Whanganui road cyclist defies own expectation with stage win at Tour of Southland

Glenn Haden (white and red) battling his way to winning stage one of the 2022 Tour of Southland. Photo / Supplied

Whanganui road cyclist Glenn Haden defied his own expectations for the Tour of Southland by getting a stage win on the tour.

During the eight-stage tour, Haden rode more than 860kmm between Invercargill, Gore, Manapouri and Queenstown.

The tour started in the best possible way for him, winning the first stage, a nine-lap race around Invercargill's Queens Park.

He said winning stage one was the biggest win of his road cycling career and was above and beyond his expectations for what he would do this year.

"You always dream up scenarios in your head of how you could do it, but to actually execute it ... cycling is one of those sports where you hit your head against a wall 99 times out of 100 trying different strategies and tactics and it was just nice to get everything to line up and pull it off," he said.

By the end of the tour, Haden finished in 10th place overall, and second in the Silver Jersey Classification for riders aged 35 and over.

He was pleased with his top-10 finish because it had been a rough goal of his.

However, the end of the tour was bittersweet for him as he came close to taking two more wins in stages seven and eight but missed out.

He thought he was in with a good chance of a win on stage seven, which was an individual time trial, having won the senior men's long time trial at the Cycling New Zealand Age Group Nationals earlier in the year, but his legs felt flat over the stage and finished with the fifth-fastest time.

"I was a little bit disappointed in my performance there, but I was within touch and fifth place is still solid,"

On the afternoon of the same day was the eighth and final stage of the tour, where Haden and four other riders broke away from the peloton and managed to hold them off by a very narrow margin with Haden finishing fourth, one second behind the winner.

"That fifth and fourth on the last day were nice little consolation prizes to be up at the pointy end," he said.

He said the hardest part of the tour was keeping his position on the stages as strong winds and the high number of riders in the race, with the peloton made up of about 130 people, meant his positioning within the peloton was crucial.

"If you're caught out down the back of the peloton coming into a turn where there's going to be a wind change, essentially you can lose track of the guys at the front really quick.

"For three, four, five hours a day you've always gotta be positioned really really far forward in the peloton, and that means constant discipline and moving up and even riding in the wind at times."

He said it's one of the toughest tours on the calendar for that reason and described it as a constant fight.

However, he said next year he'll be back to give it another go because even at his age he feels like he's still improving, his results over this year's tour being evidence of that.

"It sounds silly, people probably think 'oh God he's at the end of his time', but I feel like I'm still making improvements each year so it's super-motivating to get out and do the work."

He has a busy summer ahead of him because while most riders were winding down from a busy European summer season, the tour was the start for Haden as he didn't race for the winter.

Next up will be the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge later in the month, then the New Zealand Classic Cycle Tour in the Wairarapa and the Gravel and Tar in the Manawatū in January, before the Elite Road National Championships in February.

He said the schedule meant he had a high-level event almost every month over the summer to prepare for, and hoped his performance in Southland would provide a form boost for the rest of the season.