O´Brien is/will be the deserved winner, even not having the best TTT squad, Budget surprised me a little, Huon with a stable time, Drapac showed their main strenght..
@baia: Spot on, mate. Even though I don't think TTs are Drapac main strength (well, they do have Luke Davison for the sprints, right)
@sutty: It's their home race, so yes
Tour of Toowoomba (Stage 4, Flat, 110km)
Two flat stages will conclude the Tour of Toowoomba, but both this 4th stage to Glenvale and the final criterium in Toowoomba ain't as easy as 'flat' could mean.
With several short climbs and an uphill-finish on Glenvale Criterium Circuit, today's profile may suit a puncheur more than a pure sprinter - like last season, when Donnelly (Huon) took out the stage ahead of O'Brien and Lapthorne.
Josh Taylor (GPM) was the only one to stay clear from an early breakaway attempt, so the well known fighter seems to go for a long solo-ride (79km)!
Tough weather conditions (rain, 70kmh crosswinds) make for an interesting race, with the peloton stretched out and a minor split (no GC-contenders involved) happening as well.
14km to go, and Taylor leads by 1'10" on the chasing bunch, where Satalyst and Euride do most of the work.
9km remaining and with only one short climb left, two GC-riders try a late attack:
will rather go for attacking the Top-5 than race-leader O'Brien, but who knows what can happen on a day like today?
We all know! Taylor enters the Glenvale Criterium Circuit with a 40"-gap and looks like today's winner..
..in other news, the attacking duo Hucker/Norris has been swallowed by the peloton, so no luck yet.
Let's keep this short: Josh "Stage-hunter" Taylor takes out Toowoomba's 4th stage out of a solo-breakaway! Well done.
At least for the GC, there's more interesting news behind though! Like last year, the tricky uphill finish suits the stage-racers more than the sprinters and a group of 7 riders will fight for the remaining bonus seconds:
Semple (GC's 4th + 0.50)
Anderson (5th + 0.57)
O'Brien (race-leader)
Earle (3rd + 0.48)
Donnelly (last year's winner here in Glenvale)
Sulzberger
Bayly (2nd, + 0.17)
So the GC's Top-5 will fight for maybe crucial bonus seconds!
Adam Semple sprints for 2nd, 30" behind Taylor! Anderson 3rd ahead of O'Brien and Earle..
So yes, we will see some minor - but notable - changes in the GC's Top-5 today!
Semple jumps from 4th to 3rd thanks to his finish today and Anderson narrows the gap to Earle, who dropped off the podium by 4". Still one similar tricky crit left though!
Oh look, the good old Earle from last season is back! Promising start and a slow but steady drop off! Though its great to see that GPM D3 continue where they have left off last year! Great performances by individual riders and stage wins! Maybe I have to create a shirt for them next to show my support for the team (well next to Huon)
By the way, how are SUVelo doing? They were never seen in the NRS last year, although you promised me to report on them from time to time!
3 from 3 was always going to be too much for Huon. O'Brien though has been really impressive here, doing just what he had to do and barring anything mental a deserved GC win.
Some more great rides from various people, Bayly and Semple leading that charge, have really made this race interesting.
@Froome: Euride definitely rocked that TTT, yes. One of the biggest gaps in a TT i've seen with PCM13, which seems to produce rather small gaps there - or at least with my DB
@sutty: Looking back at 2013, where O'Brien gained 20 seconds (including bonus) in that final stage, yes, Anderson needs to go all or nothing
@miggi: Earle, yes... But at least he did better than last year, where he missed the crucial attacks! And yes, GPM.. Seems to be their tactics, yet again. So a new shirt would often to be seen in celebrations, i guess SUVelo.. I know, i know.. I promise i will get you that report(s) this season
@Manx: Not much to add here. O'Brien delivers so far, as well as his new team with it's great TTT. Bayly joining the mix this time and Semple with his latest victory definitely made things interesting, yes.
@all: Should find some time to finish this race today, stay tuned!
The final stage in Toowoomba features a tough and fast criterium, with a short climb that has to be raced 8 times.. yesterday's finish looked similar and the sprinters struggled to do anything good.
So will this criterium even make for some changes in the close GC - like it did last year, when O'Brien (now leading the race) attacked the bunch to take out both stage and GC?
Speaking of SUVelo first: Connor Hughes is part of today's breakaway, leading the group through the early rain. It's been quiet around Sydney's University team lately, but that will change now!
The 9-men-breakaway with Hepburn (GPM) and Flakemore (Tasmania) as the most notable names is soon to be caught with now only 5km remaining! Yes, we're already in the final moments of this crit..
Or are we wrong and will the escapees hold on to their small gap?
We're on the uphill-finish (700 metres to go) and three of the escapees kicked off the sprint ahead of the nearing bunch:
O'Callaghan (Lightsview)
Michel (Charter Mason) and
Hepburn (GPM)!
No chance. They three are swallowed by the sprinting bunch close before finish and won't be in the mix for the stage-win!
Bonus-seconds could be crucial again, as some of the GC-contenders are leading the sprint - without a gap yet though:
Semple (GC's 3rd + 0.44)
Earle (GC's 4th + 0.48)
are the most promising here and the two could swith positions again, if Earle manages to finish ahead of Semple this time!
Also in the mix: Van der Ploeg, Tobin (search2), Giacoppo (Huon) and Hucker (Drapac)..
Adam Semple takes it! An important stage-win, even though Earle couldn't hold on to his speed and dropped to 11th eventually.
Van der Ploeg and Giacoppo complete today's podium. Most important news: no gap for Semple, so O'Brien (16th) finished safely within the bunch..
He makes it three in a row! Mark'Brien wins the Tour of Toowoomba - yet again. An impressive ride.
Cameron Bayly finishes as great 2nd (17 seconds behind), with Semple completing the podium (34 sec)! So all of the Top-3 grabbed one stage-win at least, so this is what you call a well deserved podium then!
Earle might have hoped for more, but did better than last year: 4th place ahead of "local hero" Jack Anderson, who was expected to attack Earle in that final crit.
Hucker (Drapac), Norris (Jayco), Bonello (GPM), Carpenter (Euride) and Lapthorne (Drapac) round up the Top-10, while our blogger Gillett (African Wildlife) missed the points-ranks by 6 seconds.
sutty68 wrote:
After such a poor showing, Budget will be happy with the fifth place by Anderson
Yes and no The problem was the first stage, where he missed the attacks by O'Brien and Co.. He did well in second stage, finishing behind O'Brien as 2nd. So it's a mix of poor tactics and bad luck, but you are right, his 5th ain't that bad then.
@sutty: It would be definitely time for Budget to grab a GC-win Thanks for your support, btw!
Earle re-takes the NRS-lead from teammate Haig, who skipped the recently held Tour of Toowoomba. It's still a close ranking, of course, with only three events finished.. O'Brien is back where he finished last season, ahead of Van der Ploeg, who couldn't make the Top-10 in Toowoomba, but who scored 3 points thanks to good stage-finishes.. Anderson, Semple, Haig and Lapthorne look like the biggest contenders behind, but it's still too early to make predictions.
The team's rankings did change, too. Both Huon (still in the lead) and Budget couldn't take the team's classification in Toowoomba, which went to Euride instead. The duo O'Brien/Carpenter looks like one of the most potent duos in the NRS, plus the team's strength in TTs, this makes for a quite promising team.. search2retain and Drapac complete the Top-5 for now, but both Jayco and Satalyst had some good individual results as well.
Considering they haven't been performing that well, Team Budget are not in a bad position in the rankings with Anderson equal third in the individual and the team in second
And Earle appreciates your ever-lasting support 
