Canadian James Piccoli will seek to become just the fourth foreign winner in 61 years of the SBS Bank Tour of Southland on the final day of the 2017 edition.

The Kia Motors-Ascot Park Hotel rider holds a 35sec lead over Michael Torckler (Blindz Direct) and 38sec on Michael Vink (Mike Greer Homes) ahead of the final two stages, a 13km individual time trial in Winton followed by a nervous 77km final stage from Winton to Invercargill.

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He attacked his way into the yellow jersey with a daring move 20km from the stage finish today, wiping out the 32sec deficit he began the day with behind Torckler, who finished back in the main bunch.

Brad Evans (PowerNet) wins the 151km fifth stage from Invercargill to Gore. Photo: Studio Jubb

“I was sort of in no-man’s land for a little bit and then I saw the tail of the caravan and that’s when I felt it was possible,” Piccoli said.

“I was lucky that I had a tailwind at the time, so it made the bridge across a little easier. We were super happy to pull it off. It was a little bit of a surprise, but we’ll take it.”

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After racing in fine conditions and light winds for the first five days, the tour showed more of its traditional character on the way to Gore, but that didn’t stop the leaders from finishing more than half an hour early.

Brad Evans (PowerNet), the overall winner in 2015, claimed the stage from James Fouche (Creation Signs L&M Group Mining Ricoh) and Logan Griffin (Tank Guy/Bike Box Rentals).

“We had wind and rain all day, so it was full gas all day,” Piccoli said.

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“The breakaway had originally gone up the road and had some pretty dangerous guys in it on GC. The team brought it back just close enough that I could get across. We kept the pressure on Blindz Direct all day and managed to pull it back just enough to get the yellow, so we are happy.”

Vink was the highest placed rider in a break which numbered nine at its peak and were out by close to 2min at Te Tipua to install Vink as the virtual leader.

Piccoli has led and won stage races before, and is looking forward to defending the yellow jersey.

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While he is more used to racing time trials on specialist time trial bikes, he has done some training on a road bike.

“I wouldn’t call myself a time trial specialist, but I can hold my own,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to the last two stages of the race. Everyone is probably pretty tired at this stage of the race, that’s the way stage races go, but we’ll see what we have got left in the legs.”

Despite having many overseas visitors over the years, only three foreign riders have had their names inscribed on the Tour of Southland winners trophy – Australians Mal Powell in 1964 and Mitchell Lovelock-Fay in 2014, and United States rider John Lieswyn in 2002 and 2004.

Alexandra’s James Williamson (Creation Signs L&M Group Mining Ricoh) kept hold of the Sprint Ace jersey heading into the final day, with Piccoli surprising himself by also taking over the King of the Mountain classification.

Alex West (Team Skoda Racing) is the leading under 23 rider, while Paul Odlin (PowerNet) is the leading over 35 rider. Kia Motors-Ascot Park Hotel lead the team classification and Morgan Smith (Aardvark Excavators Ltd) was awarded Most Combative honours for the stage.

SBS Tour of Southland Results from the 6th stage of the SBS Tour of Southland.

Invercargill – Drummond – Hedgehope – Waimumu – Gore

Brad Evans (PNL) 3h15m13s
James Fouche (CLM) ST
Logan Griffin (TGB) ST
Michael Vink (MGH) ST
James Piccoli (KAP) ST
Nick Kergozou (PMK) at 45s
Conner Sallee (GLS) at 45s
Carne Groube (CBW) at 45s
Ollie Jones (PNL) at 45s
Jake Marryatt (CST) at 45s
Sam Mobberley (ITM) at 45s
Ryan Christensen (KAP) at 45s
Cyrus Monk (KAP) at 45s
Alex Heaney (PNL) at 45s
Matias Fitzwater (CST) at 45s
Greg Taylor (TFC) at 45s
Campbell Pithie (ITM) at 45s
Joseph Swale (CBW) at 45s
Joshua Scott (CLM) at 45s
Ben Andrews (AVE) at 45s
Boris Clark (CST) at 45s
Richard Randall (GLS) at 45s
Andy Hagan (WWS) at 45s
Taylor Gunman (KAP) at 45s
Alex Quirk (ACA) at 45s

Overall Standings

James Piccoli (KAP) 18h21m02s
Michael Torckler (BZD) at 35s
Michael Vink (MGH) at 38s
Raphael Freienstein (AVE) at 02m34s
Alex West (TSR) at 03m34s
Brad Evans (PNL) at 03m43s
Taylor Gunman (KAP) at 03m55s
Ryan Christensen (KAP) at 04m02s
James Fouche (CLM) at 04m16s
Sam Mobberley (ITM) at 04m17s
Jake Marryatt (CST) at 04m56s
Boris Clark (CST) at 05m43s
Kane Richards (ITM) at 05m45s
Ben Andrews (AVE) at 06m44s
Paul Odlin (PNL) at 07m00s
Richard Randall (GLS) at 07m20s
Mike Cuming (AVE) at 07m20s
Tim Rush (MGH) at 07m21s
Andy Hagan (WWS) at 07m28s
Carne Groube (CBW) at 08m17s
Campbell Pithie (ITM) at 09m00s
Nick Kergozou (PMK) at 09m10s
Cyrus Monk (KAP) at 10m27s
Alex Quirk (ACA) at 10m32s
Roman Van Uden (PNL) at 10m48s

Team Overall

Kia Motors – Ascot Park Hotel 55h11m33s
Aardvark Excavators Ltd at 04m50s
Powernet at 07m41s
ITM at 10m41s
Mike Greer Homes at 13m00s
Team Skoda Racing at 13m01s
Calder Stewart at 16m10s
Wheelworks Handcrafted Wheels at 25m57s
Blindz Direct at 27m03s
Giant Lakeside at 27m11s

Sprints

James Williamson (CLM) 31
Alexander Ray (WWS) 30
Morgan Smith (AVE) 23
Paul Wright (CBW) 19
Michael Vink (MGH) 15
James Fouche (CLM) 15
Mike Cuming (AVE) 12
8. Mathew Zenovich (MGH) 12
Matt Ross (PNL) 12
Josh Kuysten (BZD) 11

King of Mountains

James Piccoli (KAP) 28
Ben Barry (CLM) 26
Logan Griffin (TGB) 25
Michael Torckler (BZD) 16
Michael Vink (MGH) 13
Andy Hagan (WWS) 10
Eric Marcotte (KAP) 10
Brendan Cole (ITM) 8
Joshua Scott (CLM) 8
Florian Barket (TSR) 8

Tour of Southland Stage 5 Wrap Up + Results

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