Smowz wrote:
It does feel a bit meh that Avanti just swamp all over everything but that is often the case with national style events like I have observed in the states, France, Italy and the UK that one team tends to be a bit all conquering.

TheManxMissile wrote:


Last season was significantly more dominant for Avanti (then Huon). Their manager back then just crushed it all season long

Kiwi Joe Cooper takes over the lead in the individual's rankings thanks to another stage-win and solid overall performance in the North West Tour. With Timmy Roe skipping his first race (4 in total), Cooper (5) used the momentum to claim his first NRS leader-shirt ever. Teammate Mark O'Brien came closer to Roe, while Jack Haig put up another huge performance to score 15 points.

Other winners would be last year's North West-winner Stuart Smith (11pts this time) and Zac Shaw (10). Smith, who already won a stage in the Mersey Valley Tour earlier this year, makes a jump into the Top-10. The next races though are likely to see the best sprinters go for points.

Well, a lot have been said about Avanti Racing's dominance this year. And the team delivered once again, this time (23pts) making another huge step towards defending their team's title from 2014: Budget (15pts) didn't exactly bad, but that's quite a gap anyway.. Search2retain went for it's strongest result so far in 2015, now finally putting some pressure on the teams, which will probably fight for the spots behind Avanti and Budget.

#INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Rk	Name	Team	Points
1	Joe Cooper	Avanti Racing Team	41
2	Thimothy Roe	Budget Forklifts	38
3	Mark O'Brien	Avanti Racing Team	34
4	Jack Haig	Avanti Racing Team	29
5	Neil Van der Ploeg	Avanti Racing Team	28
6	Travis Meyer	Drapac Cycling	21
7	Jack Anderson	Drapac Cycling	17
8	Stuart Smith	search2retain	14
9	Daniel Barry	Budget Forklifts	13
10	Michael Vink	Budget Forklifts	12
	Brenton Jones	Avanti Racing Team	12
12	Raphael Freienstein	Charter Mason	10
	Alexander Edmondson	Euride Racing	10
	Zachary Shaw	Jayco VIS - Apollo	10
15	Daniel Fitter	Charter Mason Giant Racing	9

#TEAM'S RANKINGS

Rk	Team	Points
1	Avanti Racing Team	99
2	Budget Forklifts	67
3	Drapac Cycling	46
4	Charter Mason Giant Racing	35
5	African Wildlife Safaris	33
6	search2retain	29
7	Data#3 Symantec RT	22
8	Jayco VIS - Apollo	18
9	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	13
10	Euride Racing	12
11	St George Skoda HP Team	9
12	SUVelo Racing	8
13	GPM Data#3	7
14	Bianchi Lotto Arbitrage	5
15	Pure Tasmania & Polygon Cycling	4
	Seight Test Team	3
	Suzuki Bontrager	3
	Paradice Investment	3

Tour of Gippsland Preview

The 2015 Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland will feature six exciting stages across the greater Gippsland region including the addition of two new stages.

Port Albert will make an appearance for the first time in 2014, with Warragul returning to the schedule for the first time since 2011. Leongatha, Yinnar, Sale, Paynesville, Metung will all test riders along the way, with Traralgon once again hosting the final stage.

All stages are rated as flat, but there could be well some splits in the bunch due to challenging profiles and the expected crosswinds. And we've seen a quite interesting Adelaide Tour most recently, where similar profiles made for some good racing.






On a more hillier route last year, Mark O'Brien took out the GC ahead of Will Walker and Jack Haig. He did in style, going for a comfortable lead and taking out the queen stage, too.. things may change this year, but expect him or other strong stage racers to take any chance they get to make for a selective race again.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Jones_B_zps4bfcbeed.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Brenton Jones (Avanti Racing)
The best sprinters will have to be rated as the top-favorites though: Avanti lines up with a strong squad behind Jones, as also Law or van der Ploeg could be well amongst the fastest here.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Edmondson_zpsaf4c88fd.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Alex Edmondson (Euride Racing)
Tricky flat profiles? Definitely a thing for Edmondson, who already was amongst the best in the Adelaide Tour. Euride will line up with a good team as well and should be there, when it counts.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_KentSpark_zpse50545d7.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Oliver Kent-Spark (search2)
Another team behind Avanti/Budget, which will have at least two threats for the GC here: Kent-Spark as kind of a punchy sprinter, as well as Patrick Bevin, who's giving his debut for search2 here.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Freinstein_zpsa0ad5bbe.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Raphael Freienstein (Charter Mason)
Known as a sprinter, who can survive hills, the German is definitely someone to watch out for. Building a real sprint-force with Shannon Johnson, he doesn't need to hide from Jones or Avanti.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Kerrison_zps4f6c8b04.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Jesse Kerrison (Budget Forklifts)
Missed a huge result in Adelaide, but is still considered as one of the best and most talented sprinters in Australia's domestic scene these days. Budget with a strong team as always.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Jory_zps527b597d.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Chris Jory (GPM)
A classic-specialist, who may finally help his team finding it's way into the season. Fast finisher and extraordinary strong on flat but challenging profiles, Jory can be a real threat here.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Law_v2_zps0d1033e3.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Scott Law (Avanti Racing)
May be there, when Jones struggles. Law was one of the best sprinters in the NRS the past two years (finishing 6th and 8th in the individual's rankings) and adds option threat for Avanti.

Tour of Gippsland Stages 1_2_3

The first three of six stages saw Alex Edmondson (Euride) taking out two stages and claiming the GC-lead ahead of Raphael Freienstein (Charter), who podium'd every stage so far plus going for line honours on first day!

The first two stages might have been those, where the sprinters could have suffered the most. Things went different than in Adelaide though, as we had no major splits or puncheurs/roleurs trying their luck to fool the sprinters. Freienstein would storm to line honours on first day, with top-favorites Kerrison (Budget) and Jones (Avanti) completing the podium.

Things did not went too well for Jones in particular, who struggled on the next two days. Opposing to Edmondson, who took out both stages to slip into yellow with a small margin on Freienstein. Kerrison (7 seconds), Law (9) or Jones (11) do face a tough challenge to attack this leading duo in the remaining three stages. Anything can happen, we will at least see two more tricky profiles here.

Budget and Charter Mason controlled the race til the finish..

Barry/Kerrison, Johnson/Freienstein, Jones sprint to the line..

..with Freienstein taking out the opening stage ahead of Kerrison!

Avanti leading the bunch into the final km on second day..

..where Edmondson went for a dominating win over Freienstein!

Edmondson also leading the bunch into the crit's finish..

..for another strong showing and win ahead of Law this time!

Edmondson leading the GC by a second on Freienstein!

Tour of Gippsland Stages 4_5_6

German sprint-ace Raphael Freienstein (Charter) absolutely dominated the Tour of Gippsland 2015 by taking out the final three stages to win the overall GC by 14 seconds on Alex Edmondson (Euride) and more than 20 on Daniel Barry and Jesse Kerrison (both Budget)! Four stage-wins in total, Freienstein simply crushed it here.

Freienstein bounced back from Edmondson's two consecutive wins on fourth day, where he took out the road race from Sale to Port Albert ahead of Yates (Satalyst) and Jones (Avanti). It was Edmondson's first day "off" as 8th on that stage.

On next day, a challenging and windy race to Metung, the GC would be mixed, as a group of 17 riders would establish a 50-seconds-gap on the peloton in a tricky finish just by the sea: Freienstein took line honours ahead of Barry (Budget) and Edmondson, while Jones (4th in GC) lost all chances for a great overall result here. Teammates Law (5th) and NRS-contender O'Brien (8th) though remained in contention.

It was not meant to be for Avanti this time, as Freienstein made it a triple on final day. A strong Barry would jump onto 3rd in GC ahead of teammate Kerrison, while Edmondson secured his runner-up easily. O'Brien will gladly take those minor points as 8th in final GC, while especially Freienstein and Edmondson scored big time to finally join the fight for the NRS-crown. Some sprinter-friendly stage races are soon to follow, too!

A thrilling bunch sprint on fourth day..

..would see Freienstein taking the stage ahead of Yates in a photo!

And slipping into yellow.. until the end!

Gerald Evans (Tasmania) with a solo-effort on fifth stage..

..where Dan Barry (Budget) made for a major split with his pace!

Barry fighting to hold off Freienstein/Edmondson..

..but no chance: third stage-win for Freienstein here!

And a hattrick in the final criterium to make it four in total!