Amanda Miller (HTC-Highroad) took the final criterium of the Tour of New Zealand by riding home solo. She and teammate Judith Arndt had made the decisive selection of five riders. The two attacked alternating and were able to get the fourth win of the possible six in New Zealand. Arndt had already sown up the overall, with stages four and six (both criteriums) not counting towards the overall classification.
It was Miller's first victory on HTC-Highroad and her first for the season. "It was a great final day of an already good week," said Miller. "It was really exciting to race here with the team for the first time and really nice that we were so successful."
HTC's game plan was to make the race tough for the others and the break of the day contained four riders of the American team. Chloe Hosking and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg continued to attack to whittle down the bunch. That left five riders to battle for victory. Miller and Arndt proceeded to launch attacks, until Miller had the good one.
Miller said it was hard work to bring home the victory. "Toward the end, there were five riders, with Judith and I. We just kept attacking and counter-attacking each other. At one point Judith attacked and I got dropped. Then the group got tired and sat up so I attacked again and got up front for the win."
Three riders of HTC won a stage at the 2011 Tour of New Zealand, with Arndt (twice), Ina-Yoko Teutenberg and now Miller. Only Alona Andruk (Diadora Pasta Zara) and Amanda Spratt (Jayco-AIS) prevented a sweep of HTC.
Team management was satisfied with the trip to New Zealand. "The girls put in a really good show and dominated the field," said sports director Ronny Lauke, "It was a good display of the level of fitness and teamwork we strive for. With Amanda winning today and Judith winning the overall tour, we can say that we're very happy with the way the week has gone for us in New Zealand. Now we go into the European races with a lot of motivation."