Gardner retains lead into the final day of SBS Bank Tour of Southland

Dan Gardner has survived a furious day of racing to retain the orange jersey heading into the final day of the 2023 SBS Bank Tour of Southland.

The Auckland-based Englishman missed out on the decisive break on the penultimate day of racing from Invercargill to Gore, but he and his young team managed to limit their losses as eventual stage winner Kane Richards tried desperately to attack his way back into contention.

With the sun on their beaks and little wind to speak of, the peloton bore down throughout the 151 kilometre stage, eventually finishing 40 minutes ahead of schedule and averaging nearly 48kmh for the stage.

“I’m relieved to get that one done,” Gardner, of team PRV-Pista Corsa, said.

“Controlling 100 strong bike riders is a tough ask and eventually a few guys slipped away [which] we weren’t too happy with. We had to reassess the plan and get to work on the front,” he said.

“We had a few teams on our side, including Central Benchmakers-Willbike because they also missed out on the break and then PowerNet helped out with the common goal of bringing that break back.”

A 13-strong raid managed to edge out past a 1min advantage for much of the stage, featuring a number of riders with general classification ambitions.

Australian professional Richards (Couplands-Booths Logistics) broke away on the Broughton St hill climb and went solo across the line for his first stage win in Southland at his fourth attempt.

He finished ahead of Quality Foods Southland teammates Boris Clark and Regan Gough for a welcome victory after two runner-up placings, including Wednesday’s Remarkables stage.

“I’ve been trying hard, finally the stars have aligned and I got one,” Richards, who also won the Most Combative award for the stage, said.

“There were a lot of guys chasing from behind, but lucky for us there were quite a few motivated riders in the break. It managed to be a good combination with enough motivation to get some time back.”

Oxford Edge’s Arthur Meyer, one of two Frenchmen in the race, is second in the general classification behind Gardner, with a 35-second deficit, just 1sec ahead of Clark.

Joe Cooper (Central Benchmakers-Willbike), in fourth place overall, leads the over 35 classification, with Camden Feint (Oxford Edge) leading the under 23 classification.

Nick Kergozou (Transport Engineering Southland-Deep South) spent a big day in the break consolidating his lead in the Sprint Ace jersey, while Max Campbell (C Brown Builders- Olphert Contracting) also looks to have locked up the King of the Mountains classification.

Quality Foods Southland has a slim lead in the Teams Classification.

Only 93sec separates the top 10 riders as they head into a 13km individual time trial and the final 70km stage from Winton to Invercargill tomorrow.

Gardner, who finished third in the Remarkables stage and won the Bluff stage the following day, will again be looking to his young Auckland and Cambridge teammates to guide him safely to Gala St tomorrow afternoon.

“I’m not comfortable at all, so I’m going to keep racing all the way to the line. Anything can happen in Southland, this race always springs a few surprises.”