Another great day of racing in perfect conditions today at Te Tipua in Eastern Southland has set up a gripping finale to the 30th anniversary Yunca Junior Tour of Southland tomorrow.
Ally Wollaston continued her unblemished record in the Under 13 grade, winning both of today's Share the Road-sponsored stages to stretch her lead in the girls general classification to 3:12 and create an unbeatable buffer in the overall sprint ace competition. Meanwhile the boy's yellow jersey swapped hands twice during the day with Connor Leov and then Drew Christensen claiming the Yunca Tour lead. Christensen got away in the afternoon stage to take a 27 second lead in to tomorrow's racing.
Nicole Shields did a great job of defending her lead in the Under 15 girls, winning both stages to open up a handy 33 second cushion from her hearest rival Christine Lambley. Australian Jessie Saunders wears the green sprinters jersey in to the final day while the Queen of the Mountain sits on the shoulders of Libby Arbuckle.
Josh Scott also doubled up with two sprint finish wins in the Under 15 boys, giving him 15 seconds on fellow Cantabrian Matthew Trenchard in the race for the Yunca Tour title. Scott is also clear in the Sprint Ace and is tied with Trenchard in the King of the Mountain with Southland's Sam Miller a point adrift in third.
The Under 17 Girls title is up for grabs on the final day after the jersey swapped hands following the afternoon stage. Mikayla Harvey held it following the morning's stage with her third place finish behind stage winner Olivia Podmore and Michaela Drummond opeing up a 4 second overall lead, but that evaporated in the afternoon as a bunch of ten got away and with Harvey missing the break she gave up over 3 minutes on the new leaders. Bryony Botha will start the day in yellow, seven seconds ahead of Drummond with Makayla Smith and Tori Saunders within ten seconds. Podmore leads the sprint competition with Drummond and Botha tied on Queen of the Mountain points.
Campbell Stewart grabbed the Under 17 boys Yunca Tour leader's jersey courtesy of his morning stage win, leading home the lead break of seven, which took 44 seconds out of the peloton. But the move of the day came up the final afternoon climb as Josh Kendall who had spent time off the front earlier in the race, got clear to claim a 22 second stage victory and propel him to the top of the standings by 9 seconds, from Sam Dobbs with Stewart a further second back in third. Alex West leads the Sprint Ace while Connor Brown wears the King of the Mountain jersey into day three.
Renee Wooton did a fine job of defending her Yunca Tour lead in the Under 19 Women, but by the end of the day her lead was just three seconds. Wooton took out the morning sprint finish to increase her margin, but gave that back in the afternoon to Laura Heywood who claimed the stage win to sit second with Cass Harvey in third at five seconds. Nina Wollaston maintained her Sprint ace lead while Georgia Vessey had a good day up the hills to lead the Queen of the Mountain.
In one of the rides of the day, John Newman-Watt came from nowhere to jump in to yellow with a solo win in the morning stage on the Beast of the East circuit. Newman-Watt got clear of the bunch in the last few kilometres to earn an 18 second stage win and jump to the race lead. It was however, a short stint in yellow with Cameron Ford claiming the stage and an overall Yunca Tour lead courtesy of his 19 second afternoon victory. Josh Haggerty sits in second overall at seven seconds with Jake Marryatt third at 23 seconds. Haggerty leads the sprint ace with Zac Blakely atop the King of the Mountain standings.
The final day of the 2013 Yunca Tour begins with the Wensley's Cycles Criteriums from 8:30am with the afternoon final stage, sponsored by Kieran O'Neill Orthodontist starting at 12:30.
For full results click here.