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McCauley grabs yellow jersey for Zookeepers 31 January 2008 One of the main contenders for next week's Merida Bikes Ruapehu Cycle Classic has shown he is in top form, taking the yellow jersey in the opening stage of the Tour of Wellington this week. Trek Zookeepers began as they left off last year by taking the leader's yellow jersey in the opening stage of the Wellington Classic cycling race today. On a stage when a number of leading contenders kept their powder dry, the "energiser man" of New Zealand cycling, Gordon McCauley, showed there are still springs in his 36-year-old legs by winning the opening criterium, lasting just over an hour in Lower Hutt. The Zookeepers are defending the teams title and lead rider, Hayden Roulston is seeking to win the race for a third straight time this year. McCauley was part of a four-man breakaway and cannily sat on the back of a train containing Justin Kerr and Australians David Pell, a potential race winner, and Travis Meyer for about 45 minutes. On the last lap, he pulled the stops out to just edge AIS under-23 rider Meyer, and Pell from the Savings and Loans team. Hamilton's Kerr, second to McCauley in the national criterium championship last month, settled for fourth. McCauley said Meyer and Pell deserved to win. " The instruction was if we got in the break, we sat on the back especially if one of these two were there. "Unfortunately, both of them were there, both GC (general classification) contenders. "Justin is really strong as well . . and I couldn't ride with them and drag them up the road, so instructions were to sit on and try and take the time bonuses off them. "In all honesty, both of them (Meyer and Pell) deserved to win more than I did." McCauley said it was nice to have won an international criterium and wear the tour's yellow jersey again. "There's probably not too many years left in me at top level so to get even one UCI (International Cycling Union stage) win means a lot." He was not too confident that he would be holding onto the leader's yellow jersey. " You always start as you intend to finish, we would love to have the jersey at end of the tour -- I would be somewhat surprised if it was me but you never know.' "Hopefully, (if) I'm climbing well (it will be me), but that's generally not the case with me -- anything more than a railway bridge and I'm in a bit of trouble. "We'll give it go, we'll try and defend the jersey, that's why we are here." Pell, a contender last year who won the king of the mountains classification and was third in the sprints, said this year's race had a number of strong teams. "Last year, it was between the Zookeepers and Savings and Loans but today, we haven't seen a lot of GC contenders show their hands (such as Jeremy Yates from Subway, Tabak's Bernard Sulzberger and Roulston)." The tour moves to the Wairarapa for stage two tomorrow which offers a 133.5km stage from Featherston to Masterton after which a clearer picture of the leading contenders might emerge. Leading results from the first stage of the five-day Wellington cycling tour today (New Zealand unless stated): Lower Hutt criterium, 1hr plus three laps (approximately 40km): Gordon McCauley (Trek Zookeepers) 1hr 10min 21.695secs 1, Travis Meyer (Australia, AIS) at same time 2, David Pell (Australia, Savings and Loans) ast 3, Justin Kerr (Delmaine Foods) ast 4, Joel Pearson (Australia, Savings and Loans) at 42sec 5, Mark Langlands (Delmaine Foods) ast 6, Joseph Chapman (Delmaine Foods) ast 7, Aaron Anderson (Handy Rentals) ast 8, Bernard Sulzberger (Australia, Tabak) ast 9, Shem Rogers (Exodus Gym) ast 10.

News Countdown to 2XU Ruapehu Cycle Classic 19 January 2010 Saturday, 6 February, 2010 marks the date for the event touted as "the great little race", the 2XU Ruapehu Cycle Classic. Back to work in 2010 10 January 2010 Happy New Year to everyone out there from the team at Media Unlimited! 2XU Ruapehu Cycle Classic 2009 24 February 2009 It was another great weekend on the North Island's Central Plateau as 400 cyclists converged on the alpine village of Ohakune for the 3rd 2XU Ruapehu Cycle Classic. Top Kiwi Cyclists join the field 20 January 2009 NZ Women's rep Toni Bradshaw and top male Aaron Strong will take the start at the 2009 2XU Ruapehu Cycle Classic Happy New Year!! 5 January 2009 We'd like to extend you a warm welcome to 2009, and with just over 4 weeks until the 3rd 2XU Ruapehu Cycle Classic, we have 3 more winners of $100 of 2XU gear to announce.

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