Tour of Tasmania (Day 4, Crit + Hilly, 77km)

The fourth and maybe "easiest" day in Tasmania: a flat crit is followed by a short hilly stage, where the most challenging climb seems to be too far from the finish to make for a selective race.

But of course you never know what happens and if we have strong crosswinds, things will become tricky.

STAGE 5 - ULVERSTONE CRITERIUM/


The sprinter-teams took control of the race in the day's opening crit and so the breakaway had no chance:

Caleb Jones (GPM) took out the stage in style, ahead of Palmer (Drapac) and Cupitt (Budget), who continues to score bonus seconds where he's not expected to!

So the leadout-guys Jones and Palmer delivered here.. top-favorite Davison (6th) couldn't compete with today's fastest..

STAGE 6 - ULVERSTONE TO PENGUIN/


We're already halfway through the race of the hilly stage and with only 30km remaining and the bunch - led by Budget - being 5 minutes in arrears, it looks like we will see a succesful breakaway this time!


Speaking of the breakaway, let's have a look who's at the front:

Szollosi (ProTeamDU, GC's 47th with + 9.32 as the best in this group)
Bowman (Target)
Trent Carman (Downer)
Jory (GPM)
Timmy Roe (Euride)
Rendall (African) and
Symonds (Bianchi)

On today's toughes climb, Szollosi gives it a try and attacks the breakaway group!


And it's looking good: Szollosi kept a strong pace on the final flat 25km and holds off his former break-companions!

As those six enter the finishing stretch in Penguin, just by the sea, Szollosi still leads by 15"..


And yes, he takes it! James Szollosi brings home a well deserved solo-victory for the ProTeam Down Under!

23" behind, Carman and Jory complete the stage-podium. The peloton finishes 7 minutes later, so Team Budget did just enough to secure O'Brien's GC-lead.


So Mark O'Brien slips into the leader-shirt for at least one more day as nothing changed within the Top-10 instead of Cupitt taking some minor bonus seconds.

Szollosi (GC's 12th, + 2.14) and Bowman (15th, + 3.54) were the biggest winners of the breakaway success. Szollosi in particular, as he's only 10 seconds away from the Top-10 and known as a decent puncheur.

Miguel98 wrote:
O'Brien can't loose this now.

miggi133 wrote:
You could just do what I did and switch to imageshack... They dont seem to be having any sort of Bandwidth limit...

Tour of Tasmania (Day 5, flat and hilly crits)

Final day in Tasmania and we've two stages remaining: a flat crit in Burnie is followed by a Kermesse in Devonport, most probably the last chance for the Huon-squad to attack race-leader O'Brien!

STAGE 7 - BURNIE CRITERIUM/


A group of 9 escapees (no real threat for the GC) was allowed to stay clear in the criterium, finishing 4'30" ahead of the bunch.

Michael Freiberg (Bianchi) took the line honours ahead of Murtagh (Charter) and Costello (Kangaroos)! Most notable change: Freiberg (who collected 11 points) took the lead in the points competition!

STAGE 8 - DEVONPORT KERMESSE/


The hilly crit race in Devonport promises a more interesting race - will anyone be able to attack race-leader O'Brien?

A group of 5 riders builds the first breakaway, including KoM-leader Carpenter (Euride), Rudolph (Drapac) and Taylor (GPM)..


Oh and a crash! And just like in the Capital Tour (Lachlan Norris), it's a podium-contender:

Nathan Earle (Huon, 3rd in GC) is down on the road with still 35km to go! Bad news for the most promising Huon-contender today!

He is brought back by his teammates quickly though, but we have to wait and see, if he's influenced by this crash..


So back to the real action: We're already on the penultimate lap, with the breakaway still more than 2 minutes in the lead..

..time for the GC-contenders to make their moves:

Neil Van der Ploeg (search2) goes first, followed by
O'Brien (Budget)
Haig (Huon) and also yesterday's stage-winner
Szollosi (ProTeamDU)!


It's a tough climb and the situation changes only a few moments later:

Talbot (Kangaroos) and Norris (Jayco) launched a powerful attack! Both are rather far behind in GC, but they hope for a Top-10.

Behind it's a new chasing group with some of the top-favorites:

Haig (Huon, who lost minutes in the mountains though)
O'Brien
Bayly
Szollosi
Semple!

So no sign of Earle or the remaining Huon-contenders like Crawford! Race-leader O'Brien looks strong and his biggest opponents ain't in the leading groups by now!


Back to the escapees, who will battle for the stage-win:

Taylor (GPM) attacks Carpenter (Euride) on the final climb, with the other escapees not being able to follow!


A few minutes behind, the situation remains the same:

Talbot/Norris are going to gain some time on group O'Brien, who still looks like he will defend his lead.

Earle joined Lapthorne (Drapac) and Gillett (African) for a late move to chase O'Brien, but maybe too late..


The stage goes to Josh Taylor (GPM), who secures yet another line honours for the team. His move was perfectly timed.


Group O'Brien finishes 4'48" later and with no one but Talbot/Norris (+ 3.45) gaining time on O'Brien, he did pretty well to hold off any serious attempts to attack his jersey!

It's also a quite disastrous stage for Huon: only Haig (far behind in GC) finished within group O'Brien! Crawford (+ 5.46) or Earle (+ 6.18) lost valuable time, will they even defend their podium-spots?


Credit where credit is due: Mark O'Brien celebrates a well deserved GC-win and did his best to retain his chance for grabbing the NRS-title.

Crawford (+ 1.51) managed to secure a podium-finish for Huon! 3rd for Bayly (search2) thanks to Earle dropping off the podium (6th)!

A great 4th for Szollosi, who took advantage of his breakaway-win and a good move today! Marshall (Satalyst) completes the Top-5, a nice result for the climber.

miggi133 wrote:
Hm... Its always the Huon contenders that are hitting the tarmac (Haig, Earle twice). I demand an investigation to be launched into that!

Team Kenya did quite well in the opening TTT..


Jayco/Apollo didn't.. bad opener for Lachlan Norris..


A chasing group with our blogger Rhys Gillett (African)..


..same group, different view..


Another small group enyoing the scenery..


A breakaway with stage-winner Szollosi (ProTeam) entering a corner..


KoM-winner and blogger Carpenter (Euride) attacking on a climb..