The National Herald Sun Tour (Category 2) was always going to mix the first rankings, as the Mersey Valley Tour (Cat 3) gave less points. So Paul Van der Ploeg took the best opportunity to claim the NRS-lead for the first time in his career. His teammate Adam Semple is just one point behind, and Paul's brother Neil is just two points in arrears.

So especially Satalyst and search2retain dominate the rankings by now, but the next event - Tour of Toowoomba (Cat 2) - will make for some changes, most probably. Stronger climbers like Nathan Earle or Mark O'Brien definitely should have an advantage there.

INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS/

Rk	Name	Team	Pts
1	Paul Van der Ploeg	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	101
2	Adam Semple	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	100
3	Neil Van der Ploeg	search2retain p/b health.com.au	100
4	Nathan Earle	Huon Salmon-Genesys	68
5	Eric Sheppard	search2retain p/b health.com.au	60
6	Jack Haig	Huon Salmon-Genesys	57
	Sam Rutherford	GPM Data#3	57
8	Harry Carpenter	Euride Racing	52
9	Marc Williams	Budget Forklifts	50
10	Mark O'Brien	Budget Forklifts	35
11	Aaron Donnelly	Huon Salmon-Genesys	22
12	Lachlan Norris	Jayco/Apollo VIS Men’s Road Team	20
13	Cameron Bayly	search2retain p/b health.com.au	15
14	Josh Taylor	GPM Data#3	13
	Bernard Sulzberger	Drapac Cycling	13
16	Rhys Gillett	African Wildlife Safaris	10
	Alexander Smyth	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	10
18	James Rendall	African Wildlife Safaris	8
19	Ayden Toovey	Racing Kangaroos Cycling	5
	Rico Rogers	search2retain p/b health.com.au	5
21	Rhys Pollock	Drapac Cycling	4
22	Miles Scotson	Euride Racing	3
	Riley Maule	Data#3 Cisco Racing Team	3
	Ben Dyball	Huon Salmon-Genesys	3
25	Nathan Elliott	Target Trek Racing Team	1

TEAMS RANKINGS/

Rk	Team	Pts
1	search2retain p/b health.com.au	168
2	Huon Salmon-Genesys Wealth Advisers Pro Cycling Team	162
3	Budget Forklifts	158
4	Satalyst Giant Racing Team	156
5	Drapac Cycling	96
6	Jayco/Apollo VIS Men’s Road Team	86
7	African Wildlife Safaris Cycling Team	63
8	GPM Data#3	62
9	Euride Racing	56
10	Target Trek Racing Team	15
	Bianchi Lotto Arbitrage	15
12	Downer EDI Mining National Cycling Team	10
	SUVelo Racing	10
	Suzuki Bontrager	10
	Oz Cycling Development Team	10
	Data#3 Cisco Racing Team	10
	Veneziano Blefari Cycling Team	10
18	Racing Kangaroos Cycling Development Program	8

Ian Butler wrote:
Seems like one hell of a climb!

Tour of Toowoomba (Category 2)

The FKG Tour of Toowoomba will be the third round of the 2013 Subaru National Road Series and is the only NRS Teams event to be staged in Queensland. It will comprise of three gruelling road stages, the challenging Team Time Trial and the inner city Criterium.

This year’s event will be bigger, better and faster.

Especially defending race-winner Mark O'Brien will try to repeat last year's victory, where he won all of the first three stage-races in the NRS. Also Nathan Earle or Adam Semple will look forward to the 2nd stage, where the Van der Ploeg may struggle. Stay tuned for a 2nd preview with startlist and favorites.

Blogging rider(s)/

Jack Haig (Huon Salmon-Genesys)

Tour of Toowoomba (Preview #2)

Adam Semple (Satalyst)/ Proved his strength in both Mersey Valley and Herald Sun Tour and seems to be one of the serious contenders for the NRS overall this year.

Nathan Earle (Huon-Genesys)/ A rather invisible performance in Herald Sun Tour, but still managed to finish in Top-10. Needs to find back to his attacking style from Mersey Valley though.

Mark O'Brien (Budget)/ Needs to repeat last year's victory to stay in touch with Semple, Earle and also the Van der Ploegs. Definitely has the skills to perform well in the toughest stage to Bunya Mountains.

Lachlan Norris (Jayco/Apollo-VIS)/ Thanks to a strong TT-squad, Jayco could help Norris to finish high in the GC here. If he stays with the best in the mountains.

Jack Haig (Huon-Genesys)/ Like his teammate Earle, the young gun delivered so far. A strong TTT is expected, so his chances are quite good once again.

Paul Van der Ploeg (Satalyst)/ New NRS-leader Paul VdP may struggle in the toughest stage on second day, but with Semple on his team, a tactical move is possible.

Bernd Sulzberger (Drapac)/ Drapac couldn't quite deliver so far, so either Sulzberger or Darren Lapthorne need to try something here. Otherwise they may lose contact to the best early in the season.

Michael Cupitt (Budget)/ Proved his climbing skills last year and looks to repeat his success. With O'Brien and him, Budget is a real threat.

Cameron Wurf (Austal Subway)/ Winner of the Victorian Road Series-event Tour of the South West. His first appearence in the NRS thanks to a wildcard. Tough challenge in the TTT though.

Neil Van der Ploeg (search2retain)/ Kept scoring high in Herald Sun Tour and looks in shape. May not be the best climber, but really understands to finish best possible so far.

Tour of Toowoomba (Stage 1, Hill, 114km)

The opening stage is already one of the most interesting: while it ain't the toughest profile, the hilly route will make for a hard race. The rather easy climbs near the finish may lead to a bunch of favorites fight for the win.


The break of the day: Kent-Spark (Target), Payne (Kangaroos), Lind (Suzuki) and Karwowski (Oz).


Halfway through the race and with the escapees still leading by 2 minutes, the first GC-contenders tried to break clear from the bunch:

Rhys Gillett (African Wildlife) was the first to launch his move with 40km to go!


But Budget-Forklifts and Huon-Genesys were in control of the race and Gillett's attack was empty-handed.

Just as the early breakaway got caught with 11km remaining, Adam Semple (Satalyst) set another attack! He managed to win the Mersey Valley Tour thanks to a similar move on a similar stage.


But the other favorites did have enough support left and Semple is soon to be caught with now only 7km remaining!


It's going uphill all the final kilometres and of course it ain't over with attacks:

Brodie Talbot (Kangaroos), Jake Sutherland (Bianchi) and Nathan Elliott (Target) give it a go 2km before finish!

The leading group is meanwhile cut down to 36 riders, so we've seen a quite selective race so far.


It's the most serious attempt today, as Sutherland established a small gap as he enters the final km!

Talbot and Elliott can't really hang on though and Neil Van der Ploeg (search2) tries to catch up to Sutherland, as well as Budget's O'Brien and Cupitt!


Sutherland is known as a great fighter and it's looking good with the finish approaching.

Behind it's Aaron Donnelly (Genesys) catching up to Mark O'Brien, while Van der Ploeg falls behind!


But Jake Sutherland defends his gap, taking out the opening stage of Toowoomba! Quite a surprise, but he had the perfect timing today.

He finishes ahead of O'Brien, Donnelly, Jack Haig (Genesys) and Cupitt, while most of the favorites cross the line within the same time in a 26-men bunch.


But we've at least one notable name being dropped: NRS-leader Paul Van der Ploeg had a bad day, losing 2'15" as 47th. The profile looked like it could suit him very well, but he couldn't deliver.

Tour of Toowoomba (Stage 2, Hill, 120km)

Stage two from Crows Nest to Bunyas may one of the crucial stages, as it's without any doubts the toughest route of this tour. The finish-climb ain't as steep as the recent climbs in Mersey Valley or Arthur's Seat, but great climbers like defending champion Mark O'Brien can gain some valuable time.


One of today's first breakaway attempts made it to the break of the day:

Fumpson (Veneziano), Cameron (African), Vainikka (Downer EDI) and Hepburn (GPM) led by 5'30" halfway through the race.


And the gap grew even more: with only 21km to go, the escapees got more than 7 minutes on the bunch.

Lachlan Norris (Jayo) was the first favorite trying to break clear from the pack!


With 12km remaining, Norris was joined by Hall (Satalyst), Rutherford (GPM), Wurf (Austal) and Sulzberger (Drapac), leading by 35" on the peloton.

Meanwhile the early escapees already entered the final climb with a 4'50"-gap. No one of the breakaway was dangerous for the GC, as all of them lost several minutes in the opening stage.


Group Norris couldn't hold on to their small gap and with now only 4km to go, we have a new attempt:

Jack Haig (Genesys) follows Sulzberger and also Hall joins this move again!


The stage-win will be decided between the early breakaway though: with 1.7km remaining, they still have a 2'00"-advantage!

Back in the bunch (still no notable split), the chasing group Haig was reeled in.


And finally the favorites make the bunch go into pieces, with some prominent names being dropped!

A group of 13 riders got a small gap, including top-favorites like O'Brien, Cupitt (Budget), Arthur's Seat-winner Rutherford, Neil Van der Ploeg (Search2), Haig, Sulzberger and Adam Semple.

Nathan Earle (Genesys) missed that late move, facing a 40"-gap with only 500meters to go!


Back to the front: James Hepburn (GPM) had no problems to take out the stage, with Fumpson and Cameron losing 12 seconds in the final km! Another prestigious stage-win for GPM Data#3 after Rutherford's victory on Arthur's Seat!


Neil Van der Ploeg proves his great shape once again, sprinting for 5th place in a group with Semple and Cupitt!

This three also managed to create a gap on their former group, so we may see a new race-leader today.


Jake Sutherland (Bianchi) did well today, finishing in this first bigger group of favorites. But as they lose 19" on group Van der Ploeg/Semple, he will lose his leader-shirt to Michael Cupitt!


Earle, Norris and Williams (Budget) belong to the names losing another 30" today. A surprising low-key performance by Earle, who definitely should have done better.


Michael Cupitt (Budget) takes the race-lead ahead of Semple and Van der Ploeg (all within the same time). Also Sutherland (0.08), Mark O'Brien (0.13) or Haig (0.19) are not too far behind, so tomorrow's TTT may lead to some decisive changes.