Tour of Great South (Day 1, Crit and hilly 63km RR)

The Tour of the Great South Coast kicks off in Mount Gambier, with two stages featuring this beautiful piece of land: a flat criterium is followed by a hilly circuit race around the Blue Lake.

It ain't the toughest hilly profile though, so it will be interesting to see, if there is a chance for some first gaps.

STAGE 1 - MT GAMBIER CRITERIUM/


The breakaway was never allowed to create a bigger gap in the opening crit, so we had a bunch sprint to the line:

5 riders powered away in the sprint:

Paul Van der Ploeg (Satalyst)
Neil Van der Ploeg (search2retain)
Luke Davison and Tom Palmer (Drapac)
Aaron Donnelly (Huon)!


And in the end, it was a battle between the Van der Ploeg-brothers, with Paul taking out the stage!

It ain't the first time we've seen them performing on same level: a sign of what to come? The Ploegs did quite well earlier in the season!

Donnelly had a nice finish as well, completing the podium ahead of Drapac's duo Palmer/Davison.

STAGE 2 - MT GAMBIER ROAD RACE/


An eventful road race around the iconic "Blue Lake", with several riders trying to break clear from the bunch during the 60km.

We're already 11km before finish now, where David Melville (GPM), Ben Carman (Downer) and Brodie Talbot (Kangaroos) launching yet another attack!


The big names now follow as well:

Earle (Huon) is joined by a strong duo
O'Brien and Cupitt (Budget)!

Also Wood (ProTeam DU) attacked a few moments before.. have we seen the decisive moves?


Not at all! NRS-leader Jack Haig (Huon) tries to jump behind with now only 7km to go..

..also Lachlan Norris (Jayco) made his move. Group Earle is just a few seconds ahead by now.


And here they go again! 5km to go and Earle is joined by Cupitt for another acceleration, now overtaking the leading group!

O'Brien and Norris couldn't follow yet, as well as Haig, who's back in the chasing bunch!


Just 2km remaining, Earle/Cupitt couldn't hold on to their small gap, but the latest attackers at least maintain a lead on the peloton:

Earle
Cupitt
O'Brien
Talbot
Melville
Carman and
Matt Clark (Charter Mason)

lead by 24" on solo-chaser Bradley Hall (Satalyst), who's another 20" ahead of the bunch!


So it's going to be a sprint-finish between those leading seven:

Earle and O'Brien kicked off strong, leaving Clark a few metres behind.. Cupitt on fourth, coming fast..


..moving forward with an incredible speed..


..and taking out the second stage! What a finish by Michael Cupitt and yet again a great stage for Budget-Forklifts!

Earle 2nd, and Cupitt's teammate O'Brien complete today's podium! Most important news: Hall as 8th finished within same time, but the bunch (including race-leader Van der Ploeg, Haig and some more favorites) lost 40" here. So some valuable seconds for the 8-men-group!

Tour of Great South (Day 2, Crit and hilly 94km RR)

The second day and given that the 4th stage will be as exciting as last year - lauded as one of the highlights of the 2012 NRS - it could already be one of the crucial days.

Kicking off with a flat crit in Portland, the road race to Casterton is a great chance for the puncheurs to create some more gaps, just like top-favorites like Earle, Cupitt and O'Brien did yesterday.

STAGE 3 - PORTLAND CRITERIUM/


It's raining and so it's a tough crit here in Portland today! A group of 4 riders managed to break clear from the bunch with now already half of the stage being raced.


But today's biggest news came in the final lap! A crash at the front of the peloton caused a split, with several prominent riders hitting the road:

NRS-leader Jack Haig (Huon) is one of them, finding himself already 2'00" in arrears with only 4km to go!


More names were involved in the crash.. race-leader Michael Cupitt (Budget), too! Bad luck for him, he looked so strong in yesterday's hilly circuit!


Of course the bunch can't care, as the sprint is on it's way! The break had been caught and top-favorite Davison (Drapac) enters the final corner as first..


..but it's a dominating win for Neil Van der Ploeg (search2), with Davison finishing 2nd and Adam Semple (Satalyst) collecting bonus seconds as 3rd!

A nice win for Van der Ploeg, who finished 2nd behind brother Paul in the opening stage. Some valuable 10 bonus seconds.


The second bigger peloton (with the crash-victims) crosses the line 2'55" later! So we will see some crucial changes in the GC today.

But first, let's have a look who's involved:

Cupitt (Budget, race-leader)
Haig (Huon, NRS-leader)
Donnelly (Huon, 3rd in opening stage)
Talbot (Kangaroos)
Rutherford (GPM)

as well as some top-sprinters:

Law (GPM)
Jones (GPM)
Grenda (Oz)

Some riders had even more bad luck, as they fell so hard, that they had to abandon:

Paul Van der Ploeg (Satalyst, winner in opening stage)
Norris (Jayco)
Kerrison (Budget, stage-winner in North Western Tour)

STAGE 4 - HEYWOOD TO CASTERTON ROAD RACE/


So today has already been an eventful day and the best is yet to come..

..again 4 riders broke clear from the bunch: Cameron (African), Wood (ProTeam), Jory (GPM), Bissaker (Bianchi)!

All of them are more than 3 minutes behind in GC.


So no real threat for the new race-leader Nathan Earle (Huon), who took the lead from crash-victim Cupitt.

And it may be because of today's crash in the crit, that the bunch keeps things cool so far. Huon doesn't chase too hard and we've also seen no attacks yet.


The peloton is just doing enough to ensure Earle won't lose the race-lead..

..so the escapees will take out the stage.. Jory attacks the group on the final short climb..


..and he wins this! Another nice stage-victory for GPM-Data#3!

The bunch finishes 2'40" behind, so Huon-Genesys did well to secure Earle's lead. Anyway, Jory jumps onto GC's 8th at least (+ 0.34).


Earle (Huon) with a somehow lucky lead, as he took advantage of Cupitt's bad luck. It's still an open race with O'Brien (+ 0.02) and Melville (+ 0.03) sitting close behind.

sutty68 wrote:
The Van der Ploeg brothers seem to be enjoying this race

tsmoha wrote:


Well, Neil does.. but it seems you've missed the part, where Paul had to abandon the race due to the crash Thanks for the comment anyway!

Tour of Great South (Day 3, Crit and flat 50km RR)

One of the easiest looking days here: a flat crit in Port Fairy is followed by a more or less panflat road race to Hawkesdale, with only one difficulty near to the finish.

So it's expected to be a day for the sprinters and as the gaps ain't to huge yet, every bonus second is worth being collected.

STAGE 5 - PORT FAIRY CRITERIUM/


7 riders tried their luck with a breakaway in the crit, all of them lost minutes so far in the race.

Most prominent names are Harry Carpenter (Euride), victim of the mass crash in yesterday's criterium, Alex Smyth (Satalyst) and Cameron Karwowski (Oz).


But no chance, it's another stage for a bunch sprint: the peloton kicks off the sprint with a beautiful scenery in the back..

..search2retain and Drapac set up the trains for top-favorites like Neil Van der Ploeg and Luke Davison.. yesterday's stage-winner Chris Jory (GC's 8th, in green) is also on the hunt for bonus seconds..


This guy's on fire: Neil Van der Ploeg wins his second stage here, and again quite dominating! Seems like he's a fan of those crits these days.

Davison with yet another 2nd ahead of teammate McCauley.. so Van der Ploeg (also known as a decent puncheur) makes up another 10 seconds, he's now only 20" behind race-leader Earle.

STAGE 6 - PORT FAIRY TO HAWKESDALE ROAD RACE/


Harry Carpenter (Euride) gave it another try in the following road race, soloing away from the bunch halfway through the race.

And this time he's more luck: due to the fact that he was solo and no more real threat for the GC, he was allowed to stay clear. A nice stage-win for Carpenter, who already proved his talent early in the season.


39" later the bunch crosses the line, with Huon's Beckinsale grabbing 2nd and Jory completing the podium. So he earns some bonus seconds this time.

Anyway, no bigger changes in the GC today, except of some bonus seconds and minor changes in the Top-10/20.

admirschleck wrote:
Really great story. It's somehow sad that this awesome story has really small amount of comments. Keep it up please,it's one of only few stories that keeps me reading it several times (each episode).

tsmoha wrote:
Thanks for the kind words, admir It's definitely comments like that, which keep the motivation sometimes. I knew this story would be risky in terms of readers, as it's probably a very unknown series, plus long reports and no specific team to follow. But it's great to read a comment like this, I really appreciate it. Keep following then

miggi133 wrote:


Well, there are a lot of teams to root for! Huon, GPM-Data3, the latter one being suprisingly successful, in my book at least... Though, i feel you are neglecting the SUVelo team a bit...

Tour of Great South (Day 4, Crit and flat 100km RR)

Penultimate day here at the Great South Coast and - finally - we have a road race featuring parts of the Great Ocean Road. A highlight in terms of the landscape.

Profile-wise it's yet another day made for the sprinters. A flat crit is followed by the flat road race, with a short climb at Port Campbell near the finish. A chance for a puncheur to go for a late break?

STAGE 7 - KOROIT CRITERIUM/


Like yesterday, a solo-escapee tried his luck late in the race: Cameron Karwowski (Oz Cycling Development Team) fights hard to hold on to a small lead as he passes the kite..


..and like Carpenter yesterday, "Kiwi" Karwowski celebrates a nice solo-win today! He managed to hold off the sprinting bunch by a few seconds.

Tom Palmer (Drapac) 2nd, Neil Van der Ploeg (search2) adds some more bonus seconds as 3rd, so he's now only 16" behind race-leader Earle.

STAGE 8 - KOROIT TO PETERBOROUGH ROAD RACE/


Today's highlight is the road race to Peterborough.. a group of 8 riders in the break of the day, most notable names:

Tansley (Euride)
Freiberg (Bianchi)
Morley (Satalyst)

while none of those is a real threat for the GC, as they lost more than 3 minutes so far in the race.


Anyway, Huon-Genesys and Budget-Forklifts don't want to allow another breakaway-win it seems.

With 30km to go and the field following the beautiful Great Ocean Road, the break leads by only 40" now..


Freiberg (Bianchi) and Newberry (Downer EDI) are the last of the escapees trying to stay clear from the bunch.

And for a moment it looked like they could succeed, growing the gap to more than 1'20" with 17km remaining..


But no luck for the two, they were swallowed by the peloton 10km later..

..now we're already entering the final km and Neil Van der Ploeg, who could already win two stages here, accelerates and opens a gap quickly! Another dominating win?


Nope! But at least he's still in the lead with the finish approaching..

..moving forward from behind: O'Brien (GC's 2nd, + 0.02), Matt Clark (GC's 6th) and Brad Hall (GC's 5th, both + 0.06)! So the pure sprinters seem to have suffered from the short climb.. and so here's a nice chance to take advantage of some bonus seconds!


And Hall takes out the stage! He already won a stage in Gippsland and finished high in GC. Now he's definitely in the mix for GC-contention again!

O'Brien sprints for 2nd and six bonus seconds, but also race-leader Earle came fast and grabs four seconds as 3rd! So who's the new leader?


What a close race we have: Earle defends his race-lead, but now it's also Hall (2nd) and O'Brien (3rd) within the same time!

With only one hilly stage (a circuit around Camperdown) left, this is going to be interesting! Clark (+ 0.10) and Van der Ploeg (+ 0.20) look like the most dangerous contenders.. and sprinter Luke Davison (8th, + 0.33) will hope for a less selective race.