New Zealand cyclist Ben Oliver has pulled off the biggest result of his career, snatching the overall title at the Tour de Wallonie in Belgium after winning a chaotic final stage that ended with most of the leading group sprawled across the road.
The 29 year old from Christchurch, who rides for the American outfit Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, timed his sprint to perfection on the run into Aubel on Friday, threading through the wreckage of a late crash to take the stage and, with it, the leader’s jersey he had chased all week. It capped a breakthrough seven days for a rider who only stepped up to the European professional ranks this season.
The closing stage was a long, lumpy 176.4 kilometre haul from Bassenge to Aubel that took in six classified climbs, the kind of finish that usually shreds a sprinter’s legs before the line. A two-man breakaway of Pim Ronhaar and Alvaro Sagrado was reeled in with about seven kilometres remaining, setting up a reduced bunch dash that was always going to be nervy on the tight, twisting roads of the Walloon countryside.
It duly turned ugly. Kim Heiduk of Netcompany Ineos opened up the sprint with roughly 300 metres to go, before Arnaud De Lie of Lotto-Intermarché surged to the front with Oliver glued to his back wheel. As the riders swept through the final bend with about 150 metres left, Heiduk clipped Oliver and went down, triggering a pile-up that took out several of the fastest men in the field. Oliver and De Lie stayed upright, and the New Zealander found another gear to kick clear of the Belgian in the closing metres. According to Cyclingnews, Oliver crossed the line two seconds ahead of Riley Sheehan, with De Lie third, five seconds back.
“It’s actually insane. It definitely hasn’t sunk in yet,” Oliver told Cyclingnews after the finish.
It was Oliver’s second stage win of the race, and the time bonuses that came with it proved decisive. Those seconds were just enough to vault him above Sheehan and De Lie at the top of the general classification, turning a week of near misses and bold riding into an outright overall victory. For a team making its first real mark in Europe, it was a statement result.
Modern Adventure Pro Cycling is the project of former American professional George Hincapie, and before this week it had never won a stage on European soil. Oliver changed that on stage two, winning into a wet and windy Libramont-Chevigny for the team’s maiden European victory and his own first win on the continent. He marked the moment by pulling a pūkana, a fierce Māori facial expression, straight down the camera lens as the rain lashed the finish.
The celebration went viral. As 1News reported, fans flooded social media with praise, one writing “he’s a Kiwi, looks like he’s doing a haka” while others cheered him on for “doing the mahi”. Oliver said his teammates “had my back all day” and called it “a wicked day for the team”, with bonus seconds from that win first lifting him into the race lead.
The overall title is comfortably the standout result of a career that has built quietly. Oliver came to road racing with a strong off-road pedigree, and his first taste of European professional racing this year already produced a podium at the Vuelta a Andalucía. At home he has won the Gravel and Tar Classic and finished third in the time trial at the New Zealand national championships. Cycling runs in the family too, with his brother Craig also racing as a professional.
For New Zealand road cycling, it is a welcome headline. Much of the country’s recent success on the bike has come on the track and at the Olympic and Commonwealth level, so a Kiwi winning a tough one-week stage race in the heart of the European calendar is a reminder that the talent pool runs deeper than the velodrome. Oliver has spent the season learning the ropes in a brutally competitive peloton, and to come away with both stage wins and the overall trophy is the sort of leap that tends to open doors with bigger teams.
The Tour de Wallonie sits a rung below the sport’s top WorldTour series, but it regularly draws established names and hard-bitten Classics riders who relish its short, punchy climbs. Beating that kind of company, and keeping his head while others were losing theirs in the final-bend chaos, says plenty about Oliver’s nerve as much as his speed.
He now heads into the rest of the European summer as a rider on the rise, with a result that travels well wherever he lines up next. For more on the wider New Zealand sport picture this week, the latest is on RNZ Sport.
What do you make of Ben Oliver’s big week in Belgium, and where does it rank among New Zealand’s recent cycling moments? Have your say in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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