Stage 4 - Invercargil-Tuatapere:
It was another hard day at Tour of Southland for the BISSELL Pro Cycling Team. Stage 4 was the first race of the second double day of the tour. The morning consisted of 88 kilometers of racing in gale force winds, but at least it wasn’t raining.
Crosswinds destroyed the field in the opening 20km. All four of the BISSELL boys made the split. The lead group split time after time, and the race weaved its way through the fields of Southland. A group of 6 riders went clear at 30km to go and stuck to the finish. A crash involving Pete Latham with 5km to go made for a hard finale. Omer Kem and Cody O'Reilly rode with the GC leader's team to keep the breakaway in check and made sure that Jeremy Vennell and Pete Latham didn’t lose their GC position. After stage 4, BISSELL had riders sitting in 4th and 9th in the GC and was the 2nd team overall. All the guys finished safely in the main field in Tuatapere and prepared for the afternoon stage from Tuatapere to Winton.
Stage 5 - Tuatapere-Winton:
Stage 5 was a 101km affair down the west coast of the south island of New Zealand. The gale force winds from the morning were still blowing, and a different race direction caused for an extremely fast stage. Crosswinds and tailwinds wreaked havoc on an already tired field.
A split in the field around the 10km mark put Jeremy Vennell and Pete Latham in the front group of 12 riders. BISSELL Pro Cycling Team Director, Glen Mitchell, knew that this split would be decisive in the overall general classification. A strong attack by Pete Latham dropped the GC leader from the front group, and set up an attack by Jeremy Vennell to solo in for 4th place. He was able to gain valuable time on the other GC riders.
While a stage win would have been great, it was more important for Jeremy and Pete to weaken the riders who are also challenging for the GC. This tactic paid off with Vennell moving into 3rd overall and Latham moving to 8th. BISSELL Pro Cycling dropped to 3rd team overall, but everyone is behind Jeremy Vennell for the GC win.
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