Snow hits Tour of Southland
7 November 2011
Snow hits Southland on the final day of the Tour
Invercargill 5 November 2011 – Extreme Southland weather had a big hand in the shape of the final days racing of this year’s Tour of Southland. The highly anticipated Individual Time Trial or “race of truth” was cancelled when the riders arose to 3 inches of snow on the ground. Realistically this was the last real chance for PureBlack’s Tim Gudsell to try and force his way into the yellow jersey but it was not to be and we extend our congratulations to Josh Atkins who rode in with the lead group in the shortened afternoon stage to become the youngest Tour of Southland winner ever.
“Ultimately we didn't achieve what we came here to do which was to win the Tour” said Carl Williams as he reflected on a full on week of racing in trying and demanding conditions. “It's a tough tour to win and with the growing strength of NZ’s international road cycling talent it’s not going to get any easier. There are always so many twists and turns and we put ourselves on the line every day to give it our best shot. I’m very proud of the guys, they set a high professional standard and hopefully we demonstrated the contribution we are endeavouring to make to cycling in New Zealand.”
At the end of the final stage the overall results PureBlack Racing had Tim Gudsell on the podium in 3rd place on GC with Shem Rodger in 5th and Scott Lyttle in 6th. PureBlack also took out the overall Teams Classification by a massive 18 minutes over their nearest rivals.
That was our last tour for the year, it’s been a huge 2011 and the guys can look forward to a bit of a break before we start building up for 2012. To all of our sponsors, fans, friends and families thanks for all your support – we appreciate it very, very much.
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