Day Five, Stage 9: Ohakune to Turangi – 84km

Report by Mat Fletcher

This morning’s route goes from Ohakune and climbs steadily to National Park over a 40 km stretch. National Park is at 925mtrs and Ohakune is 400 mtrs. Turning right at National Park the run is all down hill until the climb over Pihanga saddle which is a 4km climb up to 7% in some places. Quite a brutal beast when the legs are sore!

The morning was rain. It was cold as well and I thought charming – this is not going to be much fun today. One of the elderly statesmen made an announcement and suggested that the kids should behave until the first of the 2 sprints sections on this stage which was a really good idea. We all rolled at 30km into a hideous head wind with driving rain, sprint point done and hammer on. My legs were wrecked from my individual TT efforts earlier in the week, plus the climb up Fields Track yesterday. They just didnt want to go around at all.  I sat in and hung on until Pihanga. The kids smashed it and got away. The run down the other side was great as it descents about 500 mtrs and then it is flat into Turangi. I was grovelling by the time I got to the van for lunch and I was wondering how on earth I would go on the afternoon stage, as this has another crippling climb half way through it. John hung onto the bunch in front of me and finished 58 seconds behind the stage winner. I was 2.33 back.

Stage 9 results:

Mat: + 2.33 36th place
John: + 0.58 20th place

Day Five, Stage 10: Turangi to Taupo – 49km

This stage follows State Highway 1 from Turangi to Taupo and is scenic as it follows the lake for a large part of it. It is punctuated by the Hatepe Hill which is a 3km climb at 6 % gradient – not really what I needed right now. We set off again and I tucked myself in to try to preserve myself for the Hatepe Hill. The pace went on occasionally but mainly sat between 40 – 45kph. We got to the Hatepe Hill and the kids smashed it again. A bit of a theme is happening with this, but that is the challenge of hilly courses. I went up the hill ok and kept myself together. John slipped back a bit due to his morning’s efforts. I formed a group of 10 riders at the top of the hill and then we started the chase. At about 15km from Taupo we were caught by a group that John was in and there were now 25 odd riders chasing 15. It was reasonably flat and the pace was wound up. It appeared that we weren’t going to catch them and I though about a long break away coming into town. We passed the 1km to go sign and by this time I ended up on the front. I punched it as hard as I could and got a good break on the bunch. It was up hill at about 2% and I stayed out of the saddle in animal gear as I didn’t want to get swamped over the line. I was caught by 3 guys just on the line but put a large gap into the rest so that was good. I ended up down 58 seconds. I seem to be going better in the afternoon stages than the morning stages so tomorrow will be interesting because it is a single stage of 95km. We had a swim at the Taupo Hot Springs Spa as the old pistons are well and truly broken. 3 more stages to go. My aim is to finish the race and reflect back on what it is like to ride in a tour.   We both picked up some GC spots so that was good.

Stage 10 results:

Mat: + 0.58 20th place. 36th in overall GC. 14th in grade
John: + 1.00 24th place. 29th in overall GC. 7th in grade