Aaron Strong and Alicia Evans are on a quest to win the 20th edition of New Zealand’s BDO Tour of Northland gran fondo stage race that started 18 March in Whangarei. With two of four stages complete, both riders lead their general classification rankings and are proudly wearing leader’s yellow.
Alicia Evans wasted no time in claiming her yellow jersey. On Stage 1, 104km from Whangarei to the beautiful Northland town of Russell, she was the first women across the finish line with a 55 second gap back to second place Bryony Botha. On Stage 2, 89km from Pahia to Opononi, Evans continued her winning ways, earning another victory and gaining an additional 3 minutes on Botha.
After loosing almost two minutes in Stage 1 to winner Matthew Wilson, Aaron Strong powered to a third place finish in Stage 2 and, more importantly, finished 4 minutes ahead of Wilson. It earned Strong the general classification lead by 39 seconds over Mark Shaw and 1 minute 35 seconds over teammate Glen Carabine. Wilson dropped to fourth overall, 2 minutes 9 seconds behind Strong.
250 cyclists are participating the 360km event which wraps up back in Whangarei on Saturday after two more stages, Friday’s Opononi to Dargaville stage along the coastal Kauri Bush Trail and the final stage from Dargaville to Whangarei on Saturday.
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