Sport + Motorsport
The most iconic hill climb in New Zealand cycling produced one of its most dramatic finishes in stage six of the 2025 SBS Bank Tour of Southland today.
When the dust had settled, Josh Burnett had claimed his maiden Bluff Hill stage win and retained the overall lead heading into the final day of the SBS Bank Tour of Southland.
After 155km of racing from Invercargill to Bluff, the result was only decided by the width of a tyre as the PowerNet rider threw his bike across the line on the hilltop finish ahead of Cambridge’s Matthew Wilson (Advanced Personnel Cycling Team).
Having duked it out on the Remarkables climb on Wednesday, the two protagonists could only be separated by a photo finish atop Motupōhue in one of the closest finishes in recent memory.
“It was pretty insane actually. Matt sent a crazy attack up there and I was definitely on the ropes for a bit. It was just a two-man drag race and the throw just got me there, so credit to Matt — he’s super strong and I was fully on my limit today.”
Despite winning the tour in 2022 and 2024, Burnett had never won the Bluff stage, a climb he has trained on more than any other.
A noted BMX and mountain bike rider in his junior days, he had to call on all his bike-handling ability to take the win.
“I’ve definitely won and lost a few bike races with the old bike throw on the BMX track down at (Invercargill’s) Elizabeth Park, and definitely that skill came in handy today.”
As well as extending his overall lead by a handful of precious seconds, the win was special for more personal reasons for the Southlander.
“A good family friend of ours, Will Impelmans — he was a big part of the community down here. He started all the (Bluff Hill) mountain bike tracks here and now it’s a great facility which would have never been possible without Will,” Burnett said.
“He unfortunately passed away a few years ago so it’s been something I really wanted to do for him because he was a big inspiration of mine. I wanted to do well for him and his family because I knew a few of them would be out on the hill today.”
Today’s stage was a tale of frustrated breakaways, with little wind to help fracture the peloton. Nick Kergozou (Open Country–TES) showed his undoubted speed and opened up a significant lead in the Sprint Ace standings.
Under leaden skies, it took nearly 100km for a break to stick, with Sam Jenner (Central Benchmakers–Willbike), Glenn Haden (Couplands–Cycling Tom Cycling Team) and Jack Gillingham (Moo–Vestar) escaping by up to two minutes before being brought back in the shadow of Bluff Hill.
Burnett will carry a 19-second lead over Wilson into the last day of the rescheduled 2025 event, which includes the 13km individual time trial at Winton and a final 77km stage from Winton to Invercargill.
Australian rider Ben Dyball (Macaulay Ford–Good Tech Team) is third overall at 1 minute 11 seconds and is the leading over-35 rider.
Burnett, who also leads the King of the Mountains standings, won the ‘race of truth’ stage in 2022 and finished third in 2024 on the way to winning both races overall.
“It’s a stage I’ve done a few times now and I think I’m quite well suited to it. You can’t really do much other than keep it upright and ride hard — there’s no tactics, it’s all on me. I’m looking forward to going for a good result,” he said.
“There’s a bit of pressure, but I’ve come into this time trial with only half this lead. It’s definitely not a given, but I’m confident in my time trial and it should be a fast one.”