Black Spoke's Luke Mudgway praised his team-mates for their selfless riding to get him into the perfect position to take stage four of the New Zealand Cycle Classic.
Luke Mudgway wins stage four of the 2023 NZ Cycle Classic. Photo: Dave Lintott/Lintott Photography
Continuing his team's dominance of the event, Mudgway won the final sprint of the stage held around the scenic Miramar Peninsular on Saturday.
He outsprinted Lewis Bower and Kiaan Watts to the line, with team-mate James Oram just behind in eighth to retain the leader's yellow jersey.
At the finish line in Miramar, Mudgway was quick to thank his team.
"We had Logan (Currie) ride the front all day, which kept all the riders in check, and which meant I could sit on," he said.
"We had a couple of riders get sick, so we were down to four and he did basically three riders' jobs today. Then coming into the finish, James and Josh did a textbook lead out…
"I hardly had to sprint really, I just came around last corner and went as hard as I could and put my hands up."
Mudgway said it was exhilarating to race in front of the large, vocal crowd that lined the hills, tight corners and seaside roads.
The stage set off at pace as three riders quickly took a 20-second lead, with the group eventually becoming four.
The quartet of Campbell Pithie, Ari Scott, Genke Yamamoto and Dan Garner drove hard into a strong southerly head wind on the back part of the course and over the steep short hill climb, but were eventually absorbed back into the peloton.
With one lap to go, the group was altogether and it was another measured performance from Black Spoke to put them in the best position when it counted.
The fifth and final stage would be in Lambton Quay in central Wellington on Sunday.