Mersey Valley Tour (Stage 3, 113km)

A second hilly stages concludes the Mersey Valley Tour and even though it ain't looking as tough as yesterday's stage, there's still plenty of ascending kilometres.

Nathan Earle (Huon-Genesys) took the GC-lead on Cradle Mountain, leading 33" on O'Brien, 37" on teammate Haig and 40" on Semple. A close one.



The Oz Cycling Development Team kicked this final stage off, as Kiwi Cameron Karwowski had a first try to break clear, accompanied by Data#3's Stuart Cowin.

And empty-handed attempt though, as several more attacks led to bunch being alltogether a few minutes later.



Josh Taylor (GPM) was next in the line. He attacked on today's toughest climb at Kimberley, just as he entered the first of three laps in this circuit.



More riders followed, including at least two prominent names:

Timothy Roe (Euride, GC + 10.40 as 88th)
Rhys Pollock (Drapac, GC + 8.08 as 41st)
Ethan Kimmince (Oz Cycling)
James Rendall (African Wildlife)
Vaughan Bowman (Target)
Edward Bissaker (Bianchi)

Pollock as the best-placed in GC here, so no real threat for race-leader Earle.



After two laps (43km to go), the breakaway group went to pieces, as again Taylor tried to go on his own!

Rendall and Pollock were the only riders, who managed to follow his move.



Meanwhile, Huon-Genesys led the bunch. For a few moments it seemed they lost control, as the gap grew to almost 9 minutes..



..but with 10km remaining, the gap was cut down to 4'40" again. The new leading group of Taylor/Pollock/Rendall would battle for today's win without being dangerous in GC.



And Taylor with yet another attack! He moved ahead of the breakaway with 5km remaining, would he stand a chance?



Even more interesting news back in the bunch: GC's 4th (+ 0.40) Adam Semple did the same as Taylor, as he soloed away from the other favorites with the 5km-banner approaching!

A serious attempt it seems, as he quickly established a 30"-gap!



And that's the chasing group:

Nathan Earle (in yellow)
Mark O'Brien (GC + 0.33)
Bernd Sulzberger (GC + 1.18)
Neil Van der Ploeg (GC + 1.06)

So GC's 3rd Jack Haig (+ 0.37) missed this move by the top-favorites, which means he also won't help Earle to pull Semple back.



Credit where credit is due: GPM's Josh Taylor celebrates a well deserved stage-win after spending the final 5km solo.

He finishes 33" ahead of James Rendall and Rhys Pollock, plus claiming the KoM-jersey thanks to collecting 60 points today.



Nathan Earle desperately tries to narrow the gap to Semple, who still maintains his lead over this chasing group!

With just 2km remaining, group Earle is 1'04" behind Semple, which means, he would claim the overall win!



What a ride by Adam Semple! He just did the same as Taylor, holding on to his lead over the last 5km.

Most important: he gained 59" on the chasing group Earle/O'Brien! So Semple takes out the Mersey Valley Tour 2013, beating by 19"!

Mark O'Brien completes the podium, while Jack Haig lost finishes 4th overall, ahead of Neil Van der PLoeg, who rode a strong tour.



Next stop in the NRS will be the National Herald Sun Tour, a less hilly tour, but with a crucial stage featuring the Arthur's Seat two times. Stay tuned for a rankings update and Jack Haig's blog, of course.

Miguel98 wrote:
Wow!

INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS/

Rk	Name	Team	Pts
1	Adam Semple	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	50
2	Nathan Earle	Huon Salmon-Genesys	48
3	Mark O'Brien	Budget Forklifts	35
4	Jack Haig	Huon Salmon-Genesys	32
5	Neil Van der Ploeg	search2retain p/b health.com.au	23
6	Marc Williams	Budget Forklifts	20
7	Lachlan Norris	Jayco/Apollo VIS	20
8	Josh Taylor	GPM Data#3	13
9	Bernard Sulzberger	Drapac Cycling	13
10	Aaron Donnelly	Huon Salmon-Genesys	12
11	Rhys Gillett	African Wildlife Safaris Cycling	10
12	James Rendall	African Wildlife Safaris Cycling	8
13	Harry Carpenter	Euride Racing	7
14	Rhys Pollock	Drapac Cycling	4
15	Miles Scotson	Euride Racing	3

TEAMS RANKINGS/

Rk	Team	Pts
1	Huon Salmon-Genesys Wealth Advisers Pro Cycling Team	92
2	Budget Forklifts	68
3	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	55
4	Drapac Cycling	46
5	search2retain p/b health.com.au	35
6	Euride Racing	31
7	Jayco/Apollo VIS Men’s Road Team	26
8	African Wildlife Safaris Cycling Team	23
9	GPM Data#3	22
10	Target Trek Racing Team	10
11	Downer EDI Mining National Cycling Team	5
	SUVelo Racing	5
	Bianchi Lotto Arbitrage	5
	Suzuki Bontrager	5
	Oz Cycling Development Team	5
	Data#3 Cisco Racing Team	5
	Veneziano Blefari Cycling Team	5

Tour of the South West

The 2nd event of the Victoria State Road Series and the first chance to overtake Nathan Earle as the series-leader. As a three-stage event, the second edition of the Tour of the South West (near and in Warrnambool) provides some tough and fast stages.

Earle won't be at the start, and so we will most likely see a new leader of the VSRS after the race. The favourites will be Cameron Wurf (riding for Austal-Subway), Eric Sheppard (search2retain), our blogger Rhys Gillett (African Wildlife) or other interesting riders like Nathan Elliott (Target Trek) and former NRS-winner Will Clarke (Euride).

Gillett is aiming for the overall win of the Series and already finished 6th at Mt Baw Baw, the first event. He will give us a short review of the race as soon as it's over.

The startlist/

Blogging rider(s)/

Rhys Gillett (African Wildlife)

miggi133 wrote:
We never got the Blog for the Mersey Valley Tour

Stage 1/ "Bad weather down here in Warrnambool. Can't say I like that, but anyway.. the first stage was always going to be one for the sprinters, so the only thing I wanted was to finish safely in the bunch. Which I did as 45th. I was a bit lucky when a crash happened late in the race, causing a minor split back in the bunch.

My teammate Boon Yeo did pretty well, btw. For a few moments he looked like the winner, but this young guy from Data#3, Riley Maule, appeared to be too strong in the end. I didn't know this guy prior to this season, but heard some people say he might nab a win here. Strong sprinter."


Boon's sprint to the line.. he looked good..


..but Maule took out the stage on final metres!

1	Riley Maule	Data#3 Cisco Racing Team	2h21'50
2	Boon Yeo	African Wildlife Safaris	s.t.
3	Alexander Smyth	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	s.t.
...
45	Rhys Gillett	African Wildlife Safaris	s.t.

Stage 2/ The ITT would be crucial for the overall here and let's say it right away: I failed pretty hard. Dunno what happened to my legs on that day, but it took me too long on this circuit.

Losing 1'42" on winner Michael Troy (GPM) was unacceptable and I knew it would be one tough challenge to slip into GC's Top-10 on final day. Especially as top-favorites like Cameron Wurf or Will Clarke did pretty well.. but at least our team scored another 2nd place with Nicholas Squillari! Watch out for him in the NRS, he's a freak in ITTs!

1	Michael Troy	GPM Data#3	14'05
2	Nicholas Squillari	African Wildlife Safaris	+ 3
3	Cameron Wurf	Austal - Subway Racing Team	s.t.
...
36	Rhys Gillett	African Wildlife Safaris	+ 1'42

Stage 3/


"It took the bunch quite a while to catch an early break, but just ahead of the final climb in this hilly criterium in Warrnambool, we did it.. and of course it was time to attack! Several puncheurs made their move, including me."


"Eric Sheppard (search2retain) led this group up the climb. Man, he's a beast on that short ascents. But me and a group of 6 more riders (including Wurf) managed to hang on."


"And it was this group with the sprint to the line for the victory on final stage. We also had a small gap on the bunch, which would have been great for my GC-ambitions.. anyway, Cameron Wurf went super-strong, while I had a pretty good position with the finish-line approaching! Satalyst's Henry Morley is the one on the left."


"Yessss! I don't know how, but I managed to sprint for the victory! I just got the legs which I missed the day before. Awesome. Somehow deserved for my team, as we missed two stage-wins so close.

Unfortunately the bunch got the same time as we did. So Cameron Wurf took out the overall win of the Tour of the South West. Congrats, man. Also Nick (Squillari) managed to finish within the next group, which made him finishing on podium in GC! So in the end a good tour, as I added 15 points for the Victorian Road Series."

1	Rhys Gillett	African Wildlife Safaris	1h22'29
2	Cameron Wurf	Austal - Subway Racing Team	s.t.
3	Henry Morley	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	s.t.

1	Cameron Wurf	Austal - Subway Racing Team	3h58'21
2	Michael Troy	GPM Data#3	+ 3
3	Nicholas Squillari	African Wildlife Safaris	+ 6
4	Riley Maule	Data#3 Cisco Racing Team	+ 19
5	Henry Morley	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	+ 21
6	Richard Moffatt	Melbourne Unibicycles	s.t.
7	Alexander Edmondson	Euride Racing	+ 29
8	Joseph Lewis	GPM Data#3	+ 35
9	Tom Donald	search2retain p/b health.com.au	+ 37
10	Peter Mueller	Austal - Subway Racing Team	s.t.
...
18	Rhys Gillett	African Wildlife Safaris	+ 1'35