Grafton to Inverell (hilly classic, 228km)

The final and maybe most challenging event in the NRS 2014 is ready to kick off: the famous Grafton to Inverell Cycling Classic!

Next NRS-champion Earle has no pressure here (especially as he ain't taking part), but the battle for NRS's podium is still open: O'Brien finds himself in a battle for 2nd place, as Hucker grabbed points in the recently held flat classics! And of course Haig hopes for making the podium again and he knows what he do - you may remember he took out this race to jump onto 3rd in the NRS last year!


6 riders made it into the break of the day (with Strachan as the most notable name), but with now "only" 31km remaining, the peloton - led by Drapac and Euride - has narrowed the gap to just a minute!


So the top-favorites want to take control of the race in the crucial final 15kms - with the "Brodies Plains" as the last short climb and chance to go for a decisive move!

And here we are - the breakaway group is caught at the bottom of this climb and 5 riders attack now:

Wurf (Subway)
Hucker (Drapac)
O'Brien (Euride)
Ben Johnson (Champion System Composite) and
Norris (Jayco)!

So the battle for the NRS runner-up spot is on as well!


Of course Haig (Huon) has to react now that both Hucker and O'Brien made their moves:

and so he does a few moments later, accompanied by Van der Ploeg (search2) and Semple (Satalyst)!


Hucker with another acceleration just as Haig was going to catch up to the new leading group! The latter looks in trouble for the moment, as there's a short gap ahead of him.


The bigger news may be Hucker establishing a decent gap thanks to his second attack though:

12km (flat from now on) to go and the 3rd in the NRS leads solo by already 39"! 7 riders behind - including O'Brien, Van der Ploeg and also Haig finally caught up!


6km remaining and Hucker pulls the strings hard to hold on to a 45"-gap on the chasing group O'Brien/Haig!

The pressure is now definitely on O'Brien - if Hucker wins, he would need to finish 3rd (for equal points) or 2nd here to defend his runner-up spot in the NRS rankings!


The gap is at a minute now with 2km to go, so Hucker is likely to win this..

..back in the chasing group it ain't looking too good for O'Brien right now, as both Norris and Haig (who won't make the NRS podium if Hucker wins) try to drop O'Brien..


But first of all, Robbie Hucker (Drapac) celebrates his biggest win this year and his entire career! An impressive attack on today's final climb and his great skills on the flat finish make for a well deserved victory.

And this will give him the needed 7 points to put O'Brien under pressure for the battle for NRS' 2nd place..


1'07" later, Jack Haig crosses the line as 2nd! So he grabs at least another podium-finish here after winning in 2013.. a great fight after his problems on the final climb!

But where is O'Brien? He now needs to finish 3rd at least to defend his runner-up spot..


No, here comes Neil Van der Ploeg (and Adam Semple) first! Finally a great result for VdP after a rather disappointing second half the season this year!

O'Brien repeats his 5th place from last year for 2 points in the NRS rankings.. free agent Ben Johnson comes in 6th ahead of Norris, Wurf and Budget's Horgan.


Hucker did it! His 3rd place in the Melbourne to Warrnambool and his victory today made him overtake O'Brien in the NRS rankings by 2 points! Did anyone see this coming? Maybe even himself didn't! Stay tuned for the final rankings, folks.

His fans love him, his manager loves him.. his girlfriend better does.. but his opponents learned it the hard way this year: don't try to play with the Tasmanian Devil - Nathan Earle! After missing the NRS podium in the last two years, "Early" finally grabbed his first (and maybe last) NRS title this season! So it ain't surprising that there are rumors floating, that Earle may join WT-team Sky next year..

Hucker made the runner-up spot in the final event, thanks to an impressive win in the most challenging one day race in Australia! O'Brien came in 5th to at least secure his third consecutive NRS podium. Maybe better luck next year? Haig with another strong season as 4th overall, ahead of former champion Davison, who also may leave the NRS just like Earle.

2013 champion Van der Ploeg finishes 8th this year. Kinda "back to earth" for the allrounder, who couldn't repeat his awesome second half of the season this time. Still a respectable result with some solid results!

In the team's rankings, Huon dominated the competition and took the title back from Budget! Drapac back on podium after a rather disappointing 2013 campaign and some very good results by Hucker, Davison or Will Walker. Euride did well with O'Brien on the team, but lost it's "momentum" in the last events, even though Gill scored an outstanding victory in "the Citi".. stay tuned for the final VRS events and more stuff!



INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS/

Rk	Name	Team	Points
1	Nathan Earle	Huon Salmon - Genesys	63
2	Robbie Hucker	Drapac Cycling	58
3	Mark O'Brien	Euride Racing	56
4	Jack Haig	Huon Salmon - Genesys	52
5	Luke Davison	Drapac Cycling	45
6	Jack Anderson	Budget Forklifts	40
	Scott Law	GPM Data#3	40
8	Neil Van der Ploeg	search2retain	38
9	Aaron Donnelly	Huon Salmon - Genesys	36
10	Anthony Giacoppo	Huon Salmon - Genesys	33

TEAM RANKINGS/

Rk	Team	Points
1	Huon Salmon - Genesys	188
2	Budget Forklifts	159
3	Drapac Cycling	156
4	Euride Racing	119
5	search2retain	103
6	GPM Data#3	83
7	Jayco - Honey Shotz	72
8	Satalyst Giant Racing	63
9	Target Trek Racing Team	51
10	Pure Tasmania & Polygon Cycling	40

Stratford to Dargo

"The Stratford to Dargo, a lumpy, winding race along quiet country roads, exposed riders to a pick-a-plank bridge and a myriad of short sharp and long draggy climbs, punctuated by the sting in the tail; the wall. The final 10km come at 8%, although that obscures the 21% gradients hidden near its end."

The Stratford to Dargo continues to grow in reputation, with it being placed on the Victorian Road Series Calendar for 2014, making it a stepping stone to the Tour of Bright for many cyclists.

Top-favorites will be NRS' 2nd and Grafton to Inverell-winner Robbie Hucker (Drapac), who is simply at his best at the moment. Decent climbers like Dyball (Huon), last year's Tour of Bright-winner Williams (Budget), Spencer (Charter Mason) and of course our blogger Gillett (African Wildlife) will make for a thrilling race up this epic climb!



Current VRS-standings/

Rk	Name	Team	Total
1	Sam Crome	Charter Mason / Drapac DT	30
2	Rhys Gillett	African Wildlife Safaris	27
3	Nathan Elliott	Target Trek Racing Team	25
4	Joshua Prete	Budget Forklifts	23
5	Jason Spencer	Charter Mason / Drapac	20
6	Mark O'Brien	Euride Racing	15
	Andrew Stephan	Data#3 Cisco Racing Team	15
	Shaun McCarthy	Budget Forklifts	15
	Peter Milostic	Jayco Composite Team	15
10	Jesse Kerrison	Budget Forklifts	13
11	Matthew Clark	Drapac Cycling	12
	Peter Mueller	Austal - Subway Racing Team	12
13	Jayden Copp	Pro Team Downunder	10
	Nathan Earle	Huon Salmon - Genesys	10
15	Samuel Davis	Huon Salmon - Genesys	8
	Shannon Johnson	Charter Mason / Drapac DT	8
	Joseph Lewis	GPM Data#3	8
	Riley Maule	Data#3 Cisco Racing Team	8