Cox almost upsets

Press, 1 June 1989, Page 42

Cox almost upsets

PA London A brave ride by Taranaki’s Blair Cox almost produced a big upset in the second stage of the Round Britain Milk Race yesterday. Cox and Great Britain’s Steve Farrell broke away soon after the start of the 122 miles from Bournemouth to Bristol which included the first real testing mountain climbs of this cycling classic. They forged further and further ahead, at one point opening up a gap of ten minutes.

But tiredness caught up with them and they were unable to maintain their challenge, and were reeled in by the main pack just a few miles from the finishing line. The effort proved too much for Cox who eventually finished last of the six New Zealand riders in 95th posi-

tion out of the field of 102 riders.

But his efforts still earned Cox, a last minute selection for the Kiwi team, three points and third place in the hot spot sprint series giving a boost to the team.

Although the Kiwis finished well down after the stage, only a few minutes separates most of the field so they are still well in contention.

The exception is Mike Griffiths who is holding up the tail nearly an hour behind the rest after his series of mishaps in the first stage which resulted in him being eliminated and then reinstated in the race.

The team manager, Peter Southart, said later: "It’s still very early days and team morale is very high.” New Zealand’s highest placed finisher was Tom

Bamford in 46th position. He was followed by Brian Fowler (66th), Gavin Stevens (76th), Chris Nicholson (83rd), Mike Griffiths (93rd and Blair Cox (95th). In the over-all classification, Bamford is in 45th position with Fowler (53rd), Stevens (71st), Nicholson (78th) Cox (95th) and Griffiths (102nd).

The New Zealand team is in 16th place out of 17 after the stage. The third stage was won by Keith Reynolds of the British professional PMS-Falcon team who took over the leader's yellow jersey. He broke away on the outskirts of Bristol to win from Spain’s Jesus SuarezCuevas with Steve Joughin of Britain in third place.

PMS-Falcon are the overall team leaders.