New Zealander Mike Northey of the Node4-Subaru team won the hill top finish of the 140km second stage of the Tour of Southland today (October 30) from Invercargill to Bluff Hill.
The win, which gave Northey a 10-second time bonus, put him in to the race leader's jersey of the eight-stage event on the south island of New Zealand.
Northey won from a 10-man breakaway on the infamous slopes of Bluff Hill which Northey described as 'brutal'. Northey now has an eight second lead going in to Wednesday (October 31) morning's stage three, a short 50km trip from Riverton to Tuatapere.
The six-day, eight-stage race started on Sunday October 28 with a 4.2km prologue in Invercargill and finishes on November 3 back in Invercargill. Sunday's prologue was won by the NetPower team with Node4-Subaru placing fifth with their six-man team composed of Mike Northey, James Sampson, Dave Clarke, Matt Cronshaw, Dan Barry and James Moss.
Monday's first stage was 160km from Invercargill to Lumsden which was won by Bissell Pro Cycling's Paddy Bevin in a bunch sprint finish. Node4's Dan Barry placed second with Mike Northey in 13th place all at the same time.
Node4 currently lead the team classification ahead of Bissell Pro Cycling.
Tour of Southland 2012: Remaining stages
Wednesday October 31, Stage 3 50km Riverton to Tuatapere & Stage 4 98km Tuatapere to Te Anau
Thursday November 1, Stage 5 179km Te Anau to The Locker, Crown Range. (Mountain top finish)
Friday November 2, Stage 6 167km Invercargill to Gore.
Saturday November 3, Stage 7 13km Winton (Ind Time Trial) & Stage 8 87km Winton to Invercargill
Tour of Southland 2012
Overall classification after stage two
1. Mike Northey (Node4 Subaru)7:16:31
2. Carter Jones (Bissell Pro Cycling)at 8 secs
3. Taylor Gunman (Pure Black Racing)at 27 secs
4. Cameron Karwowski (PowerNet)at 39 secs
5. Fraser Gough(Share The Road)at 55 secs
6. Marc Ryan (Calder Stewart)at 1-12
7. Gordon McCauley (Barry Stewart Builders) at 1-17
8. Sean Hambrook (Ascot Park Hotel-Kia Motors)at 1-25
9. Jason Rigg (Team Polygon)at 2-14
10. Roman Van Uden (Pure Black Racing) at 2-24
External link
Tour of Southland official website
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