Tour of the Great South Coast Stages 7-8

Team Budget bounced back from a dominating showing from Avanti Racing at the Battle on the Border and took the overall victory in the Great South Coast: Scott Sunderland defended his long lasting race lead til the end and added another podium as 2nd on the final stage at Port Fairy! Raphael Freienstein (Charter Mason) added his second stage-win the day before, moving up to 2nd ahead of Jackson Law (Subaru NSWIS) in the final GC.

Breakaways became more dangerous on the final two days, as Chris Harper (Swiss Wellness) almost survived the Koroit to Peterborough Road Race for the stage-win. Freienstein though had other things in mind and took the stage, putting some pressure on race leader Sunderland, who had his worst day as 9th on the stage. He needed to defend an 8-seconds-gap on the final stage..

And here we go with the first breakaway victory, as Ivan Michel - Beard (Team Seight) narrowly held off Scott Sunderland for line honours in Port Fairy! Still great news for Sundo, as he easily defended his GC-lead that way. And while Pat Bevin had to settle for a quiet 8th place in the GC, Sunderland enjoyed a pretty huge tour with two stage-wins, several podiums, the points jersey and of course the overall victory! That's a way to support Jack Bobridge defending his NRS lead against Bevin..

Chris Harper fighting to hold off the nearing bunch and Freienstein..

A huge fight, but Freienstein went past him for the win!

Michael-Beard desperately trying to hold on to a notable gap..

Sunderland, Tobin and Witmitz nearing with some good speed..

..but the escapee somehow manages to take the final stage!

He could finally celebrate on the podium then..

.like Sundo, who took out the points classification..

..and the GC, which he defended since stage two!

Tour of the King Valley Preview

It's official: the 2016 Sam Miranda Tour of the King Valley will host a Men's NRS round as well as the Women's Tour! So we got a new event on the schedule, that should make for a nice addition and some exciting action.

The opening ITT is obviously a key stage with the following three stages being partly hilly, but not too challenging overall. The 'Strade Nero' stage on day three should still lead to plenty of action in the pack and of course there's always a chance to attack the opponents on those climbs here.

Patrick Bevin	Joseph Cooper	Ben Hill
Sean Lake	Michael Schweizer	Guy Kalma
Brad Evans	Sam Horgan	Raphael Freienstein

Will Patrick Bevin finally be able to go past Bobridge in the NRS rankings? Bevin is coming off a rather disappointing Great South Coast, but those profiles here should suit him perfectly. Other punchy sprinters like Michael Schweizer (African Wildlife), Brad Evans (Pat's Veg) or also Raphael Freienstein (Charter Mason) may be in the mix for the GC.

Of course there's some puncheurs aiming high as well: Ben Hill, Joe Cooper, Guy Kalma, Sam Horgan and a few more promising names can definitely do some damage. Especially Cooper as the best TT-specialist should be considered the top-favorite.

Team Budget is still racing in the US simultaneously to this event, but like in the Great South Coast, they can rely on some good depth here: Sam Horgan, Kristian Juel or Westley Gough can ride for the GC, while Scott Sunderland is aiming for bunch sprints again.

Tour of the King Valley Stages 1-2-3

Promising Kiwi sprinter Brad Evans (Pat's Veg) takes over the race-lead from top favorite Joe Cooper (Avanti), as he leads the GC by a few seconds ahead of three Avanti riders with the final hilly stage to come! Pat Bevin sits on 3rd, Sam Horgan is Budget's best on 6th place so far.

Cooper unsurprisingly took out the opening timetrial, even though it was a pretty close win ahead of Daniel Fitter (Charter Mason) and Pat Bevin! The reigning timetrial champion from New Zealand adds yet another NRS stage-win to his bucket and looked set to repeat his success from the Battle on the Border.

The following Wangaratta Criterium was won by escapee Nic Mattock (OTOC), who did benefit from the peloton struggling to catch him in time. He narrowly held on to his lead with Michael Schweizer (African Wildlife) finishing 2nd ahead of Evans and Budget's Scott Sunderland.

The favorites bounced back on the next day - the 'Strade Nero' stage: while Budget's boys tried to split the pack, it still came down to a bunch sprint from a bigger peloton. Brad Evans proved his skills and went to take the stage ahead of Scott Sunderland and former NRS leader Ben Hill (Charter)! Can he defend this GC-lead in the most challenging stage now?

Cooper doing what he does best: winning a timetrial!

Sam Horgan trying to attack late in the Wangaratte Crit..

..empty-handed, as the sprinters caught up quickly..

Escapee Nic Mattock took the stage anyway, Schweizer comes 2nd!

Team Budget pacing up the tour's most challenging climb..

Hill, Sunderland and Evans battling for line honours then..

Evans beats Sundo and gains valuable bonifications..

..to slip into the pink leader shirt with one stage to come!

Tour of the King Valley Stage 4

Second consecutive stage race victory for Team Budget, as Sam Horgan took the overall win from the Sam Miranda Tour of the King Valley! The strong roleur managed to break clear from a reduced pack late in the final stage, gaining valuable seconds on race-leader Brad Evans (Pat's Veg) and Pat Bevin (Avanti). The latter moved up to 2nd in the GC anyway, as Evans lost a few additional seconds on the day.

The two top-teams Avanti and Budget definitely made for a tough day in the saddle, as they went for a high pace up the last climb. This caused some major splits and only about 30 riders managed to stay at the front! It was Horgan, who then launched his winning move when the bunch seemed to prepare for the sprint: about 3km before finish, the Kiwi broke clear with his teammate Glenn O'Shea!

A chasing group with Pat Bevin, Matt Clark (Avanti), Sean Lake and Michael Schweizer (African) also rode away from the pack, but couldn't bridge across the solo leader Horgan, who took the stage by 13 seconds on Schweizer and Bevin! While O'Shea also finished in that chasing group, race-leader Brad Evans came in with the first bigger group at 33 seconds on Horgan. This made him drop to 4th in the final GC.

The break of the day with Chris Harper (Swiss Wellness)..

Avanti and Budget leading the pack into the final flat sector..

Horgan and O'Shea opening up a gap on the leading group then!

Horgan accelerates with the finish already approaching..

Group Bevin/Schweizer trying to narrow the gap to Horgan..

..who fights til the end and takes the stage with a crucial gap!

Not only celebrating a nice stage-win..

..but also his first NRS GC-victory in four years!

#INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

Rk	Name	Team	Points
1	Patrick Bevin	Avanti Racing Team	51
2	Jack Bobridge	Budget Forklifts	41
3	Joseph Cooper	Avanti Racing Team	32
4	Scott Sunderland	Budget Forklifts	28
5	Raphael Freienstein	Charter Mason Giant	24
	Ben Hill	Charter Mason Giant	24
	Brad Evans	Pat's Veg Cycling	24
8	Michael Schweizer	African Wildlife Safaris	20
9	Sam Crome	Charter Mason Giant	17
10	Patrick Shaw	Avanti Racing Team	16
11	Brendan Canty	Budget Forklifts	15
	Sean Lake	African Wildlife Safaris	15
	Keagan Girdlestone	Charter Mason Giant	15
	Jackson Law	Subaru NSWIS	15
	Sam Horgan	Budget Forklifts	15
16	Jack Anderson	Budget Forklifts	12
	Matthew Clark	Avanti Racing Team	12
18	Daniel Fitter	Charter Mason Giant	11
19	Ben Dyball	Avanti Racing Team	10
	Brodie Talbot	Budget Forklifts	10

#TEAM RANKINGS

Rk	Team	Points
1	Avanti Racing Team	95
2	Team Budget Forklifts	92
3	Charter Mason Giant Racing	84
4	African Wildlife Safaris Cycling Team	60
5	Navitas Satalyst Racing team	30
6	search2retain-health.com.au	26
7	SASI/Callidus Cycling Team	21
8	OTOC Vault Racing	20
9	Data#3 Symantec p/b Scody	17
10	Team Scody Downunder	16
11	Pat's Veg Cycling	11
	Wormall Civil CCS Cycling Team	11
13	Phoenix Cycling Collective	9
14	Subaru NSWIS	7
15	Subaru Albion Development Team	5
	GPM Stulz	5

tsmoha wrote:
I will try to give you that present

Haven't seen this Kenya team news! Sounds interesting. Any link maybe?

National Capital Tour Preview

The National Capital Tour is in its fourth year, and marks the return of the men's and women’s Subaru National Road Series after the winter hiatus.

This year the tour is building on a successful format with the introduction of revised courses, including a very tough time trial and a Criterium on a purpose built Criterium circuit at the world class Stromlo Forest Park. Once again, Lake Burley Griffin will feature prominently as a back drop to the racing and of course the's the key stage up Corin Forest on second day.

The current NRS leader Patrick Bevin is the defending race champion and certainly fancies his chances to extend his lead:

2015 | Patrick Bevin (search2retain)
2014 | Jack Haig (Huon Salmon - Genesys)
2013 | Neil Van der Ploeg (search2retain)

Patrick Bevin	Mark O'Brien	Sam Crome
Joseph Cooper	Adam Bull	Brodie Talbot
Robbie Hucker	Nick Katsonis	Jack Bobridge

Let's start with two different kind of comebacks: Jack Bobridge is finally back racing in the NRS after skipping the last events for the team's US-trip. The former NRS leader faces a 10-pts-gap on Bevin, who's probably the more promising rider thanks to the mountain stage here.

And we welcome back Robbie Hucker - the runner up in the NRS 2014! He left Drapac and now joins Pat's Veg Cycling (the team of his former Drapac teammate Tom Palmer). The climber could well be amongst the favorites here. Just like Bull, Crome/Katsonis and of course a few more Avanti riders like Cooper and especially O'Brien.

Team Budget is expected to fully support Bobridge, even though Talbot is known as the better climber. The prologue should Bobridge pretty well though. Scott Sunderland will aim for the final criterium then.