Proud history and bright future for Junior Tour of Southland

October’s Yunca Junior Tour of Southland will provide New Zealand’s young riders with a chance to follow in the pedal strokes of their heroes. 

Name a top New Zealand cyclist and there’s a good chance they served part of their apprenticeship at ‘the Yunca’. 

World Tour riders like Greg Henderson, Shane Archbold, Tom Scully, Hayden Roulston and Dion Smith, track stars including Eddie Dawkins, Regan Gough, Olivia Podmore, Lauren Ellis, Tom Sexton and Corbin Strong. Commonwealth Games mountain bike champion Sam Gaze and SBS Bank Tour of Southland winners including Michael Vink and Brad Evans. The list goes on. 

Australian Caleb Ewan, who won stage 11 of this year’s Tour de France, rode the Yunca tour in 2010. He didn’t win that year, but astute judges on both sides of the Tasman could see he was going to be a star of the future. 

Entries close September 16 for the 36th running of the junior tour, which is running from October 4 to 6 and must hold some sort of record for only ever having one naming sponsor in local firm Yunca Heating, and the story behind that association is a good yarn for another day. 

It will be former Commonwealth Games cycling champion Glen Thomson’s first time running the event, and he hopes to have 200 starters for this unique event. 

“There have been other good junior races around the countries, but none have had the longevity of the Yunca tour,” he said. 

“To have multiple stages over three days, there’s no other race in the country like it for young riders.” 

There are a lot of reasons why the Yunca tour is so good. 

Our relatively quiet roads mean racing close to town is still a possibility. Organisers have been able to retain the inner-city criterium – a rarity in cycling these days. 

A positive relationship with the Southland Sports Car Club means Teretonga Park can be hired for a fair price. 

Thomson has also been working with Road Safety Southland this year they have arranged for a big truck from local firm McNeills to be at Teretonga so that young riders can get a sense of what a truck driver experiences on the road. 

Riders from the Far North Flash will again head south from Kaitaia in their distinctive pink cycling kit, while riders from Australia travel to be part of the peloton – emphasising just what an important role the Yunca tour plays in the development of New Zealand cycling. 

Keep an eye out for Southland’s promising young riders in this year’s tour, especially Mitchel Fitzsimons and Marshall Erwood, who are back after winning their categories last year.