Cycling: Godfrey outsprints rivals to make it one for the road

World track champion Hayden Godfrey showed his versatility when he sprinted to his maiden national club road cycling title near Nelson yesterday.

Godfrey, who won the omnium title at the world championships last year, went with the telling break on the penultimate lap of the men's 176km race before outsprinting young Wellington rider Jack Bauer in the hills of Upper Moutere.

It made it a clean sweep of road titles for the Subway Avanti team after Gordon McAuley won the national championships earlier in the year. Godfrey, of Christchurch, got some key help from teammate Sam Horgan before he used all his experience to roll over Bauer to claim the win, while Horgan took out the under-23 honours.

"I've been second and third before but never been able to put it in the bag," Godfrey said. "I was a bit unsure how I would go because I've been putting my time into training and have not raced for a while.

"It's great to win this for me and the Subway Avanti team. It gives us real confidence going into the Tour of Southland and then we are also racing in a category two tour in China."

Godfrey needed his team's help after an early break featuring Bauer (Port Nicholson Poneke), Alex McGregor (Cycling Otago), David Ayre and George Bennett (both Star and Garter) who opened a gap of nearly three minutes. The peloton caught the break by mid-race and remained together until two laps to go when the pressure at the front split the race apart.

Godfrey was not sure if his focus would remain on the road or return fully committed to the track.