Wearing his new Columbia-HTC jersey for the first time, Hayden Roulston won Nelson’s Tour de Vineyards as part of his preparation for this Sunday’s RaboPlus Elite National Road Race and the Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide.

Roulston began training again in early December with a focus on doing well in the Elite
National Road Race in Christchurch before heading over to Adelaide to prepare to race with Columbia-HTC in the first pro tour event of the season that starts on the 17th of January.  “I enjoyed riding in Nelson,” Roulston said. “”I trained either side of each stage and got some good miles and training in the legs for nationals and Adelaide.  It was great to get some tough racing in and I’m looking forward to Sunday and heading over to Australia to race in the Tour Down Under for the first time.”

It was on the stage three climb up Takaka Hill that saw Roulston take the yellow jersey in
Nelson. He finished the 130 kilometre stage 21 seconds behind the winner George Bennett, but moved one second in front of him on General Classification. Finishing safely in the lead bunch on the final tough Richmond circuit yesterday saw him stay clear of Bennett, who won the under 23 title.

“It wasn’t an easy win. I was here basically with one rider helping me out, Marc Ryan, up
against the other teams. It does make life a bit tougher, whether you’ve ridden the Tour de France or not, but that’s what I needed, some tough race miles.  My focus is now firmly on Sunday's nationals race. I am very keen to perform well. It’s great that it’s in Christchurch and I’m lucky as I do know the climb well. It’s a hard climb, and it will be a very hard race.”

”It is still early in the season for me," added Roulston, "but having the nationals in January does mean you have to put in the early training and effort to race that event well and riding in Nelson was an important component for nationals and the Tour Down Under.”