{"id":952051,"date":"2026-11-04T07:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T07:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/952051\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T07:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T07:52:15","slug":"kergozous-tour-of-southland-return-after-horror-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/952051\/","title":{"rendered":"Kergozou’s Tour of Southland return after horror crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elite Kiwi cyclist Nick Kergozou is back on his bike for the Tour of Southland, months after his Glasgow Commonwealth Games dream was cut short by a nasty crash.<\/p>\n

“The bike definitely took time \u2013 to get fluent into the feeling alright pedalling again,” Kergozou told 1News.<\/p>\n

“I could move in the gym pretty well, but the bike was the most challenging thing and that’s what I do everyday, so it was quite physically and mentally challenging but great to be back.”<\/p>\n

And what better way to test yourself than on a gruelling, multi-stage event like the Tour of Southland?<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Invercargill lad said he’d taken part in several club races in Cambridge but “nothing prepares you for Southland”.<\/p>\n

“Crosswinds, sideways hail, might get a bit of snow, who knows?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Kiwi<\/p>\n

Kiwi cyclist Nick Kergozou. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

But it was nothing like the challenges he had already faced this year.<\/p>\n

Kergozou was ruled out of the Commonwealth Games after a high-speed training crash on the velodrome in July.<\/p>\n

He injured his back in three places and missed around three months on the track \u2013 mainly the World Champs.<\/p>\n

Kergozou also fell off his bike again on Stage One of the tour around Queen\u2019s Park in Invercargill.<\/p>\n

After the team time trial, Kergozou said he was travelling at around 55km\/h when he came down on the asphalt.<\/p>\n

“The body doesn’t like that. And it was just flashbacks to the crash at the Commonwealth Games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, another challenge for the Peloton was The Remarkables hill climb \u2013 the hardest but arguably most picturesque part of the tour.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The picturesque Remarkables hill climb. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

For some, it is the second time riders have had to endure the 6km uphill battle in 2026, after last year’s event was moved to January due to a severe windstorm.<\/p>\n

Results aside, it has also been a big week for Kergozou as he launched his comeback with a practice ride down the Invercargill Airport runway against a penny-farthing \u2013 a bicycle dating back to the 1870s and ’80s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some pretty good tailwinds that day\u2026 I got up to 72km\/h max speed\u2026 and I looked down and thought I don’t really want to burn my legs before the tour too much, but then, I think the adrenaline got to me and I pushed it out pretty good.”<\/p>\n

The Tour of Southland runs from November 1 to 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elite Kiwi cyclist Nick Kergozou is back on his bike for the Tour of Southland, months after his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,127292,85],"class_list":["post-952051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-southland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}