couple of the Australians in there and four from Japan there’ve been regular visitors here on the blue and the white colors there on the left of the screen as we turn and approach the 10K marker here and it

Looks like it’s m q on the front and of course they’ll be looking to try and set up Josh brunette because brunette last year took out his first ever UCI stage he’ll be one of the favorites as we said um at the top of the show interviewing

Him here that will want to try and take this on out and he’s got number of his teammates that have got themselves onto the front and very quickly we can see here as we start to approach the closing stages a field that is starting to disintegrate they’re looking at each

Other no one really putting in any serious sort of challenge here the hill itself the wall as they call it partway up has done a lot of the serious damage and very quickly we’re starting to reduce down in size team bridgelane they are looking serious out there up to

Three riders in the group here amongst them trying to control things likees the pany up there Elliot Schulz to name but a few Zachary marriage I think I picked him up in the in the mix and they’re going to go one one after another there

And allow the New Zealand team and Co to have to do the chasing having the numbers makes a massive difference and it looks like we’ve also got another couple that have got in there the TU leader himself he’s got one of his men with carry we’ve also got a number of uh

Southern Cross Riders three of them in the Mi here as well now this will make life interesting for the team classification as well cuz these guys will be opening up some big gaps on there and we could see a change around there the under 23 I see a couple of

Those guys in amongst it there but not the current leader of that with Hein so we could also see a bit of a switch around as a couple more struggle with a few hundred meters to go and it looks like the southlander goes down on the

Inside he gets out of the seat to do the fre to steer but all of a sudden the body starts to shut down and OE Jones on the outside challenges the man in yellow but the man in yellow kicks clear and gate once again takes out another stage

Adds it from the day one here and continues the serious dominance here of the New Zealand track squad team here they have been absolutely outstanding taking every single stage but Aaron gate timing it to Perfection exploding out of the blocks there with the last 100 OD

Meters times it to ensure that he has time to wave to the crowd and celebration with him and his team to take out another stage here and then New Zealand cycle classic Oh Aaron another dominating form by the New Zealand team I wasn’t really expecting to go that way

Uh this morning but um guys did a pretty pretty awesome job once again controlling controlling the race for us and yeah especially GJ and Kean switching rolls from um Team sprinters to team super dos today with reeling that Breakaway back in from the the last line Works climbing to the bottom of

Admiral’s Hill and then um yeah plenty of attacks on the on the climb itself but it definitely suited me being a headwind up there so I could just through the wheels and then save a bit for the final Sprint up to the finish line and talk us through that last 5K up

The climb yeah it’s always one of those ones that’s climb you think you’re like nearly there and then you come around another corner and see 5K to go to and you’re but there’s that nice little bit of respite so to speak um as you as you

Roll over the steeper bit um the final final couple of K before this last little punch up to the line and then I just have to B my time and be patient because um yeah just wait till the right moment not get not get jumped but try

And at least um yeah hold on get the Finish Line like they did we’re joined here now by the new Under 23 leader after an outstanding ride finegan Murphy will congratulations first and foremost you got to be pretty stoked with the way things transpired yeah yeah yeah I knew

Um that we’re all pretty close on GC especially for the under 23 all in the same time so it was going to be a Sprint to the line and I knew I had a good kick after a climbing stage like that and it worked out for me well yeah and as we

Saw the field dwindle it was actually your team that were one of the key ones ahead a number of players at the front yeah yeah we’re um we’re we’re close up in uh team’s GC and ‘s right up there in uh overall so we flip from uh from very

Undulating terrain today through some very flat terrain tomorrow in carton what are you expecting hopefully not too much wind um hopefully I can get a few of the boys to help protect the Jersey now um but yeah a day without any wind would be ideal for me [Applause]