Herald Sun Tour - UCI 2.1, Preview #1

Having secured a new February timeslot and a return to its UCI ranking, the Jayco Herald Sun Tour now returns with a spectacular course and exciting stages in 2015.

Starting with a Prologue course through the Heart of Melbourne, unlike anything ever seen in Australian Cycling! The prologue is not long at 2.5 kilometres but offers spectators an opportunity to see the world's best up close as they battle against the clock to take their chance to secure the Yellow Jersey.

Arthurs Seat & the Mornington Peninsula is building as one of the most exciting days on the Australian Cycling Calendar. With three tough climbs featured in the 120km final stage route, the action is sure to be hot roadside for a spectator favourite day on the hill.

The startlist (check the second preview soon) features some of Australia's best cyclists like new road champion Simon Gerrans, as well as Simon Clarke, Matthew Goss (all for Orica), Nathan Haas, Steele Von Hoff (both Garmin) or up and coming star Robert Power (U23 Team).. NRS-stars like Mark O'Brien, Jack Haig (Avanti) or Timothy Roe (Budget) will go for glory against those big guns!

Nagambie features a flat finish..
..while Ballarat offers an uphill finishing stretch!
Tour's highlight: Arthurs Seat!
Famous Arthurs Seat finish..

Herald Sun Tour Preview #2

The Herald Sun Tour concludes the Australian summer of cycling and it's worth a final event with both a challenging course and a startlist packed with some of the country's best cyclist to fight for stages and a prestigious overall victory.

Of course there's Simon Gerrans, who's aiming for his third Herald-victory after 2005 and 2006. Orica is unsurprisingly the top-seeded team with also Matthew Goss, Simon Clarke and Cameron Meyer participating.. but also Garmin brings a strong squad with Herald's 2011-champion Nathan Haas, Jack Bauer and Steele Von Hoff in particular. Another WorldTour-team Cannondale will go for Cam Wurf and Kiwi George Bennett.

And then we have our NRS-teams Avanti (O'Brien, Haig), Budget (Roe), Drapac (Lapthorne, Norris) and African Wildlife (Gillett), who do have a shot at a nice result despite those strong WT-squads lining up. This should be a great trip for those local teams in particular, as also many more international teams take part.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Aussie_Gerro_zps931c0b70.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Simon Gerrans (Orica)
The fans will love to see Gerro racing those events in Australia early this year and the crowned road champion should be considered the top-favorite for the overall win. The final stage is, where he wants to deliver.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Herald_Haas_zps7494ba12.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Nathan Haas (Garmin)
Had no chance against Gerro in the RoadNats, but will be his strongest competitor here. The prologue is one target already, but expect Haas to be at the front in almost every of those tricky stages.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Haig_zps1b14a724.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Jack Haig (Avanti Racing)
Avanti once again lines up with a strong squad: up and coming star Haig, as well as Mark O'Brien or Joe Cooper can be threats for the GC, while Anthony Giacoppo should be in the mix for bunch sprint-finishes.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Roe_zps457900ee.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Timothy Roe (Budget Forklifts)
Team Budget is expected to go all-in for Timmy Roe, who already proved that he is on the way to his old strength. With some good support behind him, the climber will aim for the Top-5 or podium in GC.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Herald_Lapthorne_zpsad3526a6.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Darren Lapthorne (Drapac Cycling)
Coming off a huge win from Jack Anderson (also starting here) at the Cadel Evans Classic, Drapac looks set for another good result: Lapthorne, Norris or Anderson for the GC, Cantwell/Clarke for sprints!

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Herald_Power_zpsc1edff65.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Robert Power (Jayco U23 National Team)
Watch out for this young man, who is considered as one of the rising stars in Australia. Just like Haig, also Power will spend the season with the WorldTour-Academy in Europe later on. The next big thing!

Herald Sun Tour Recap

Top-favorite Simon Gerrans (Orica) took out the Herald Sun Tour 2015 thanks to his stage-win up the famous Arthur's Seat on final day of the 5-stages-event! Nathan Haas (Garmin) and Mark O'Brien (Avanti) completed the podium, as those three went clear from the bunch on the crucial stage.

The NRS-teams had more reasons to cheer with Joe Cooper (Avanti) winning the prologue ahead of teammate Anthony Giacoppo and Lachlan Norris (Drapac) taking the KoM-competition thanks to his efforts on final day.. Cooper had to give away his yellow on second day though, where Simon Clarke (Orica) took out the stage in Ballarat in a thrilling finish ahead of Drapac's duo Will Clarke/Jon Cantwell. This stage saw also Gerrans and Haas already trying to attack, yet reeled in by the bunch under the kite.

The next two stages would be dominated by Steele Von Hoff (Garmin), who took line honours ahead of a superstrong Gerrans on each of those two days! This would move him on 2nd in GC with the same time as Clarke, while Gerrans would already prove his ambitions to take the overall win later on.

And the veteran delivered: the queen-stage, in which the peloton had to climb the Arthur's Seat three times, was set for a thrilling battle between the very best. Once the early breakaway was caught (with Drapac's Norris taking the KoM-jersey), Avanti's O'Brien and Kiwi James Oram attacked the bunch 17km to the line! O'Brien would hold on to a gap and only Gerrans and Haas managed to bridge across this 40"-advantage!

The trio maintained their lead even with more attacks going and Gerrans eventually dropped his companions easily in the sprint for the stage and GC. O'Brien impressed as 2nd on the stage, 22" down on Gerrans. But Haas would finish close ahead in GC thanks to a better prologue.. one minute later, an again strong Timothy Roe (Budget) would lead a group of 5 riders with Simon Clarke and Darren Lapthorne (Drapac) across the line. Roe would finish the GC as 6th, Lapthorne as 7th and an impressive Patrick Bevin (New Zealand) would complete the Top-5 behind Simon Clarke!

Cooper and Giacoppo would go for 1-2 in the prologue..

Haas and Gerrans attacked the bunch late into the second stage..

..but Drapac worked hard to reel them in!

Simon Clarke took the stage in a photo-finish ahead of Drapac's Clarke!

Von Hoff celebrating his first win in Bendigo..

..and his second in Narambie! Both ahead of Gerrans..

Lapthorne (Drapac) and Clarke (Orica) attacking on Arthur's Seat..

Haas, Gerro and O'Brien holding off Wurf (Cannondole)..

The chasing group Roe/Clarke trying to narrow the gap..

..and Gerro kicking off his winning move close to the line!

Gerrans celebrating both the stage-win and the overall victory..

..his third Herald Sun-title after 2005 and 2006.. ten years ago!

Norris secured his team a nice KoM-shirt after a good tour!

#FINAL RESULTS

1	Simon Gerrans	Orica - GreenEdge	13h22'14
2	Nathan Haas	Garmin Sharp	+ 38
3	Mark O'Brien	Avanti Racing Team	+ 44
4	Simon Clarke	Orica - GreenEdge	+ 1'08
5	Patrick Bevin	New Zealand NT	+ 1'27
6	Thimothy Roe	Budget Forklifts	+ 1'31
7	Darren Lapthorne	Drapac Cycling	+ 1'39
8	Steele Von Hoff	Garmin Sharp	+ 2'01
9	Joe Cooper	Avanti Racing Team	+ 2'07
10	Cameron Bayly	OCBC Bank Singapore	+ 2'20

Oceania Road Championships Preview

The Australian road season continues this week with Canberra to host some of the world’s best cyclists for the 2015 Oceania Road Championships.

Tuesday’s time trial courses will be held along an undulating courses in the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, with the road races to feature a challenging course around the picturesque area, with the final laps of a 9.2km loop set to create an interesting finish to each event.

The terrain will ensure all riders are tested throughout, and mixed with the quality field taking part, a true Oceania Champion will certainly be found in all categories.

Last year's edition saw a narrow win by Jack Anderson (Budget) in the timetrial, finishing less than a second faster than top-favorite Joe Cooper (Huon). A thrilling start into some entertaining championships.. Jack Haig (Huon) would help his team bouncing back from this close loss and finish off the road race in another close decision - this time beating Jack Anderson for a prestigious win!

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Oce_MeyerCam_zps3de3bc7f.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Cameron Meyer (Orica)
The only WorldTour-rider is here to defend his road-title from 2013, where he came back from surgery to find back to old strength. Meyer should be considered a favorite for both the timetrial and road race!

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Cooper_zps7f5c0602.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Joe Cooper (Avanti Racing)
The Kiwi missed last year's timetrial-title as close as you can miss a victory and already said, that he's top-motivated to grab this win this season. One of the best TT-specialists in Oceania, the favorite for the win.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Anderson_zps7a324a36.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Jack Anderson (Drapac Cycling)
Defending timetrial-champion and last year's 2nd in the road race, Anderson already had a great start into this new season with his win at the Cadel Evans Classic. Watch out for him in both events!

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Dyball_zpsea228cb7.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Ben Dyball (Avanti Racing)
And another professional, who should be capable of being a threat in both hilly events. Dyball will love the challenging profiles and is considered one of the top-favorites for the road race at least.

[img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/15NRS_Oce_Christie_zps58c3f93f.jpg[/img-l][img-l]https://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/tsmoha/NRS_Portraits/NRS_Platzhalter_zps31ed228a.png[/img-l]Jason Christie (Breads of Europe)
Reigning Kiwi timetrial-champion Jason Christie is worth a mention, too: beating the likes of Gunman (Avanti) or Horgan (Budget) in the Kiwi events, the talented TT-specialist may have a shot here as well.

Oceania Road Championships - Timetrial

Avanti's Kiwi Joe Cooper once again misses the Oceanian Timetrial-crown by a small margin, this time coming short by 9 seconds on new champion Cam Meyer from Orica-GreenEdge! Team Budget's Michael Vink completes the podium with no chance to compete with today's best.

Also defending champion Jack Anderson (Drapac) wasn't in the mix for a great result, eventually missing the Top-10 in this challenging timetrial over 37km. His new teammate Will Clarke would set a late and promising best time, beating two of the most serious contenders from New Zealand: Paul Odlin and Jason Christie.

Ben Dyball would be 7 seconds faster though, while Vink would then come and set a new best time immediately.. when the two last riders Meyer and Cooper would cross the final split, Vink was already out of the mix for the win with 25 seconds disadvantage.. top-favorite Cooper faced a 7-seconds-disadvantage on Meyer at this point and couldn't fight back for those seconds til the finish. A tough loss in a timetrial, which suited the puncheurs and not just the pure TT-specialists.

Will Clarke set a promising best time to finish 5th eventually..

Ben Dyball had a realistic chance to make the podium..

..opposing to Kiwi champion Christie, who had to settle for 7th place!

New Zealand with two on the podium, as Vink beats Dyball for 3rd!

Cam Meyer on his way to set the winning time..

..and another close runner-up for top-favorite Joe Cooper!

#FINAL RESULTS

1	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	59'02
2	Joe Cooper	Avanti Racing Team	+ 9
3	Michael Vink	Budget Forklifts	+ 32
4	Ben Dyball	Avanti Racing Team	+ 44
5	Will Clarke	Drapac Cycling	+ 51
6	Paul Odlin	New Zealand NT	+ 58
7	Jason Christie	Breads of Europe/AaP	+ 1'07
8	Jayden Copp	Team Scody Downunder	+ 1'19
9	Fraser Gough	Data#3 Symantec RT	+ 1'29
10	Peter Milostic	Jayco Composite Team	+ 1'30

Oceania Road Championships - Road Race

Cameron Meyer (Orica) completed his double and succesfully repeated his Oceanian road-title from two years ago! A strong attack out of a small leading group made the top-favorite winning an entertaining race ahead of up and coming Robert Power (Australia U23) and Wes Sulzberger (Drapac)!

The real action kicked off 40km before finish, when some serious contenders would attack the bunch to bridge across a 2-minutes-gap on the break of the day (with Rhys Pollock as the most notable name): Drapac's duo Wes Sulzberger/Rob Hucker, as well as Neil van der Ploeg (Avanti) and Cam Bayly (search2) were the first to launch a promising move.

10km later, this group was joined by Cam Meyer and Rob Power, while Team Budget saw themselves under pressure to keep the pace high back in the pleoton.. the team would pull both this attackers and the early escapees back - except of veteran Pollock (Charter Mason), who went for a solo-attempt.

16km before finish, Rob Power would launch another move though, immediately followed by Meyer and Michael Torckler (Smartstop)! But it was just Wes Sulzberger, who eventually could hang on with Meyer/Power.. Orica's Meyer though did not wait for too long and went for another attack just a few moments later! The winning move, as the top-favorite would establish a comfortable gap on Power/Sulzberger, who could just fight for the runner-up eventually.. Sam Horgan (Budget) paid something back for his team's work to finish 4th ahead of Torckler, though missing the podium by quite a margin.

Pollock (Charter) and Spurrell (African) in the break of the day..

Drapac leading the peloton into the finishing circuit..

Bayly (search2) on the move about 40km to the line!

Chasing group with Bayly, Sulzberger/Hucker, Meyer, Power and vdPloeg..

Power, Torckler and Meyer going again on the bell lap..

Meyer attacking Power once last escapee Pollock was caught..

Top-favorite Meyer on the way to winning this one solo..

Shooting-star Power sprinting for 2nd place ahead of Sulzberger..

Budget's Sam Horgan to finish a few seconds ahead of a first bigger group..

..where Torckler completes the Top-5 ahead of Bayly and Hucker!

#FINAL RESULTS

1	Cameron Meyer	Orica - GreenEdge	3h46'45
2	Robert Power	Jayco U23 National Team	+ 1'00
3	Wesley Sulzberger	Drapac Cycling	s.t.
4	Samuel Horgan	Budget Forklifts	+ 3'28
5	Michael Torckler	Team SmartStop	+ 3'43
6	Cameron Bayly	search2retain	s.t.
7	Robbie Hucker	Drapac Cycling	s.t.
8	Rhys Pollock	Charter Mason Giant Racing	s.t.
9	Neil Van der Ploeg	Avanti Racing Team	s.t.
10	Adam Phelan	Drapac Cycling	+ 10'45