Tour of Southland is Roulston’s lap of honour

Two-time Olympic medalist Hayden Roulston finished fourth at the 60th Tour of Southland to put a lid on a career that will be remembered as one of New Zealand’s best

A decade after his last Tour of Southland title, Hayden had hoped this year might bring his fifth victory and a fairytale ending to his time in the saddle. 

“Tour of Southland is New Zealand’s number one cycling race and I felt it would be the perfect occasion for me to finish my career,” said the 35-year-old, who competed in this year’s tour as Team PlaceMakers lead rider.

Tour Manager Bruce Ross said it was special to have a rider of Hayden’s calibre in the tour.

“He developed a lot of his talents competing in this event and I think it’s quite special to see him have his swansong here,” said Bruce. “He rode very well throughout and certainly showed his quality.”

Hayden was joined in the PlaceMakers team by Reon Nolan (Christchurch), Richard Lawson (Christchurch), Scott Thomas (North Shore), Frazer Hewett (Invercargill), Anton O’Connell (Cambridge) and Tom Sexton (Invercargill).

Bruce said that the team’s young riders benefited from racing alongside Hayden.

“Those guys in and around him all rode very well too. Speaking to them, they said it was great to be in the same team and that they learnt a lot from him, which will no doubt help them in the future.”

Team PlaceMakers finished sixth with a time of 63:12:46, competing in a field that featured a number of international riders and Olympians, including eventual winner Auckland’s Aaron Gate.

Gate, riding for Team Creation Signs – L&M Group Ricoh, powered through the tour’s grueling 831km in a time of 20:47:49 – more than five minutes ahead of Roulston.

A patient ride saw him claim the yellow jersey with a Stage 5 victory, before putting in some strong work to ensure he retained it until the finish. It’s the first time he has won the tour.

Fantastic anniversary event

With the Tour celebrating its 60th anniversary, 12 former winners were invited to help commemorate the occasion.

“It was great to hear some of the stories from past tours,” said Bruce. “The event itself was fantastic, too. We had a new leader almost every day and the level of racing was very good.

“I’ve been involved in the tour for more than 40 years and I reckon this was definitely one of the better ones I’ve seen.”