Saturday, 20 January 2018: Englishman Ian Bibby has won the New Zealand Cycle Classic fourth stage, while Robert Stannard has taken hold of the yellow jersey.
Embed from Getty ImagesEnglishman Ian Bibby has won the New Zealand Cycle Classic fourth stage.
Bibby, with the JLT Condor team, completed Saturday's 152km hilly trek from Masterton to Admiral Hill in four hours, eight minutes and nine seconds in the steaming Wairarapa.
Team Skoda Racing's Robert Stannard finished second, while Australian Cycling Academy's Michael Potter came in third.
Bibby's win came just a day after JLT Condor teammate Matthew Gibson won the third stage.
"The climb before Admiral Hill was super tough - it was really steep and then when we went into Admiral we had a huge fight to climb up," Bibby said.
"We just worked hard to try and hold on, and we did - just."
Under-23 rider Nick Reddish had won the first-stage sprint, while Australian Cameron Scott edged out a bunch sprint to triumph on day two.
As a result of Saturday's racing in hot conditions, Stannard has collected the yellow jersey from Reddish with one day of cycling remaining.
Sunday's racing involves a 120km circuit around Masterton.
