2024 SBS Bank Tour Of Southland Stage Five Wrap

7/11/2024 - He didn’t get the Bluff Hill stage win that he was after, but local rider Josh Burnett has strengthened his overall position after the fifth stage of the 2024 SBS Bank Tour of Southland.

Burnett and his Creation Signs-MitoQ-NZ Cycling Project team opted for a more defensive ride on the 154km stage from Invercargill to Bluff after Marshall Erwood went down in a nasty crash with half a dozen other riders 30km into the race.

After impressing on the Remarkables climb on Wednesday, Daniel Whitehouse (Quality Foods Southland) pressed home his advantage, making the decisive split of the day and claiming the win in a stage every New Zealand cyclist would love to have amongst their palmares.

“This was the day that I earmarked from the start - Bluff is Southland and Southland is Bluff,” Whitehouse said.

The Christchurch rider, who was second on the Mossburn to Remarkables stage, had the words ‘hope’ and ‘wire’ written on his hands in homage to Lyttleton band The Eastern’s song of the same name.

The song speaks to “heart and mind” and the Kiwi DIY spirit and Whitehouse showed all those characteristics in a fast day of racing before beating William Heffernan (IBuilt) and Burnett across the Motupōhue finish line after one of New Zealand cycling’s most iconic climbs..

“That was what I was thinking about during the stage. I really wanted this,” Whitehouse said.

“I was a little bit disappointed with (the Remarkables). All credit to Josh, I would have been close but he really rode well and I felt like I could have done better. That really lit the fire, this morning I was watching the highlights and when I felt it go down the road I was like ‘this is really on here’.”

Burnett rode a 1sec personal best for the Bluff climb, only a few seconds shy of the Strava record held by former winner James Piccoli, of Canada, and extended his general classification lead to 1min 41sec, along with the King of the Mountain jersey and more time in the team classification.

“Obviously I would have loved to win the stage and that was part of the goal coming into today, but I can’t be too unhappy after the big crash at the start and things did get out of control for a while,” he said.

“The boys did super good riding the front, we were always there in the splits and a massive shoutout to Marshall Erwood after coming back from a massive crash. All credit to Dan, he definitely deserved it today after being so strong on the Remarkables and then being out front all day today.”

Australian rider Declan Trezise (Transport Engineering Southland-Deep South) extended his lead over Erwood in the under 23 classification, while Bailey O’Donnell again made the early break and now holds a 39 point lead in the Sprint Ace category.

Southland’s Luke Macpherson continued his stubborn defence of the over 35 Silver jersey.

After three days of Southland sunshine, weather conditions are set to change dramatically for Friday’s 151km stage from Invercargill to Gore, with steady - and at times quite heavy - rain forecast for throughout the day.

Not that Burnett will be spending too much time refreshing the MetService app.

“Wet or dry, it doesn’t really matter. It looks warm still, the bunch will maybe be a bit slower and sketchy and you have to watch for a few more things, but it’s nothing we aren’t used to.”

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