Cycling: McCauley still making a splash in favourite race

Gordon McCauley. Photo / Northern Advocate

When it comes to the PowerNet Tour of Southland, Gordon McCauley is almost as legendary as the race itself. At least, that's what he'll tell you.

Notoriously quick-witted, the two-time Tour winner and self-proclaimed "People's Champion'' is undoubtedly a crowd favourite in the deep south. And, as McCauley lines up for his 19th instalment, he admits it's an affection which goes both ways.

While his own focus has now switched to contesting ironman events, initial thoughts of scrapping this year's Tour from his schedule were quickly banished.

"It's the Tour of Southland and I don't ever want to miss a Tour of Southland. It's my favourite event,'' he said.

"Even when I'm not racing the Tour any more, if I have to I'll come down and just stand on a corner. This is my home race virtually and I love it.''

For a man who's etched out an impressive career as one of New Zealand's best cyclists, the punishing world of ironman has proved a reality-check of sorts for 39-year-old McCauley.

"One thing that triathlon training has done is it has made me very average at three sports so, whilst I'm fitter than I've ever been in general, racing hard at top end is a bit harder ... I'm not a young rider any more.''

Riding under his own GMC Coaching banner, McCauley has joined forces with Barry Stewart Builders to contest this year's Tour and is joined by BikeNZ elite coach Tim Carswell and Paul Whitley, who also instructs at GMC. Wanaka's Scott Cunningham, Patrick Jones, of Mosgiel, and Hamish Wright, of Methven, complete the roster.

"We're a team of three coaches really so I think we've got too many chiefs and not enough Indians,'' McCauley quipped.

"I had offers to ride in some of the big budget teams but the Tour of Southland has given me a lot and it's made me the rider that I am I think so it's nice to give something back and support a team.

"Whilst I don't think we'll be contending for the yellow jersey, we'll still be attacking and we'll still be trying to win stages and win jerseys _ we're here to race.''

McCauley's competitive nature simply doesn't switch off.

"I still want to win. I really get frustrated if I'm in a position to win and I blow it or the old legs let me down,'' he said.

"But I've got a lot of young guys coming through that are getting better and better and I get a lot of joy out of seeing them win and seeing them improve with each race.

"I don't know whether I'll teach them the right way to race - suicide attacks - but it's still about bike racing and it's still about having fun. I haven't made any money really out of bike racing in 25 years - I do it because I love it. Not that many people in the world get to do a job they really love.''

As for predicting this year's PowerNet Tour of Southland winner?

"You can't go much past the Calder Stewart guys _ especially if the amount of money they've spent on the Tour is anything to go by,'' McCauley said.

"And I actually think the PowerNet team can do a lot in this Tour. They're good young riders and I had the pleasure of managing them at the recent Tour of the Murray. They've got good attitudes, they've got the physical ability and they're hungry. They want to win.''