George Jackson, Aaron Gate and Kiaan Watts after stage two of the NZ Cycle Classic in Martinborough. Photo: Supplied: NZ Cycle Classic
The New Zealand National team finished first and second on the second stage of the New Zealand Cycle Classic in Wairarapa.
Kiaan Watts won the 136km stage in 2 hours 56mins 21 seconds with teammate George Jackson second, after yellow jersey holder and teammate Aaron Gate lead out the pair to the finish line with 150m to go - repaying them for the hard they had done yesterday, to put him in the yellow jersey.
"Today couldn't have gone much better, to be honest, from the New Zealand team's side of it," said Watts.
"We kept that break on a fairly short leash and were happy with the numbers … we had three guys up there at one time …yeah, we were really happy with it. It was similar conditions to last year, so we knew roughly what to do."
The stage began in Masterton and finished in Martinborough.
I's the second year in a row that Watts had won this stage and felt there were similarities with what happened last year.
"It was the same wind direction as last year, but it was a lot stronger. It wasn't too bad for us because we rode the front for the whole stage."
New Zealand National team's George Jackson, Aaron Gate and Kiaan Watts following today's spectacular victory in Martinborough for stage two o