Tough first day for NZ | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

New Zealand competitors endured a disappointing opening day of action at the world mountainbiking championships in Canada.

In the junior women's cross country championship race, Rotorua's Alexa Peters wilted in the 32C temperature and 85 per cent humidity at the Mont Sainte Anne venue on the Canadian east coast and pulled out suffering from hyperventilation after trying to battle back up the field from a mid pack fall on the first lap.

The relay team finished 16th after lead out rider Mike Northcott's bicycle chain twisted and jammed up.

Northcott couldn't free the jam and teammates Bradley Hudson Nicola Leary and Carl Jones could not make up lost ground in the 19.2km race won by Switzerland.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's junior cross country rider Richard Anderson, from Blenheim, has withdrawn from the meet after being unable to shake off the effects of concussion suffered in a heavy training fall last weekend.

Rotorua's Julian Dean finished in 170th place after the 198.8km fifth stage of the Tour of Spain from Guadix to Lorca yesterday.

He sits in 190th place in the overall standings.

The stage was won by American Tyler Farrar ahead of Spain's Koldo Fernandez in second and Mark Cavendish in third, after the Briton broke for the line too early.

Today's stage from Caravaca de la Cruz to Murcia could favour riders prepared for a break, rather than the sprinters.

A second category climb of the Alto de la Cresta del Gallo, 17km from the finish, seems certain to shake up the bunch.

The Tour of Spain finishes on September 19. NZPA