Adelaide Tour Stages 1-2

A commanding start to the Adelaide Tour for Team Budget: Brendan Canty took out the opening stage ahead of teammate Jack Bobridge, gaining valuable 40 seconds on a chasing group with Avanti's Pat Bevin, Pat Shaw and Matt Clark! Sam Crome (Charter Mason) sits 3rd in the GC though, while NRS leader Ben Hill missed the crucial split on day one.

The challenging opening stage from Tanunda to Campbelltown (featuring the famous Corkscrew a few kilometre to the finish) went perfectly good for Team Budget: a strong Canty pulled the pack onto the last climb and opened up a notable gap with just Bobridge hanging on. While a chasing group of 8 riders (four from Avanti, as well Budget's Glenn O'Shea and Brodie Talbot) was built at the top of climb, the leading duo went to defend a maybe crucial gap for the GC!

On second day, the partly hilly McLaren Vale Road Race was taken by Daniel Fitter (Charter Mason) ahead of an again strong looking Jack Bobridge, who moved up to the provisional GC-lead that way. Michael Schweizer came 3rd on the day, where no more crucial splits happened.

Again some tough luck for Avanti here, as Neil Van der Ploeg was involved in a mass crash on first day. Definitely a race that suits him, so just like Matt Clark in Perth, the team is unlucky with crashes so far.

Canty, Bobridge and O'Shea pacing into the Corkscrew..

The chasing group with Bevin, Crome, Clark and Talbot..

Tactics played to perfection, as Canty and Bobo do the double!

Three Avanti riders leading the 8-men-chasing group then..

African Wildlife and Charter Mason controlling the second stage..

Fitter and Bobridge fighting for the line honours..

..and Fitter takes the second stage easily then!

Bobridge taking over yellow from teammate Canty though!

Adelaide Tour Stages 3-4

Team Budget celebrates a huge result in Adelaide, as Brendan Canty and Jack Bobridge went for a 1-2 in the final GC! Patrick Bevin and Patrick Shaw (both Avanti) and Brad Evans (Pat's Veg) complete the Top-5, while Budget managed to place two more riders inside the Top-10: Brodie Talbot as 6th, Glenn O'Shea as 8th.

The final two (flat rated) stages were dominated by Andrew Williams (Navitas) though, as the promising sprinter fooled the top-favorites and took out both bunch sprints in style. A great showing from Navitas, which couldn't make the crucial splits on the opening day.

While Pat Bevin moved up to 3rd in the GC, he still won't be happy about missing out on a single stage-podium here: Michael Schweizer (African Wildlife) finished 2nd in the two final stages and can be considered unlucky that way. Brendan Canty did extraordinary well on both days and slipped back into yellow thanks to two 4th places. Kinda deserved after his work (and win) on the opening stage to Campbelltown!

African Wildlife Safaris took command on the third stage..

Williams trying to slip through Grazatio and Schweizer..

..for a kinda surprising victory on this third day!

The usual suspects preparing the bunch sprint on final day..

Evans, Williams and Schweizer at the very front then..

And Williams completes the double, Canty comes in 4th!

Sam Volkers (Team Scody Downunder) winning the KoM..

Canty celebrating Budget's first NRS stage race win since 2014!

#INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Rk	Name	Team	Points
1	Jack Bobridge	Budget Forklifts	24
2	Ben Hill	Charter Mason Giant	15
	Brendan Canty	Budget Forklifts	15
4	Sam Crome	Charter Mason Giant	11
5	Ben Dyball	Avanti Racing Team	10
	Michael Schweizer	African Wildlife Safaris	10
7	Jack Anderson	Budget Forklifts	9
8	Patrick Bevin	Avanti Racing Team	8
9	Patrick Shaw	Avanti Racing Team	7
	Brad Evans	Pat's Veg Cycling	7
11	Guy Kalma	OTOC Vault Racing	6
	Oliver Kent-Spark	search2retain	6
	Andrew Williams	Navitas Satalyst	6
14	Brodie Talbot	Budget Forklifts	5
15	Mitchell Lovelock-Fay	Avanti Racing Team	4
	Callum Scotson	SASI/Callidus Cycling	4
17	Paul Van der Ploeg	Charter Mason Giant	3
	Scott Sunderland	Budget Forklifts	3
	Glenn O'Shea	Budget Forklifts	3
	Daniel Fitter	Charter Mason Giant	3
21	Matthew Clark	Avanti Racing Team	2
22	Roman van Uden		1
	Sean Lake	African Wildlife Safaris	1
	Massimo Graziato	African Wildlife Safaris	1

#TEAM RANKINGS

Rk	Team	Points
1	Team Budget Forklifts	33
2	Charter Mason Giant Racing	29
3	Avanti Racing Team	24
4	African Wildlife Safaris Cycling Team	16
5	SASI/Callidus Cycling Team	12
6	Navitas Satalyst Racing team	10
7	Team Scody Downunder	7
	search2retain-health.com.au	7
9	OTOC Vault Racing	6
10	Data#3 Symantec p/b Scody	5
11	Wormall Civil CCS Cycling Team	4
	Subaru Albion Development Team	4
13	Dulux TIS Racing Team	3
14	Team Lightsview	1
	Pat's Veg Cycling	1

Tour of Toowoomba Preview

The FKG Tour of Toowoomba is again be part of the Subaru National Road Series – May 21 to 24 and is the only NRS Teams event to be staged in Queensland. It will comprise of three gruelling road stages, the challenging short Individual Time Trial and the inner city Criterium.

The 2016 FKG Tour of Toowoomba – bigger, better and faster.

Mark O'Brien is the record winner of this event with three consecutive victories between 2012 and 2014, but the climber ain't at the start this year:

2015 | Neil Van der Ploeg (Avanti)
2014 | Mark O'Brien (Euride Racing)
2013 | Mark O'Brien (Budget Forklifts)

Patrick Bevin	Jack Bobridge	Sam Crome
Joseph Cooper	Jack Anderson	Ben Hill
Patrick Shaw	Michael Schweizer	Keagan Girdlestone

Team Budget is coming off a great start into the season and Jack Bobridge has to be considered a top-favorite again: the timetrial plus those challenging hilly stages surely suit him as much as Pat Bevin or Joe Cooper. Avanti now aiming for their first GC-win in 2016.

Some usual suspects like Crome, Hill, Schweizer and Girdlestone then. They all need to limit their losses in the timetrial, where other solid stage racers like Craig Evers (Data#3) or Sean Lake (African Wildlife) can become real threats for the overall win.

A special welcome goes to 7-Eleven: a team from the Phillippines, that brings some international flavor. Also some Queensland based wildcard teams like Campos Cycling or TLD Racing deserve a mention here.

Team Budget is lining up with Bobridge and Queensland based Jack Anderson - the duo that went for a 2-3 in the opening event in Perth. Can they repeat a similar success in Anderson's home race? Also Kristian Juel is from Queensland and should be top-motivated.

Tour of Toowoomba Stages 1-2

Oops, they did it again: like in Adelaide, Team Budget took out the first stage with Jack Bobridge beating Pat Shaw (Avanti) and his teammate Michael Torckler on a short climb up to Highfields! With about half a minute gained on other favorites like Sam Crome (Charter Mason) and Paddy Bevin (Avanti), this effort was the key for Bobridge to defend the purple leader shirt despite a rather disappointing showing in the following timetrial.

The opening stage was controlled by mainly Charter Mason and Team Budget, but it was Pat Shaw who launched the first attack on the final climb. Bobridge (accompanied by Torckler) followed quickly and the group managed to create a small gap on Crome/Bevin and the first bigger group with other contenders.. Bobridge played it smart then and took benefit from the better position at Shaw's wheel. His first stage-win in the NRS this year!

Opposing to this opener, Team Budget very much suffered from bad legs in the following Helidon timetrial: Bobridge lost 29 seconds on Sean Lake (African Wildlife), who surprisingly took the stage ahead of Cooper and Bevin (14 seconds) - moving up to 3rd in the GC behind Bevin! Also Torckler and Jack Anderson hadn't the best day and dropped down the GC. A pretty close GC-lead for Bobridge with still three tricky stages to come!

Pat Shaw trying to break clear on the short finish climb up Highfields..

..which he did! Bevin and Crome jumping behind the leading trio..

..where Bobridge took the stage ahead of Shaw and Torckler!

24 seconds lost for Crome/Bevin, 39 seconds for the next group!

Sean Lake setting a stunning best time in the ITT by Helidon..

Kiwi champion Cooper had to settle for a clear 2nd place..

Bobridge struggled big time to lose 29 seconds on Lake..

..but keeps the race-lead with now three stages to come!

Tour of Toowoomba Stages 3-4-5

NRS leader Jack Bobridge (Budget) succesfully defended the race-lead in Toowoomba and takes his first victory in the National Road Series! The premium addition for Budget held off Pat Bevin (Avanti) by 9 seconds, while a strong Sean Lake (African Wildlife) completes the podium with two stage-wins nailed here! Queensland based Jack Anderson (Budget) moved up to 8th in the final GC thanks to some riders like Cooper or Kalma losing minutes in some tricky stages.

Bobridge had to survive two more hilly road races after defending purple in the timetrial: heavy crosswinds made for some highly selective racing, where only rather small leading groups battled for line honours. Good news for Bobridge, that there was hardly a chance to attack his narrow race lead though: Sean Lake and Sam Dobbs (search2) took those two stages, while Bobridge finished as strong 2nd on day four.. his teammate Kristian Juel attacked the pack in the final third of the stage, but got swallowed by the bunch alongside the early breakaway.

The tricky criterium through Toowoomba then went to David Parker (Phoenix Cycling Collective), who was the only early escapee to survive ahead of the nearing bunch, where Tommy Nankervis (Budget) added another stage-podium for his team. While Bobridge finished safely in the front group, GC's 4th Joe Cooper (Avanti) apparently took things to easy and lost time due to a split in the pack! An unexpected but "expensive" loss to drop out the point scoring GC-area.

A group of 23 riders going clear late in the Helidon Road Race..

Lake storms toward the very front in the bunch sprint then..

..and makes it two wins in a row, beating Cooper easily!

Juel aiming to bridge across the early break the next day..

..which he did, but an again small bunch reeled them in!

Sam Dobbs dominated the sprint with Bobridge coming in as 2nd!

David Parker celebrates a huge victory for a small team on the final day!

And Bobridge extends his NRS lead with his GC-win!

roturn wrote:
Last diary of him was in the NRS already, when he had the NRS lead even, didn`t he?