Bluff Hill is one of the most famous climbs in New Zealand cycling and it didn’t disappoint on Thursday, with Southland’s Corbin Strong claiming his second stage win of the 2020 SBS Bank Tour of Southland.
The 20-year-old world points race champion has ridden the punchy climb above the port town plenty of times, and he was welcomed home by Motupōhue with a cosy blanket of fog as he ground his way into a narrow overall lead with three stages remaining in this year’s race.
The PowerNet rider, who also won the bunch sprint into Te Anau on Tuesday, edged out 2016 winner Aaron Gate (Black Spoke) and defending champion Michael Vink (Transport Engineering-Talleys) to take a 9sec overall lead from Vink, with 2013 winner James Oram (Black Spoke) at 15sec.
“Before this tour started this is one stage I noted down and thought I could perform well in and to pull it off was pretty special,” Strong said at the end of the 157km stage from Invercargill to Bluff.
After his superb climb up the Remarkables yesterday, 19-year-old Reuben Thompson was part of a 20-strong breakaway group which headed up the road early and included most of the heavy hitters in this year’s race.
As he desperately tried to hold onto the yellow jersey, he received admirable protection from his Vet4Farm teammate Mark Stewart, but as the raiding party approached Invercargill with Bluff Hill on the horizon, the pressure told and his defence came to an abrupt end.
“Everyone knew it was going to be crosswinds today and poor old Reuben had a target on his back in yellow and with a lot of riders wanting to see some crosswind action,” Strong said.
“As soon as we turned the corner it was into the gutter and it was all go from the start. Reuben had a really gutsy ride, he was there for all of 140km of the stage and then he unfortunately fell victim to the crosswinds, but it was an extremely gutsy ride from him and I’ve got a lot of respect for how he rode today. I’ve got the same target on my back tomorrow so hopefully I can fight another day and be on the right end of the splits.”
