Stage 6 & 7 - Up and down into the wind

Lots of action on yesterday's Stage 6. After 100k of rather uneventful racing up towards Queenstown we hit the "Wall" with 20K to go and a little selection (including the yellow, Mike and I) was made but 30 or so guys rolled back on after 10K. The break of 4 was up the road and we raced for 4th place. Mike put the hammer down on the uphill slopes to the Crown Range to finish 7th while I barely squeezed into the Top 10 with 10th place. Beautiful scenery, too. Mike now sits 15h GC.

Today's Stage 7 was another 160K trek to Te Anau, in the Western Hills of the South Island. A break including some big guns and GC threats went off 5K in and we never saw them again. The field (incl. the Yellow) was desperately chasing but to no avail. Mike and I made it over the top of the big climb at 115K with the Yellow and the Bissel Boys and Bauer (yellow) was flat out riding 45kph trying to catch the dangerous break with 40K to go. Kevin and Greg rolled up to our group with another 20 or so and suddenly all 4 of us were in a 30-40 strong group 2minutes behind the Blackgrove/Landis break. Unfortunately, Mike missed the split when Bauer (again) attacked and rode away with 2nd place GC guy and Yates to catch the leaders. They never did and Blackgrove is back in Yellow now!

We ended up 20th, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd on the Stage - a unique and great thing for the Jackson Plumbing Team and our Sponsor here.