Papamoa cyclist Logan Hutchings caused a major upset when he won the individual time trial title at the New Zealand road championships near Napier yesterday.
Hutchings grabbed his first elite title when he beat a quality field including former champion Gordon McCauley on a testing 40km course nearTaradale.
Experienced Cambridge rider Melissa Holt pushed defending champion Ali Shanks (Dunedin) back to third place to win the women's championship while Rotorua's Clinton Avery took out the men's under-23 title.
Hutchings, who was seventh in the world under-23 time trial two years ago, produced a fine effort to clock 51m 26s for the 40km course. The Melbourne Commonwealth Games road and time trial representative laid down the testing time that no one was able to seriously challenge. Paul Odlin from Nelson/Marlborough was second, 33s behind, with McCauley third.
"I am pretty pleased to win although I was quite surprised," Hutchings said.
"I didn't expect it because I had a fair bit of November off organising a criterium event at Mt Maunganui. I just went hard and held on."
Hutchings, who rides professionally in Belgium for a team associated with Quick Step, said it was a difficult course to judge.
The win was a good boost for Western Bay of Plenty cycling after he recovered from a major knee operation last year.
Holt, an Athens Olympian, was in impressive form. The Cambridge rider, who is turning her attention to triathlon to compete in Ironman New Zealand in March, clocked a strong 36m 20sec for the 25km course.
