One down, one to go for Holt

DEAN KOZANIC/The Press

THIRD WIN: Melissa Holt powers to victory in the National Road Cycling Championships time trial at Leeston yesterday.

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Olympian Melissa Holt admits it would be "very exciting" to clinch a third consecutive national time trial-road race cycling double – but there is a "horrible hill" to conquer first.

The 33-year-old Waikato-Bay of Plenty rider secured the first leg with a comprehensive time trial win yesterday over world individual pursuit track champion Alison Shanks and newly naturalised New Zealander Linda Villumsen.

It was Holt's third time trial title in a row. She proclaimed it her best yet "because of the calibre" of her rivals in the 25km race against the clock.

She had little time to rest before the 123km women's road race – and a date with the precipitous Port Hills – today.

"It's a horrible climb; it just looks awful," she said after her time trial triumph. "I'm not going to pre-ride it, just to save my legs, because I do it seven times [today]."

Holt said the road event could be anyone's race. "It's going to be hard yakka going up that hill, but it's still a long way to the finish. To be honest, I've got no idea what will happen, but if I've got the legs to do the double, then I'll certainly take that."

Holt hailed the field as "the toughest I've ever had at a national championship. The only person of note that's missing is Cath Cheatley, if she's not riding in the road race."

That depth of competition made Holt's time trial victory even sweeter. She clocked 35min 51sec with Shanks (Otago) on 36:40 and Villumsen, a world championship time trial bronze medallist with Denmark last year, seven seconds slower than Shanks on the Lincoln University circuit.

"It was a bit of a head wind going out, which made for a very fast return home," Holt said. "I was hoping it would be fairly windy, because it separates the times a little more and makes it a little tough when the times aren't bulked together. They were good conditions for me."

Holt prefers the time trial over the road race and says she likes "the race against the clock".

"Even though you think that [yesterday] was a flat course and you just ride out as hard as you can and turn around and ride back as hard as you can, it was a little bit more technical, in that the wind was a factor."

Holt represented New Zealand on the road and the track at the last two Commonwealth Games and rode the Athens Olympics road race in 2004. She has competed in Ironman long-distance triathlon events in the past two years.

- © Fairfax NZ News