Avery aces Taupo Challenge

Clinton Avery has a sharp nose for racing.

Rotorua's Commonwealth Games mountainbiking and national road cycling representative showed it again on Saturday as riders settled in at about the 14km mark of the Avanti Classic Race at the 30th Wattyl Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge.

The Classic road race, which this year attracted 99 competitors, is the serious side of the Challenge which featured some 5675 solo riders this year.

Avery's plan was to settle in but everything changed in a couple of pedal strokes as the big players made an early attack.

"I wasn't sure if it was a good idea but I looked up and saw who was going and thought it could potentially be a significant break," 18-year-old Avery told the Daily Post of the defining moment which led to his one-second line honours win over Gordon McCauley.

The pair were in a six-man break which was eventually whittled to three by the time they headed up the last significant hill by the Taupo Airport alongside Aaron Strong.

All three were coming off good form, having ridden with distinction in the recent Tour of Southland race.

Avery said his tour fitness and freshness after a small racing break helped him play cat and mouse with McCauley as they left Strong behind.

"Coming along the lake he put the hurt on me and I put the hurt on him," said Avery, who is in the New Zealand Road team for January's Tour Down Under in Australia.

"When we came around the corner at the yacht club I thought, we made a break at the 14km and now were going to have to sprint to the finish."

Avery's legs and heart didn't let him down during the final metres.

His sprint was well timed and he took the line in 3:54:04 hours with McCauley one second down and Strong, winner of the masters division, alone in third, 36 seconds behind the winner.

Conditions weren't easy with winds buffetting the riders and many of the traditional fast spots, where speeds in excess of 80kph can be reached, required slogging into a headwind.

The successful ride was financially lucrative for Avery who balances training with working for Rotorua company Interior Fittings. Men's and women's winners each got $2000 for their efforts.

The first woman home was 21-year-old Danish national road and time trial champion Linda Villumsen in 4:24:01. She headed Wellington's Gina Waibl by a shade over 13 seconds.