New Zealand's James Fouché conquers second national championship after gruesome and shortened race
Cycling
It was a busy weekend in the Southern Hemisphere as many countries hosted their national championships and over in New Zealand it was Bolton Equities Black Spoke Pro Cycling's James Fouché taking the title, the second in his career.
The 23-year old won the race with 2:47 over his own teammate Tom Sexton and 2:54 over the peloton where Equipe continentale Groupama-FDJ's Laurence Pithie won the sprint and wrapped up the podium.
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With the course having meaningful changes due to bad weather a mostly flat race ended up on the menu of the peloton, with Fouché an early escapee given that the Black Spoke team had several options. Fouché ended up benefiting from a bizarre situation where a tree fell down on course and caused the race to be neutralized. Upon restarting, the officials annouced the race would end in that lap and Fouché ended up confortably keeping his gap to take the national title.
Among the statements he gave post-race were comments on how exactly the situation affected the race: “It was one of the windiest days that I have ridden in. I nearly came off a couple of times. It was a savage day out,. We were told if the race was shortened then the first person across the line on that lap would win, so that was in the back of my mind."

Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- maybe this is something else they can protest in the streets of France.mij04-11-2026
- his Roubaix win was amazing. not to take anything away from him - arguably one of MVDP's wins was at the expense of a WVA flat - but so many things need to line up to get one of these. He had a perfect race with fewer bike issues on an attritional course. And crazy strong as usual. Glad he got this done.mij04-11-2026
- Orts was a super smart signing with the new rules regarding cross and UCI pointsmij04-11-2026
- yeah... you're right...PogiSloFans04-11-2026
- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
- He will be lol, but he can still win on the climbs hahaawp04-11-2026
- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
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Weather conditions meant major disruptions for the Elite Road Nationals and the very talented fields with James Fouche and Olivia Ray emerging winners. @CyclingNZL #cycling @UCI_cycling nzsportswire.com/2022/02/13/bla…
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