New Zealand’s Aaron Gate may be anything but a newcomer to the cycling scene – laughingly making the point that ‘a lot of the guys I raced with are now bloody sports directors’ – but this year is his first in a WorldTour team and he’s already making the most of the opportunity.
The 34-year-old rider has put his track ambitions on hold and made the move up to cycling’s top division with XDS Astana in 2025, from a string of ProTeams and Continental squads, and quickly delivered a WorldTour Podium. Gate claimed the reduced bunch sprint for second at a sweltering edition of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race behind solo winner Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla).
The course that Gate had full commitment on looped out from Geelong for 184km, passing out via the coast and then back through rolling farmland for four laps of a finishing circuit that included the short but steep Challambra climb, always a pivotal field-splintering point of the race. Gate came through that climb for the last time in the leading 12-rider group.
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