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The Tour of Southland has not always been the sole preserve of hardened road racers. Past years have seen the likes of top rower Hamish Bond, and top mountain biker Sam Gaze, shake up the racing and serve notice of their potential on the road.
Last year, it was the turn of local mountain bike ace Josh Burnett (Creation Signs – MitoQ), who flew up the slopes of The Remarkables to claim an epic stage win in his first Tour of Southland. However, rarely has the Tour seen as many cross code riders with the potential to cause significant upsets as it does this year.
Josh Burnett is back, and with a year’s worth of road racing under his belt, including a very successful stint racing in the United States with his NZ Cycle Project – MitoQ team, he will certainly be a rider to watch. His results in the USA included claiming the Best Young Rider classification in the Joe Martin Stage Race, an experience which will be very helpful as he sets his sights on a high overall finish in the Tour. With a top ten finish in the overall classification last year to go with his Remarkables win, along with a second place on Bluff Hill, Burnett will most certainly be one to watch as a potential podium contender.
However, he is far from the only challenger forsaking the trail for the tar this year.
Another mountain biker returning to the Tour this year is Ben Oliver (Creation Signs – MitoQ). With a silver medal in the cross country at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in his pocket, Oliver will be looking to build on what was a very impressive ride in the Tour last year.
With a whole host of top ten stage finishes, a second place on the final stage of the Tour, and an eleventh place overall, Oliver has shown that he can be a threat on any terrain. With some additional confidence after his Commonwealth Games performance, and with a very strong team able to deliver a devastating one-two (and possibly three-four) punch, Oliver is likely to deliver on the road once again.
Cameron Jones (RushVelo – Ridley) is another rider looking to see whether his mountain bike pedigree translates well to multi day stage races on the road. Jones is the U23 National Champion, and has represented New Zealand at the World Championships on a number of occasions already.
He will be racing alongside another mountain bike in team mate Matthew Wilson, who finished second in the U23 National Championships, and has been spending the New Zealand winter chasing results on the XCO World Cup circuit, where he recorded a 26th place in the Lenzerheide XCO World Cup.
Jacob Turner (Share the Road – Macaulay Ford) is another rider with a solid pedigree off road, having taken bronze in the Oceania Championships Junior MTB Cross Country race in 2020, and silver in the Junior division at the New Zealand Championships in 2020 and 2021.
A sixth place in the U23 division at Oceanias this year shows his transition into the higher ranks is progressing well, and he comes to the Tour fresh off a big racing block in Europe, with a couple of his more recent races taking place in Greece, which may not have done much to prepare him for the weather conditions in Southland.
The mountain bikers will likely be putting their off road skills to good use on the Southland District Council Stage 2 from Invercargill to Lumsden, which takes in a gravel section, and a number of them have shown themselves to be riders to watch once the road tilts upwards, with the Aotearoa Gaming Trust Stage 4 finishing on the slopes of The Remarkables, as well as the BDO Invercargill Stage 5 finishing at the top of Bluff Hill presenting significant opportunities for strong climbers.
With so much off road talent lining up in the Tour of Southland this year, it definitely means the dedicated road riders will have to keep an eye out for more than just their traditional competitors.