GISBORNE rider Callum Gordon finished among the mass bunch as Joseph Cooper completed a title double of sorts in the New Zealand Cycle Classic yesterday.
Gordon, a member of Team Skoda Racing, officially placed 42nd in the fifth and final stage of the classic — a 120-kilometre flat ride comprising12 laps of a 10km circuit on the outskirts of Masterton.
It placed him 38th overall, 24 minutes 52 seconds behind winner Cooper, who recently claimed the New Zealand road race championship.
Gordon’s team had been concentrating on helping teammate Alex West in his bid to win the under-23 category. However, West had to settle for second, 1m 29s behind Logan Griffin of the Oliver’s Real Food Racing team.
Cooper, of the IsoWhey Sports Swiss Wellness team, completed the five-stage, 667km tour in 15 hours 24 minutes 45 seconds to win by 36s from Griffin, with New Zealand National team rider James Oram third, another second back.
Yesterday’s stage, held in hot and dry conditions, was won by Alex Frame (JLT Condor) in a sprint finish. Luke Mudgway (NZ National) was second and Neil van der Ploeg (IsoWhey), third.
“We came into this tour after winning it last year with Ben O’Conner,” Cooper said.
“We always come here and bring the best team we can. We had Tim Roe in the yellow (jersey)on Day 1, and Day 2 threw up a curve ball for us. We reworked the plans and came up with a new plan to get the yellow back, and we did that. Today was more about having a little more control over the bunch. The hard work had already been done so we just had to ride the distance today.”
IsoWhey topped the team standings, finishing 2m 34s ahead of New Zealand National. Brad Evans (NZ National) won the sprint points category, and Oram was named the King of the Mountains.
