Stockwell second

Press, 20 October 1980, Page 24

Stockwell second

Special corresp<indenllnveTcargill|< Though it fielded one of its largest contingents in the 24-yearj, history of the Southland tour J ( Canterbury cycling this year;, again had to look to the ever-t] green Blair Stockwell for its bestli returns. Stockwell, aged 31 i December]) hut still unquestionably one ofij the country's outstanding road-; ( men, finished second to Anthony; Cuff in the Rothmans three-dayl; tour which ended on Saturday,;, the pair of them snatching the!; tour from the sole Australian en-il trant. Brian Boswell, in the final;; Jtage. |1 The spirited Boswell rode awayl; for sixth and seventh stage vlc-h tories, and he had the tour in his; grasp when the field started the; final haul from Gore to In-i vercargill. ; But when Stockwell, Cuff and]; the Healing national champion,; Roger Sumich, broke away on-i; stage, Boswell was faced with an i agonising decision. He could hide; his time and hope the field would pick up that trio; or he':

could mike his owe individual effort. . - x Boswell chose the latter course, and there was no doubt that- his positive attitude was well justified, for the three men - in the break took the medals at the’ national championships, and the activite of the bunch durting the three days hardly justified anyone thinking they would; close the gap. So Boswell chased, made contact, and just as quickly lost it , on the first hill. A spent force ■ then. he was subsequently blasted out by the bunch and fin-1 isbed.out of the major placings;! ;but he earned many plaudits for] !at least taking the bit between; [uls teeth. i ! If Cuff attracted suitable rec-! ;ognition for his first major tour; i victory, then Stockwell was not; ifar behind, and he indicated very iclearly that there are plenty of Itours. and many significant reisuits left in his legs yet. Sumich was the unlucky man,: ; for he punctured during the i break, and was relegated to finishing with the bunch — and

third pl?*'e over-all — after that mishap. Had the main bunch showed any Initiative, he may well have been up there challenging Cuff, for the “chasers got within little more than a minute of the two aggressors as Invercargill loomed near. But then the effort, such as it was, evaporated, and Stockwell stormed home clear of Cuff, with the bunch Cmin distant. One of the past winners. Chris Hogan, also of Christchurch, surprised with his sixth placing. Hogan has not had a happy last .12 months — last year, in the ; Southland tour, he . hardly got out of the neutralised section—- — he was with the right breaks i for most of the tour, and was ' one of the few in the bunch who i worked consistently in the final ; stage. Other riders from Canterbury ; had their moments. Brent Kiticher went with Boswell in his I seventh stage break; Murray 'Steele was briefly joint-leader : before failin’ to the pace; and (Russell Xant showed up intermittcntly.

Pau! Flattery was always there, for a top-10 placing, and so was John Hughes, who put in a gallant chase on the first day; but the top placings went to the established riders.

Stockwell was 4fls down on Cuff, Sumich was at 3min 225. and he was followed by Steve Cox (3min 29s down), Vern Hanaray fat Smin 425) and Hogan (4min 7s). Hanary won the King of the Mountains section, yet again, but his 55 points were a mere two clear of Stockwell, who made up a vast amount of ground in the final day. Sumich had 34 points and Boswell 30.

The sprint ace was the consistent Sumich 142 points), with the willing Dean Clifford scoring 31, Cuff 25 and Nant 17.