The 24th edition of New Zealand’s 100km classic Le Race saw Green Monkey Velo teammates fly down the road solo to claim the top podium steps in both the men’s and women’s events, with Sharlotte Lucas also winning Le Race for a fourth time on Saturday 18 March.

Teenager Jonty Harris, 19 years-old, won the men’s race by soloing off the front early to finish in 2:43:00, 41 seconds ahead of teammate Finnegan Murphy (2:43:41) and 1:19 over Kees Duyvesteyn (2:44:19).

“I took off to see how far I would get, but ended up getting a bit further than I expected,” the teenager told Stuff.co.nz afterwards. “I am leaving on Monday [for Belgium], so this is a fantastic confidence booster. I have never raced in Europe before, so it will be a pretty cool experience.” 

It had been six years since Sharlotte Lucas last won Le Race, but she claimed her fourth victory with style, wearing a bright pink Green Monkeys jersey as she crossed under the finish banner solo in 2:57:08. She was just over two minutes up on Josie Wilcox (2:59:11), with Matilda Raynolds (3:04:42) taking third place.

Over 500 cyclists participated and welcomed the return of the classic race from Christchurch to Akaroa after years of struggling through numerous perils. Last held in 2021, Le Race was cancelled due to the pandemic in 2022, affected by terrorist attacks in 2019 and threatened by devastating wildfires in 2017.

Complete Le Race results HERE.

Photo Credit: Green Money Velo, Le Race

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