The Tour of Southland bared its teeth in an evil grimace on day two from Riverton to Te Anau today.

New Zealand’s most prestigious bike race is renowned for its testing weather, and after a couple of years of relatively benign conditions, payback arrived in the form of wind, rain, hail and general misery for much of the 150km stage.

Southland’s Matt Zenovich has retained the yellow jersey for a second day after coming home in the chasing pack behind stage winner Morgan Smith, of Auckland, with the Aardvark Excavators rider using his bulkier frame and dogged attitude to good effect on the way to taking Most Combative honours as well.

“Last year was pretty tame and the weaker, skinnier guys got away with a lot so it was good to have a tough day,” Smith, who is contesting his seventh straight SBS Bank-sponsored tour, said.

“I’ve come in fourth twice on this stage and it’s one I target, I really enjoy it. I’m just so relieved to win. I’m a bit heavier than most so I don’t feel the cold and I can handle the wind. I knew if I got over Blackmount in front of the boys, I’d be alright. The closer I got the more excited I got, and I just tried to wait and be patient and had a crack at the end.”

Zenovich (Placemakers) holds a 9sec lead over Oliver Martin (WPC South-Joyride Apparel), with Kevin Girkins (Kia Motors-Ascot Park Hotel) 25sec off the lead in third place.

Defending champion James Piccoli is 1min 07sec down in 21st place.

“We started the day looking at the weather forecast as our main priority,” Zenovich said.

“We all felt good as a team and we decided on a plan as a unit. We kind of pulled it off, we lost a couple of guys early, but it all worked out in the end. (It was) pretty tough, even for a Southlander. When everyone has the same idea when the wind goes sideways you have to be on the ball with what’s happening. I’d call it a hard day in the office.”

Things don’t get any easier tomorrow as the peloton braces itself for an assault on Coronet Peak, the dominant climb of the race and the stage which will sort out the true contenders in this year’s event.

Tactics will play a vital role, with teams striving to deliver their principal rider to the bottom of the 12km grunt in the best shape possible, Zenovich said.

“You get there and your legs are already sort of cooked because the road surface is so tough, but you’ve just got to take it how you can,” he said.

“We’ll do our best today to keep it status quo, If it’s another day like yesterday it would be in our favour with us not being pure climbers. We’ve got some cards to play with, having the sprint ace jersey as well. I’m a pretty honest bloke and I know there’s a chance I may lose (the yellow jersey), but I’m happy to wear it again.”

Tomorrow’s third stage travels 138km from Mossburn to the Coronet Peak car park, finishing about 2.20pm.

Results from the 3rd stage of the SBS Tour of Southland.

Riverton – Tuatapere – Blackmount – Te Anau

  1. Morgan Smith (AVE) 3h13m36s;
  2. Dylan Kennett (PMK) at 02s;
  3. Jensen Plowright (AVE) at 02s;
  4. Corbin Strong (TSF) at 02s;
  5. Ethan Batt (WJA) at 02s;
  6. Tom Sexton (BSS) at 02s;
  7. Dan Cross (AVE) at 02s;
  8. Michael Vink (WJA) at 02s;
  9. Nick White (AVE) at 02s;
  10. Joel Yates (TSF) at 02s;
  11. Oliver Young (ACA) at 02s;
  12. James Fouche (CSR) at 02s;
  13. Sascha Bondarenko-Edwards (TSF) at 02s;
  14. Ben Oliver (OPC) at 02s;
  15. Connor Brown (PNL) at 02s;
  16. Josh Kuysten (PNL) at 02s;
  17. James Piccoli (KAP) at 02s;
  18. Hamish Bond (KAP) at 02s;
  19. Sam Gaze (PNL) at 02s;
  20. Ryan Christiansen (KAP) at 02s;
  21. Matias Fitzwater (VFF) at 02s;
  22. Joel Walsh (OPC) at 02s;
  23. Julian Thomson (OPC) at 02s;
  24. Kane Richards (ITM) at 02s;
  25. Carne Groube (TPS) at 02s;

Overall Standings

  1. Matt Zenovich (PMK) 7h15m05s;
  2. Oliver Martin (WJA) at 09s;
  3. Kevin Girkins (KAP) at 25s;
  4. Morgan Smith (AVE) at 51s;
  5. Dylan Kennett (PMK) at 54s;
  6. Sam Gaze (PNL) at 58s;
  7. Connor Brown (PNL) at 58s;
  8. Alex Heaney (PNL) at 58s;
  9. Paul Odlin (PNL) at 58s;
  10. Ethan Batt (WJA) at 01m01s;
  11. Michael Vink (WJA) at 01m02s;
  12. Brad Evans (WJA) at 01m02s;
  13. Josh Kuysten (PNL) at 01m02s;
  14. Ben Carmen (WJA) at 01m02s;
  15. Nick White (AVE) at 01m03s;
  16. Dan Cross (AVE) at 01m06s;
  17. Jesse Featonby (AVE) at 01m06s;
  18. Sascha Bondarenko-Edwards (TSF) at 01m07s;
  19. Ryan Christiansen (KAP) at 01m07s;
  20. James Piccoli (KAP) at 01m07s;
  21. Hamish Bond (KAP) at 01m07s;
  22. Corbin Strong (TSF) at 01m08s;
  23. Joel Yates (TSF) at 01m08s;
  24. Kees Duyvesteyn (CSR) at 01m11s;
  25. James Fouche (CSR) at 01m11s;

Team Overall

  1. WPC South-Joyride Apparel 21h47m34s;
  2. Placemakers at 03s;
  3. Kia Motors-Ascot Park Hotel at 15s;
  4. Powernet at 35s;
  5. Aardvark Excavators Ltd at 57s;
  6. Team Skoda Fruzio at 01m05s;
  7. TotalPOS Solutions at 01m20s;
  8. Olphert Contracting at 01m32s;
  9. ITM at 01m40s;
  10. Creation Signs-Ronald McDonald House-Ricoh at 09m14s;

Sprints

  1. Matt Zenovich (PMK) 25;
  2. Ollie Jones (PNL) 23;
  3. Morgan Smith (AVE) 11;
  4. James Fouche (CSR) 8;
  5. Dylan Kennett (PMK) 7;
  6. Paul Odlin (PNL) 6;
  7. Alex Vogel (VFF) 6;
  8. Blake Sunde (ACA) 6;
  9. Kevin Girkins (KAP) 5;
  10. Thomas Hubbard (PMK) 4;

King of Mountains

  1. Ethan Batt (WJA) 25;
  2. Matt Zenovich (PMK) 17;
  3. Thomas Hubbard (PMK) 10;
  4. Morgan Smith (AVE) 6;
  5. Kevin Girkins (KAP) 5;
  6. Brad Evans (WJA) 4;
  7. Jake Marryatt (FNN) 4;
  8. Ryan Christiansen (KAP) 2;
  9. Hamish Bond (KAP) 1;
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