World track champion Hayden Godfrey showed his versatility when he sprinted to his maiden victory in the RaboPlus national club road cycling title near Nelson today. Godfrey, who won the omnium title at the International Cycling Union (UCI) World Track Championships last year, went with the break on the 176km race’s penultimate lap before outsprinting young Wellington rider Jack Bauer to take the championship in Upper Moutere.
This made it a clean sweep of road titles for the Subway Avanti team after Gordon McAuley won the national championships earlier in the year. Godfrey got some key help from team-mate Sam Horgan before he used all his experience to roll over Bauer to claim the win, while Horgan took out the under-23 honours.
“I’ve been second and third before but never been able to put it in the bag,” Godfrey said. “I was a bit unsure how I would go because I’ve putting my time into training and have not raced for a while.
“It’s great to win this for me and the Subway Avanti team,” he added. “It gives us real confidence going into the Tour of Southland and then we are also racing in a category two tour in China.”
Godfrey needed his team’s help after an early break featuring Bauer, Alex McGregor (Cycling Otago), David Ayre and George Bennett (both Star & Garter) who opened a gap of nearly three minutes.
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hayden Godfrey (Subway Avanti) | 4:28:32 |
| 2 | Jack Bauer (Port Nicholson Poneke) | 0:00:01 |
| 3 | Robin Reid (Star & Garter) | 0:00:02 |
| 4 | Heath Blackgrove (Timaru) | 0:00:08 |
| 5 | Alan Williams (Pegasus) | 0:01:17 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Horgan (Subway Avanti) | 4:28:51 |
| 2 | James Williamson (Subway Avanti) | 0:01:51 |
| 3 | Daniel Barry (Star & Garter Tasman) | 0:02:32 |
| 4 | Brad Carter (Hamilton City) | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
| 5 | James McCoy (Papanui) | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex McCrory-Bowick (Counties Manukau) | 1:39:40 |
| 2 | Dion Smith (North Harbour) | 0:00:01 |
| 3 | Nick Sutton (Stratford) | 0:00:02 |
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