Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Oatly) will be walking away from the Cycling New Zealand Road National Championships with two titles, completing the sweep on Friday with a solo victory on the uphill finish of the combined elite women and under-23 road race.
The 23-year-old had already defended her elite women's time trial title in wet and windy conditions on Thursday, before riding off the front in the final lap of the road race.
"My teammate Henry (Henrietta Christie) was amazing all day, attacking, putting everyone in the box in the right moment and gave me a lot of confidence and just told me to go," said Cadzow in a statement from Cycling New Zealand.
Niamh Fisher-Black (Lidl-Trek) was second, 24 seconds back, and Kate McCarthy took third in the 117.6km women’s road race which unfolded over five laps of a circuit, punctuated by a climb. Last year's winner, Ella Wyllie (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) came over the Timaru finish line in fourth, 31 seconds back from Cadzow.
Fisher-Black, McCarthy and Wyllie had all gone off in pursuit of Cadzow but it was with a powerful show of force on the climb that the EF Education-Oatly rider held her ground and continued to turn around her start to the season – which included a crash on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under.
"Winning two titles has not really sunk in yet," said Cadzow. "It is pretty incredible. I had a bit of a hard time in the summer so I didn’t expect to come away with this one this time."
Rhylee Akeroyd (Meridian Blue p/b 99 Bikes) claimed the under-23 title after coming over the line 11th in the combined race. Teammate Kirsty Watts was second in the category and Ava Maddison (Black Magic pb Tineli) was third.
"It feels amazing. It’s what I came here to do," said Akeroyd, who started her race season in Australia with ProVelo Super League's opening round at SA Kick It and is aiming for a place at the World Championships in her last year in the U23 category.
"It’s been a pretty rough last 12 months for me. Last year I was standing on the sidelines watching this race and unsure if I would ever race my bike again so to be here today and win my first national jersey is amazing."
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