CSB - Josh Burnett - Tour of Southland

Tour of Southland cycling leader Josh Burnett is enjoying increased support surrounding this year's edition.

The event is the only multi-stage road race left in the country after the cancellation of the New Zealand Cycle Classic.

Burnett took the orange jersey and established a 48-second lead after the category one climb up The Remarkables.

Stage five from Invercargill to Bluff starts at 10.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we're talking the tour of Southland here on the
show and then the Cargo cyclist Josh Burnette one stage
four of the tour yesterday, complete with a new twist,
a big ride up the Remarkables with a two k
gravel section to finish. He joins us this morning out
of his hometown in Vitcargo Morning, Josh, good morning. I

(00:20):
watched some of the images on News Sports News last
night and it looked like a beautiful day riding up
the Remarkables yesterday.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, we're lucky to have a pretty still still days
starting in Molsbyn and then you have basically no whend
or all along and you will staircase into the foot
of the Remarkables which mostly pulled from around that area.
Know how seeing the lake last over and it's not
a breath of wind, how rare that is. So Yeah,
it was a really nice day to be our racing bike.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
You probably didn't get much of a chance to look
at the view. That's one hell of a climb, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, No, it was pretty much during it during kid
meets in front of me the entire time and kind
of hoping for it to be over.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
What was that last two k like because you're riding
on Gravell, I mean on those road bikes.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
That's pretty tough, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, Gravell is starting to become more and more of
a part of road cycling these days. And when you're
going uphill, it's you're not going so fast, so obviously
you're not like sliding around too too much. You've just
kind of got to try to keep the traction, which
mainly you can't really stand up as much and try
sit down. And yeah, it's quite a quite a rough

(01:33):
corrugated skifield road, so it's not the smoothest but yeah
it wasn't It wasn't too bad.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Is everything going to plan for you and the team
so far?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, we've had a great start to the tour with
winning the team's time show of the prologue and then
my teammate James Gardner won the first stage. You're on
Queen's Park, so yeah, I've got a creation signs mighty
if you were a team, not just the South one
but for the whole year. And it's a great group
of guys and yeah, we're having a good time and
everything's gone our way so far, but we know we've

(02:06):
got a big few days a hit of us, so
we're not getting too excited too early.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Let's talk about today because it's a it's a ride
with another hill climb at the end of it, isn't
it from in Chicago to Bluff.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, so we start here and then Cargo and then
kind of hit out around the backs of Windham and
whatever hock and take our way back in through yeah
Gorge Road, down down onto the Bluff Highway and then
straight into the base of Bluff Hill. So a much
shorter climb. Yesterday would probably be forty minutes and today

(02:39):
is a bit under eight minutes, so yeah, much much shorter.
But that one corner on Bluff Hill is a lot
steeper than anything on the Remarkables, so it's going to
be Yeah, I wouldn't say the same kind of hard,
but different kind of hard.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
So weather looking because you know Southland can throw all
sorts of weather.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, at the moment, it's warm, no wind, blue skies,
so it's pretty unheard of. But yeah, it's going to
be a good day. I think when might get up
a little bit, but nothing like we had on the
first day. So yeah, it's another good day to race. Bikes.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
You won this event back in twenty and twenty two.
Do you feel like you're now in the box seat
to school your second tour of Southland?

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Wouldn't say box See, I think a lot can happen
on the way to Blaugh and then from stage to
go tomorrow, so yeah, I'm just kind of keeping keeping
it one day at a time and then yeah, but
I wouldn't have I couldn't have scripted it a bitter
so far and got a great group of guys around me,
so we'll keep racing hard and yeah with what will

(03:52):
happen will happen.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
When you were a youngster growing up in Southland, did
you follow the tour back then?

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah? Yeah, I was always involved from a pretty young age.
My parents always helped out with it and coming past
the schools and everything. So it's played a big role
in me becoming a cyclist. So it's definitely my favorite
race and I think it will always be my favorite race.
So yeah, I really stick to be here with racing
with my mates, and yeah, it's a great part of

(04:20):
the world and to have all my friends and family,
you know, interested in cycling is is great because it
is a small sport especially in New zeal And for
this one week. You know, it doesn't feel so small.
So I think, not just me, a lot of writers.
I feel like that, and I think that's part of
the beauty of this race. And yeah, it's just a
really good time.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
And Josh, I love your outfits.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
The creation science might i Q team outfits all sort
of striped and things. Who designed them?

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Yeah, team manager James Kenny, he's another stuff and he's
reuper passionate about this race and mixes it up each
year with some pretty distinctive kits. And yeah, this year
with the hornets and the black and yellows, turns up
quite well and definitely popular forward schools as well. So yeah,
I think the money if it James puts in into

(05:10):
this team and this race is another sign of, yeah,
just how much it means to us and how excited
we are for the next few days.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Well, Josh, strap on that orange jersey and good luck
for today. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Mate, Yeah, no problem. Cheers