Bauer clings on to yellow jersey after tough climb

NZPA ©

Nelson cyclist Jack Bauer continued to cling on to the Tour of Southland's yellow jersey after a fighting finish in today's 134km sixth stage.

Bauer, 24, dragged himself up the gruelling climb on the Crown Range near Queenstown to retain the overall lead for a second day running, after finishing fourth in the stage which began at Lumsden.

At one stage Beijing Olympian Peter Latham had the yellow jersey on the road after he broke clear with Jeremy Yates, Australian Ben King and Auckland's Aaron Strong.

After stretching their advantage to over three minutes 30 seconds with 20km remaining, Yates pushed clear before pacing himself up the 3km of switchback climbs up the Crown Range to claim a superb victory on a stage he also won last year.

Strong was three seconds back, while Latham was 94 seconds adrift of Yates in third.

King of the Mountains leader King was dropped near Arrowtown, leaving Latham to urge his weary body up the climb with the chase group edging closer.

With the yellow jersey in jeopardy, Bauer leapt out of that group to finish fourth, only 46 seconds behind Latham, to retain the yellow jersey by 25 seconds.

Latham is second overall at 25 seconds while Bissel Pro teammate Jeremy Vennell is third at 27 seconds.

Early tour leader Heath Blackgrove, ninth today after dropping nearly three minutes to the winner, is fourth at 57 seconds.

Olympian Marc Ryan was 3min 20sec back in 18th today to be fifth overall 1min 14sec from the tour leader, but is expected to attack strongly tomorrow.

Bauer was surprised by how he got up the hills.

"I did not feel I had the ability to get up the hills and climb with the likes of Heath and Jeremy, so I am stoked," Bauer said.

Bauer, who has won nine times in Belgium this year, said he had secured his first professional contract with an English-based team but was sketchy about the details.

"I've only just signed so I know very little about them apart from how much they are paying me and when I start. That's all I need to know."

It was a top day for Yates, who overcame problems to get to the start line and again early in the race.

"This means a lot to me. I have had a lot harder road to get to this tour this year and so has the Enterprise team.

"Coming into the tour I was aiming for the general classification but we had our chances limited on that first day and had a few more nails in the coffin on the stage from Tuatapere." Latham said the initial plan was for him to launch Vennell for an attack on the Crown Range but he found himself in the break and in with a sniff of victory before his tank ran dry.

"It was a hard slog up the Devil's Staircase into that wind," Latham said.

"We had a decent gap on to the climb but going up it the lights went out and I was just hanging on by a thread."

American cyclist Floyd Landis improved six places to 29th overall but is more than 12 minutes behind the leader after coming 29th in today's stage, 3min 47sec behind Yates.

Tomorrow's seventh stage is 164km from Winton to Te Anau before the riders make their way back to Invercargill in two final stages on Saturday.