Winning weekend for SUBWAY® Pro Cycling's Horgan and Lovegrove

A successful weekend of racing saw SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Sam Horgan win the Taupo to Napier Classic cycle race on Saturday followed by his team mate Nick Lovegrove winning the Wanganui Cycling Grand Prix on Sunday.

Horgan and Lovegrove rode both North Island events as they build up towards the Powernet Tour of Southland that starts late next month.

SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Simon Binney was fifth across the line in Napier, 41 seconds behind Horgan with Lovegrove ninth and three minutes behind Horgan’s winning time of three hours 47 minutes and 13 seconds for the 140 kilometre race.

Horgan was “thrilled” with the win and said it was another “confidence booster” as he continues his build-up to the Southland Tour.

“Our SUBWAY® Pro Cycling team performed brilliantly,” he said. “It makes it easier to win when you’re in such a strong team.”

SUBWAY® Pro Cycling’s Scott Creighton was in an early break and after 30 kilometres Horgan made his move and rode across to join Creighton in what proved to be the race’s defining move.

Creighton dropped off the leaders which included Josh Page, Dion Smith and Aaron Strong and it came down to a sprint finish which saw Horgan just hold off Page for the win. 

Lovegrove and Horgan were joined by Steve Stannard and top New Zealand junior road rider Dion Smith from Auckland in a four strong break that had opened up a large gap by the end of the 88 kilometre Wanganui Cycling Grand Prix race on Sunday.

With a quarter of the race to go Horgan and Lovegrove put the pressure on with Horgan attacking first, followed by Lovegrove.

“After the fourth attack I got away, got a bit of a gap, and thought, this is it, this is the winning move,” Lovegrove said.

Lovegrove then went into time trial mode over the final 30 kilometres to win in two hours, 21 minutes and 18 seconds with Smith out sprinting Horgan to claim second, one minute and 33 seconds later.

“I was really happy to get a win under my belt after recently getting back from overseas. It shows the training I did in France was good and has me on track for the races in the next couple of months. Sam rode really well. We had talked about how we wanted to race and followed our plan perfectly.”

SUBWAY® Pro Cycling General Manager Hayden Godfrey was very pleased with the weekend’s efforts, and said he was looking for Horgan to take on more of a leadership role in the Tour of Southland this year.

“The team is looking to make a real impact at the Powernet Tour of Southland in early November as we continue to search for a new naming rights sponsor after SUBWAY® Restaurants announced last month it was ending its eight year sponsorship of the team,” he said.

• Results Taupo to Napier Classic cycle: 1,  Sam Horgan 3:47:13; 2, Josh Page 3:47:13; 3, Dion Smith 3:47:13; 4, Aaron Strong 3:47:13; 5, Simon Binney 3:47:54.
• Wanganui Cycling Grand Prix: A grade: 1, Nick Lovegrove, 2hr 21min 18.25sec; 2,Dion Smith 2hr 22min 51.99s; 3,Sam Horgan, 2.22.52; 4,Steve Stannard (PN).