Race review courtesy of Mike Renehan;

Wellington cycling club is once again hosting the Tour of Wellington at Briagalong. A small field greeted the starter of the first two stages on Saturday due to clashes with other events. An 11km individual time trial, and a 47km road race were hotly contested. Aaron Wain showed why he came back to cycling by winning both events in convincing fashion.
In the time trial Wain completed the course in 16min which was 2min clear of the next rider Phil Lutz of Bairnsdale in his first year of racing. The gaps were a lot closer for the rest, all finishing within 2min of Lutz.
The road race got away at a good pace until the KOM sprint at Valencia Creek. Wain blasted clear to win the sprint and just kept going, the rest scrambled and chased to no avail. The flat roads saw the chasers all come together to share the chasing. At the intermediate sprint riders battled for points, which split the chasing group up. The re-grouping by the second time over the hill was only temporary respite with various riders attacking to get clear. Some could not hold the higher speeds and lost contact. Wain stayed clear to win comfortably. Allan Rankin outsprinted Dave Willowhite and Lutz for the minor placings.
Racing will resume on Saturday at 2pm in Briagolong. Riders will be put into teams and the racing will continue as a team format. There will be a Team time trial and a road race, which will test the better riders abillity to consider how to get their teammates home to win the race.

Location

Briagalong Café, Briagalong 3860