Southland Cyclist Wins First UCI Race
When Nick Kergozou crossed the line for his team at the 2022 New Zealand Cycle Classic last week, in his first UCI road race win, Julian Ineson was the man addressing the crowd.
Nick’s former primary school teacher and the man responsible for getting him into the world of cycling, Julian is the voice behind the Tour of Southland, but he was also the race commentator in Wellington – a nice surprise for the pro athlete.
Nick missed last year’s Tour of Southland after months of training, when Waikato (where he is now based), was still in lockdown in November.
The 25-year-old rides for UCI Continental Team St George Continental Cycling Team, but last week, as well as winning the team sprint stage (Masterton to Martinborough), Nick individually went on to also win the Intermediate sprints as well – giving him another green jersey.
He won this section in a past Tour of Southland, and after 18 months of uncertainty and cancelled races, taking out a win in the NZ Cycle Classic was a huge honour.
“It was a new opportunity with a new team and I wanted to get a win down, after missing out on Southland,” he said.
The only accredited UCI stage road race in New Zealand, the NZ Cycle Classic has been running for the past 35 years.
The sprint stage was a 136km ride, followed by eight laps of a 7.1km circuit at the end.
The sprint jersey classification consisted of Intermediate sprints each staged during the tour. During the stage (first three riders across the line), and the finish (first five riders), accumulated points for the overall jersey.
Born and bred in Invercargill, Nick joined the Cycling New Zealand programme in Cambridge in 2014, and debuted in the men’s team pursuit at the 2016 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
The team got silver at the 2017 World Championships in Hong Kong, and he also received bronze at the Junior World Championships in Korea in 2014.
It is a busy month for Cycling New Zealand with national races every month leading up to the main big track nationals at the end of March.