Avanti Plus Bike Shop, Whangarei, Northland

This 118km race in the Wairarapa, goes up the now infamous 400m climb of Admiral’s Hill, also used in the Men’s Tour of Wellington. As part of the National Points Series, the field was strong and dominated by two teams: Subway-Avanti, and the new Enterprise team. With attacks for much of the race, and after several significant climbs, it was somewhat surprising that the front main bunch was mostly together at the start of the final climb. Having had a month fighting off a vague virus and generally being off form, I was glad to be feeling stronger again. I managed to climb fairly well, and secured 9th place by coming 2nd out of a small group sprint up the last steep section (14%) of Admiral’s Hill. This gave me my fourth top 10 finish in the national points series.