Cheatley Pleased with Form in Tour of New Zealand
New Zealand cyclist Cath Cheatley is buoyed by her form this week after finishing in second place in the NZCT Cycle Tour of New Zealand that finished today.
The riders face a criterium around the streets of Wellington tomorrow although it is a separate event and not part of the official results.
Cheatley, the current US National Series champion, finished just four second behind Tour winner Judith Arndt, the super talented Germany in the HTC Highroad team, rated the best women’s combination in world cycling.
The BikeNZ rider heads back to her Colavita Baci women’s pro team in the USA in two weeks with the knowledge that she has an excellent foundation for the season ahead, after winning the national championships last month and now second in the UCI event.
“I have done the hard years over the summer and really worked hard,” Cheatley said. “I wanted to ride well but so early in the year you are just unsure. It’s good to race well at home.”
While the inexperienced New Zealand team attacked today, the HTC Highroad team filled with world and Olympic stars had too much experience in the final 112km stage from Palmerston North to Masterton.
The New Zealand team attacked early along with the other teams in the race for general classification but the HTC team were able to bring back the breaks and at the same time keep a firm cover on Cheatley.
The New Zealand team was forced to chase down a key break themselves until a group of five riders went clear, none threats to overall classification.
“It was a very exciting and very hard final day. We had road works and most of it was into a head wind. At times it looked like we might have got away with it, then we were forced to chase and we had another chance late in the race.
“The reality is four seconds is a long, long time in road cycling. HTC are the best team in the world and Judith is a very classy rider. They controlled it well today.”
However the Wanganui rider was full of praise for her team including fellow pro Linda Villumsen and three inexperience cyclists.
“They did their jobs well. New Zealand has some awesome talent coming through which is pretty exciting.”
Auckland’s Kate Chilcott was part of the five strong break that fought out the final honours, finishing with the same time as the winner Alona Andruk. She finished 10th overall and second among the under-23 riders.
The BikeNZ team finished second overall on team classification, 20 seconds behind the Australian Jayco team with HTC Highroad third.
Results, stage 4, 112km:
Alona Andruk (DPZ) 3:28.02, 1; Kendelle Hodges (VIS) same time, 2; Emily Collins (CYC) same time, 3. Also New Zealanders: Kate Chilcott same time, 5; Cath Cheatley at 35s, 13; Courteney Lowe same time, 28; Melanie Burke at 43sec, 35; Linda Villumsen same time, 37.
Final classification: Judith Ardnt (HTC High Road) 11:50.56, 1; Cath Cheatley (NZL) at four seconds, 2; Ruth Corsett (Australia) at 12 seconds, 3. Other NZ team: Chilcott at 1:33, 10; Villumsen at 1:41, 12; Lowe at 2:08, 21; Burke at 6:07, 40.