Local Rider Takes Stage Win On Day Two

Nelson’s Cameron Jones has retained the SBS Bank Tour of Southland’s orange jersey after a day which delivered a lovely comeback story for local rider Jeremy Presbury.

The hard-charging Jones (Advanced Personnel) was part of a four-man break that frustrated the peloton in challenging conditions during the 159km stage from Invercargill to Gore.

Driven by some of the strongest legs in the race, the quartet never really looked like being shut down, with Southlander Jeremy Presbury (Creation Signs-Whoosh-NZ Cycling Project) throwing his bike across the line for the stage win from Australian Reuben Page-Brown (Team Brennan).

It was a touching moment for Presbury, who more than a decade ago was one of New Zealand’s most promising track sprinters before swapping high performance sport for construction and project management.

Now based in Wanaka, Presbury took up gravel biking a couple of years ago after breaking his collarbone one too many times on his mountainbike. He linked up with his former New Zealand junior track coach Ross Machejefski and discovered he was quite good at it.

Last summer he was training on a road bike in the Coromandel and New Zealand representative Tom Sexton convinced him to enter the elite men’s road nationals.

He finished fourth in a field stacked with professional riders and has spent much of this year racing on gravel and tarmac overseas with James Canny’s NZ Cycling Project team.

“I gave up trying to be at that (elite) level of the sport and relying on Mum and Dad to prop up the bank account. I saw what my mates were doing and thought it was time to start a career,” Presbury said of his time away from competitive cycling.

“It’s been a huge year and I’ve done so much bike racing without really getting a result. That’s been really frustrating because I’m working part-time at the start of the year, got other stuff happening in my life, so to win a stage on the Tour of Southland, my first proper road stage in a race that I’ve grown up around and always wanted to do - it’s really special.”

Meanwhile, Jones maintained his lead in the general classification at 5sec ahead of Presbury overall after making a move which surprisingly didn’t receive as much attention as you’d expect from teams not represented in the breakaway. Sixteen riders are within 1min of the lead.

“I don’t think (the peloton) had much choice. We made a good plan when we had the team lined up chasing a move and I managed to get onto the front just before we turned the corner into a crosswind and had four guys to drop the wheel for me,” he said.

“I linked up with three of the strongest guys in the race and it was good to have them for company. Everyone worked hard to stay away. The guys got all the primes but I was just riding for time today and there was no way I was going to let the group come back.”

Gravel riding is becoming something of a theme in this year’s tour, including the likes of Jones, Presbury and Matthew Wilson waiting in the wings.

“It’s a hard style of riding,” Presbury said.

“You’re just out there on the pedals all day. Being out there in a break with Cam, that’s a good thing because he knows how to hurt, how to push the pedals hard for long periods of time.”

Presbury, who also moved into the lead in the Sprint Ace and King of the Mountain standings, thanked his team mate George Jackson, who finished third in the stage, for his support in the wind.

“It was a super cohesive group and full credit to George, he was pulling like crazy. I don’t think we would have been able to stay away if it wasn’t for him. He’s also such a knowledgeable dude, he’s had some great successes and so I felt like I was in safe hands with him.”

Page-Brown claimed Most Combative honours and is the race’s leading under 23 rider, while Ben Dyball (Macaulay Ford-GoodTech) took over the over 35 classification and Creation Signs-Whoosh-NZ Cycling moved into the Teams Classification lead.

Jones is now prepared for a second day in orange during stage three, the tough 158km stage from Riverton to Te Anau, featuring the exposed southern coast and Blackmount hill climb.

“You can never relax here. It’s nice to have a bit more of a buffer and it looks like the weather might calm down a bit during the week, but you’ve always got to be on your toes.”