Kate McIlroy leads Nelson Tour de Femme

An outstanding opening day hill climb tour has given Wellington triathlete Kate McIlroy the lead in the three-day Nelson Tour de Femme cycling tour.

McIlroy, recently converted to triathlon after a stellar track career dogged by injury, finished 30 seconds up on her TriNZ teammate Teresa Adam (Auckland) in the 11km time trial up Takaka Hill. Third was Marina Duvnjak (Auckland), a further thirty seconds adrift.

The trio now lead the tour on general classification, although Nelson veteran Karen Fulton fought back in the 50km multi-lap stage two circuit to take line honours and pick up a 7sec time bonus.

Emma Petersen (Te Awamutu) and Jeannie Kuhajek (Nelson) clocked the same time, with Petersen setting herself up well for the sprint title after dominating all three sprints and bagging 28 points.

Day two starts with a 70km loop from Brightwater, through the Spooners and Reay Saddles, followed by a 19km individual time trial in the afternoon.

Results:

General Classification:

Kate McIlroy (TriNZ) 1hr 53min 05sec 1, Teresa Adam (TriNZ) at 34sec 2, Marina Duvnjak (Auckland) at 1min 02sec 3, Julia Grant (Christchurch) at 1:17 4, Emma Crum, (Auckland) at 1.34 5.

Sprint Ace:

Emma Petersen (Te Awamutu) 28 points 1, Sophie Williamson (Alexandra) 13 2,Tracy Best (Lower Hutt) 10 3, Jeannie Kuhajek (Nelson) 6 4, Sophie Corbidge (TriNZ) 3 5.

Queen of the Mountains: McIlroy 7 points 1, Adam 5 2, Duvnjak 3 3.

- NZPA