The SBS Bank Tour of Southland peloton was given its most serious examination for several years with Samuel Jenner surviving the wind to sprint his way into the orange jersey on day two.

The Central Benchmakers-Willbike rider, from Coffs Harbour in Australia, made a successful return to the northern Southland township of Lumsden a year after winning the 166km second stage from Invercargill.

Jenner and stage winner Kiaan Watts (PowerNet) were part of a well represented breakaway group which stretched their lead out to seven minutes before the race had to be neutralised due to loose gravel on the Glenure Hill.

When the race was restarted at Balfour, the 18-strong break bunch had a 20km drag race to the finish.

Jenner, riding his third Southland tour, was pleased to find more success in Lumsden and finally get an opportunity to wear the tour leader’s orange jersey after narrowly missing out despite his stage victory last year.

While many riders were content to survive in the cross and tailwinds which at times saw riders reaching speeds up to 80kmh, Jenner was revelling in the conditions.

“I wouldn’t say the hardest, but it was definitely tense at times. Once the break was established and the break went out it wasn’t super exhausting. It was definitely the stage I’ve been looking for for the past couple of years,” Jenner said.

“Last year I was super close to getting into orange here so it’s kind of cool that it’s in the same town where I won last year.”

Watts timed his sprint to perfection on Lumsden’s main street to edge out Declan Trezise and complete a good day for the PowerNet team, who lost the orange jersey but now lead in the teams classification.

“It was all on from the start and the split just got smaller and smaller until we reached the neutralisation,” Watts said.

“We knew it was going to be dangerous right from the flag drop, there’s only so much road and so many riders who can fit on it so today was all about positioning.”

Jenner was looking forward to tomorrow’s 148km stage from Riverton to Te Anau, which should also find some wind along the southern coast. However, thoughts are already shifting to Wednesday’s fourth stage and a 10km climb up the Remarkables access road.

“Hopefully a break can get up the road and the sprint teams will get involved in their last opportunity to get in a sprint. It’s always tough because you don’t know what the other teams are planning,” he said.

“Remarkables is going to be such a crucial stage I think a lot of people want to keep their powder dry until then.”

Josh Burnett (Creation Signs-MitoQ-NZ Cycling Project) featured strongly after the resumption of the stage and climbed his way into the King of the Mountain jersey, with team mate Ben Oliver judged Most Combative, while Bailey O’Donnell (Holmes Solutions) has taken over the Sprint Ace classification.

Australian Declan Trezise (Transport Engineering Southland-Deep South) is the leading under 23 rider and Southlander Luke Macpherson (Macaulay Ford-GoodTech) is the leading over 35 rider.