The approach of the remnants of Cyclone Dovi brought howling winds to New Zealand’s north island leading to last minute route changes for the Road National Championships that eliminated the pivotal major climb of the road races. Deteriorating conditions then also led to the men's event being cut short mid-race.
Olivia Ray (Human Powered Health) first took out the elite women’s national title on the new flatter rolling circuit, which was just Sunday morning laid out as an alternate course after trees and power lines fell across the roads of the potentially race altering Maungakawa climb. That was a change implemented across both the women's and men's race that played into the hands of the sprinters rather than the likes of defending champions Georgia Williams (BikeExchange-Jayco) and George Bennett (UAE Team Emirates), both able climbers.
In the later men’s event, with a tree down on the road and deteriorating conditions, a decision was made while the racing was underway to cut the event short by two laps. That played into the hands of the early break rider James Fouche (Bolton Equities Black Spoke Pro Cycling) and the 2019 winner swept over the line well clear of his rivals to take a second national title.
“I attacked by the second lap in and no one followed so I just put my head down and raced each lap like it was my last,” said Fouche in an interview on the race livestream, which had been meant to start at 11am local time to catch the last two laps of the men's race but had to be quickly put on early to catch the unexpectedly early run to the finish line. “There was a tree on the road the lap before and I got blown off nearly a few times so it was one of the wild days I’ve had out there but it was good fun.”
Fouche's team, who had the strongest numbers in the race, were determined to have a rider out the front at the end of every lap after a pre-race warning from the President of the Commissaires Panel, Zach Prendergast, that if the race was stopped and couldn't be restarted the results would be declared based on the positions on the previous lap. In the end the peloton did get a little warning the race would come to a finish two laps early but by then it was too late to reel Fouche in.
“There was a bit of luck involved, but also we had the numbers, we had the strength of the boys," said Fouche. "I reckon we had the strongest team out there and we could win in any way possible, with sprinters, breakaway, late breakaway. The pressure was on us and it was certainly good to be able to deliver.”
Teammate Tom Sexton was off the front of the group and took second when the race ended after four laps of the 22.5km circuit, while 19-year-old Laurence Pithie (Groupama-FDJ Continental Team) led the lead bunch over the line to take the U23 jersey.
Conditions were blustery for the women’s race, but while the echelons formed and riders battled the wind they were able to go through till the end of the full adjusted race distance of 90km. However, being the first race of the day, they did face a particularly quick re-calibration of race plans.
“I’ve been awake since 3 a.m.,” said Williams before the race started. ” I just couldn’t get back to sleep and I was just thinking what are they going to do? Are they going to cancel it? Are we racing?”
Sprinter Ray, before the start said she was hoping they would get through the whole distance, with her job being to sit in as much as possible in the hope she could finish it off on the line on a course that all of a sudden looked much more suited to her strengths.
“The whole year I’ve been training for climbs, 30 minutes before the race we were doing flat, or rolling, so it played out well for me,” said Ray after taking the jersey emblazoned with the silver fern.
Ray won the sprint from a break of six, charging early and with unassailable strength, while Ally Wollaston (NXTG by Experza) was next over the line to take the U23 title and then it was Williams, who won a fourth elite time trial title on Friday.
