World Tour riders claim NZ time trial titles
- editor59343
- 10 minutes ago
- 4 min read
New Zealand professionals Ella Wyllie and Finn Fisher-Black took out their respective elite time trial honours on the first day of the NZ Road Cycling Nationals near Cambridge.
Wylie, 23, rides for Liv-AlUla-Jayco while Fisher-Black, 24, competes for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, and accordingly both will wear the national jersey in all UCI World Tour individual time trials this year.
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It also continued the success the pair has achieved at the national championships, the fifth national title for Fisher-Black and the third for Wyllie.
The riders faced blazing conditions for the time trial, based around a testing circuit from Roto-o-rangi School between Cambridge and Te Awamutu.
Fisher-Black made it two time trials wins in a row at the national championships. He was the final rider off in the 44.2km test, but was fastest through the halfway turn, and retained the advantage to win in 52:24.29.
He finished 1m11s ahead of 42-year-old amateur Glenn Haden from Wanganui who produced a remarkable performance for runner-up against a field full of professionals and leading high performance riders.
Third was the outstanding allrounder, Ben Oliver from North Canterbury, who finished 2:02 behind the winner. Oliver, who has an impressive record in mountain bike, track cycling and as a criterium specialist, has moved to the new Modern Adventure Pro Cycling professional team established by former Tour rider, American George Hincapie.
“It is an extra bit of motivation in Europe on the World Tour to pull on this jersey in the TT, especially in a Grand Tour, you can look down and see the fern and what it represents,” said Fisher-Black. “To represent your country by wearing the fern on the World Tour throughout the year is pretty special.
“It is a special jersey for me and my team – Red Bull love to have a national jersey in the kit.
“I was happy with the execution today and pleased with the ride, but I will review it tonight because there are always improvements to be made.
“Saturday’s road race will be testing. There’s always carnage and it ‘s a race that anyone can win and that is the beauty of it. As well as the Tour professionals there is all the talent here that have not gone over to the World Tour yet.
“I made some mistakes last year so hopefully I will be ready for the attacks from the many national guns.”
Wyllie was also last off in the women’s race but edged her way to the fastest time at the turn, building on her advantage to win the 24.4km test in 37m45.34s.
She finished 29 seconds ahead of fellow UCI World Tour rider Mikayla Harvey, from Wanaka, who rides for the crack Team SD Worx-Protime. The pair produced strong performances and will be among the favourites for honours in tomorrow’s road race.
Olympic track rider Bryony Botha, riding for the event host Te Awamutu Sports Cycling Club, was third 1m01s behind the winner, and 13 seconds ahead of former under-23 winner, Henrietta Christie, a WorldTour rider.
“I was out here to do my best performance which meant nailing my processes,” said Wyllie. “I had special support today with my mum and my auntie as my directors and mechanic.
“I worked a lot with my team at the end of the season to ensure I was in the right space for this time trial. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes action for this race well before race day.
“It is always special coming back home to do what I do for a living thousands of kilometres away on the other of the world. There’s a bit of pressure but I think the pressure is a privilege because I am doing what I love.
“I had not given much thought to wearing the national jersey on the World Tour. That is pretty emotional.”
Queenstown’s Reef Roberts, who rides for the Groupama-FDJ Development team in Europe, took out the under-23 honours from Timaru’s Noah Hollamby, with the under-19 title going to Auckland’s Alex Botha.
The women’s under-23 time trial title was won by Kirsty Watts, the Meridian Bikebug pro rider, by just 31 seconds from fellow Christchurch rider Amelia Sykes.
The under-19 time trial went to Black Magic team rider, Neve McKensie from Auckland.
New Zealand’s world medal winning Para-cycling team enjoyed success on the road today with class wins for Rory Mead, Devon Briggs, Nicole Murray and Emma Foy
The action turns to road racing tomorrow from 8am with the under-19 women and men, followed by the under-23 and elite women from 1pm, while the elite and under-23 men race on Saturday.
Results:
Male, Elite: Finn Fisher-Black (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) 52:24.29, 1; Glenn Haden (Couplands-Cycling Tom Racing, Wanganui) at 1:11, 2; Ben Oliver (Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, CAN) at 2:02, 3.
Under-23: Reef Roberts (Groupama-FDJ Devel, QTN) 53:44.95, 1; Noah Hollamby Stonewood Homes, Timaru) at 34s, 2; Lewis Bower (Groupama-FDJ, AKL) at 55s, 3.
U19: Alex Botha (Advanced Personnel, AKL) 35:22.03, 1; Andre Free (Pista Corsa, CAN) at 39s, 2; Joshua Davies (CAN) at 1.13, 3.
Female, Elite: Ella Wyllie (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) 37:45.34, 1; Mikayla Harvey (Team SD Worx-Protime) at 29s, 2; Bryony Botha (Te Awamutu Cycling) at 1:01, 3.
Under-23: Kirsty Watts (Meridian Bikebug, CAN) 39:37.69, 1; Amelia Sykes (Pringle Homes, CAN) at 31s, 2; Ava Maddison (Meridian Bikebug, AKL) at 1:06, 3.
Under-19: Neve McKenzie (Black Magic, AKL) 27:57.41, 1; Jesse Thomson (CAN) at 28s, 2; Dulcie Copeland (Black Magic, TGA) at 1:03, 3.
Para-cycling, Hand-cycle: Rory Mead (Wellington Masters) 35:34.08, 1.
Men C1-5: Devon Briggs (Te Awamutu Sports) 45:03.40, 1; Lindsay File (Te Awamutu Sports) at 1:04, 2; Josh Freer (Morrinsville Wheelers) at 4:50, 3.
BVI: Kyren Andrew-Don Gardner (Whangarei Marsden Wheelers) 43:14.01, 1; Steve Donnelly-Mark Flemming (Morrinsville Wheelers) at 8:04, 2.
Women C1-5: Nicole Murray (Te Awamutu) 43:42.39, 1; Siobhan Terry (Rotorua) at 12:50, 2.
Women BVI: Emma Foy-Jessie Hodges (Whangarei Marsden Wheelers) 40:57.56, 1; Unity Collins-Aimee Firmin (Morrinsville Wheelers) at 12:08, 2.