sutty68 wrote:
Nice to see Budget still on top

tsmoha wrote:


Yeah, looking good so far. Last year they finished 2nd behind Genesys, so there's definitely a special goal to grab both individual and team honours this season

"Hey folks. What a week I had.. after claiming my first NRS-lead ever in Tour of Gippsland, I was really excited about racing the Tour of the Great South Coast! 5 days in the leader-shirt, wow!

But things went rather bad right from the start.. I failed to join a crucial attack of favorites in the first hilly stage and I knew those 40 seconds would have been decisive in the end. At least my mate Nathan (Earle) finished on podium there, he looked in great shape."


I was looking good in the series' leader-shirt, right?

"Then on second day, me race was already over, at least in terms of going for a decent GC-finish.. a crash at the front of the bunch late in the race caused several riders falling, including me and also race-leader Cupitt! Oh well.. we lost more than 2 minutes..

But jsut like I said: Nathan had a great race, leading the ranking til the final stage. Unfortunately he lost the overall win in a very close showdown between O'Brien, Hall and himself. Anyway, he is back, I told you!

What to say? I lost my NRS-lead after one race, giving it back to O'Brien.. Nathan sits on 2nd now and I'm still in contention as well. The next race - Tour of the Murray River - will be all flat, so I think I'll get a break there. So see you in Canberra, for the National Capital Tour in September!"

The breakaway rides alongside "Blue Lake" on first day..


Budget's O'Brien and Cupitt attack with Huon's Earle..


Solo-escapee and peloton in Portland..


The peloton chasing in Portland..


A breakaway enters a crit's next lap..


Harry Carpenter (Euride) holds off the bunch for a solo-win..


Cameron Karwowski (Oz) soloes away, a winning move!


Team Budget leads the chase..


A breakaway climbs the toughest ascent on final day..

Sam Miranda Road Race

A short break in the NRS and time for Victorian Road Series to continue! We already enter the final two events of this Series and it's definitely time for the contenders to score more points before the VRS' grand final - the Tour of Bright. Our blogger Rhys Gillett will give you some impressions, as usual.


A group of 10 riders broke clear early in the race, establishing a decent gap halfway through the race! A dangerous situation, as most of the teams have one rider in the break. Gillett's comment:

"And also my mate Nick Squillari made it into the break. A good tactical move, of which we should take advantage later in the race.. hopefully!"


Today's toughest climb was meant to split the peloton into pieces, but even though Target Trek and Charter Mason (with no rider in the break) already chased, no major split happened, as they enter the descent.


But the small climb 28km before finish seemed to be the crucial point: 6 favorites attacked the bunch, trying to bridge the gap to the early escapees!

"I felt good, so of course I joined this move. And even better: my teammate Daniel Nelson also managed to join us! A strong chasing group with riders like Spencer (Charter), Elliott (Target), Dyball (Huon) and Bayly (search2)! The top-favorites alltogether!"


The group of favorites easily caught up to the break of the day, making it a group of 17 riders - Sam Wood (GPM) joined the latest move a few moments later.

With now only a few km to go, the big leading group is still together, even tough Spencer gave it a try earlier. The bunch is already far behind.


And here goes Wood with only 2km remaining! Does he stand a chance?


It's going to be a close one! Wood holds on to a small gap with the finish approaching!

"Man, what a finish. Me as a rather poor sprinter couldn't join the mix for the win, but my mate Nelson was moving forward fast! Also Bayly (search2) and top-favorite Elliott (Target) seemed to have a chance to catch Wood on final metres.."


"And they did! Bad luck for Wood, but hey... it's a win for my mate Daniel Nelson! Another great result for our team in the VRS. I also managed to score 2 points as 9th.. had hoped for more, but with such a big group going for the sprint, I never stood a real chance. Hopefully I will be able to score more points in the mory hilly Midlands Tour!"

Midlands Tour

The sixth and last event in the VRS, therefore the ultimate chance to score high points before the season concluding grand final in the Tour of Bright!

A hilly circuit on Australian Automotive Research Centre, with a short sector of compacted gravel on today's climb. Again, Rhys Gillett will comment on the action here.


So we're already 22km before finish and the peloton is 1'30" down on a 12-men breakaway group! Time for the favorites to attack:

Spencer (Charter) and
Dyball (Huon) give it a go!

Gillett: "I knew this would be the crucial moments! The situation was quite similar as in the Sam Miranda Road Race: my teammate Squillari joined the early break and now the top-favorites would try to catch up!"


"And of course I did the same! I'm still aiming for the overall title in the VRS and therefore I had to score high here.. Nathan Elliott (Target) has the same ambitions and joined by move, as well as other strong puncheurs like Davis (Huon) or Bayly (search2)!"


The attacking favorites caught up to the early escapees easily, making it a leading group of 19 riders!

With 10km to go, Spencher and also Elliott tried their luck with another attack!

"A dangerous move. Both Spencer and especially Elliott belong to the very best in the VRS this year and the latter being a real threat for the overall title, this move made by red flags raise.."


"So me and also Bayly and Dyball jumped behind quickly.. the leading duo had just a small advantage when they entered the bell lap!"


No luck for Spencer/Elliott, the big chasing group was too strong and reeled them in, just in time for the final sprint!

"Thanks to Huon's strong duo Dyball/Davis and - yes - myself, we pulled the duo back.. and with now only 1.5km to go, I found myself in decent position (just behind leading Spencer) for the final sprint!"


"And wow, I went fast! I know I'm not the best sprinter, but the climb close before the finish was quite good for me..

So I took the leading position with only a few moments left.. Huon's Dyball and Davis moved forward as well.. I could smell the orange ;).."


"But I managed to hold them off! Yesss! My second win in the VRS after my stage-honours in the South West Tour earlier this year.

With my mate Nelson taking out the Miranda Classic, myself this Midlands Tour and also Squillari (who's doing really well in the overall rankings as well) scoring points as 5th here, this two events have been awesome for African Safari Cycling Team!

And it's getting even better: thanks to this win, I climbed on 2nd place in the rankings! So I'm in a decent position for the grand final, a tough but short stage-race, the Tour of Bright.. VRS-leader Cameron Wurf will be tough to beat though. I guess, he'll be a start there."

Miguel98 wrote:
What a win from Gillett. And those gravel roads bring memories of spending my day plsying Colin Mcrae games.

Tour of the Murray River (Category 1)

The Tour of the Murray River is a 6 day 7 stage road tour which starts in the North Western Victorian town of Mildura for a tough 125km road race, the tour then heads to Swan Hill for a criterium and road race. Stage 3 through to Stage 6 are all road races varying in distance. Stage 7 sees the tour finish off in Yarrawonga with a criterium overlooking the scenic Lake Mulwala.

It's expected a tour for the sprinters with all of the stages being pan-flat. Anyway, crosswinds and the fast crits may lead to some unexpected action, so the favorites definitely have to watch out every day.


+ 2 flat crits

How many bunch sprints will we see here?

Blogging rider(s)/

-

Bad luck for Paul Van der Ploeg (Satalyst): the winner of the National Herald Sun Tour and 9th in the NRS-rankings will be out with an injury for the next two stage-races Murray River and Capital Tour! He was one of the crash victims in the third stage of the Great South Coast.

"It is a complication of a complex fracture of the shoulder. So it will take some time to get back on the bike", said Van der Ploeg today, confirming that he will miss the sprinter's stage-race Murray River: "It's so tough. I kicked off the Great South Coast with a win and then this crash.."

Van der Ploeg is joined by Downer EDI's Trent Carman, who will also sit out one race.. Paul's brother Neil (6th in the NRS) already said that he feels sorry for this accident: "It's a shame. Paul would have had a great chance to score valuable points in Murray River.. but I hope he will recover well and come back stronger!"

Tour of the Murray River (Stage 1, Flat, 126km)

The first stage of the Murray River is already the toughest, because longest stage of the whole race. Anyway, even this "queen stage" is all-flat, so anything else but a bunch sprint would be a huge surprise.


Only 2 riders were allowed to stay clear as the break of the day: Murtagh (Charter) and Masters (ProteamDU).

Both would collect 10 points for the sprint competition, but no bonus seconds are awarded for those intermediate sprints.


And of course the peloton wouldn't let them go that easily: Oz Cycling (for Grenda), Huon (Beckinsale) and search2retain (Van der Ploeg) lead the chase.

Also Drapac (Davison) is showing their colors at the front, so the top-favorites for the sprints have their teams working hard.


So it ain't a surprise that we have the expected bunch sprint to the line! The two escapees had no chance.

We're already on the finishing stretch and Oz Cycling's Grenda is in leading position with Beckinsale (Huon) coming fast from the right.

Also in the mix: Donnelly (Huon), Law (GPM) and Kiwi-veteran McCauley (Drapac), while Lovelock-Fay (Oz) is slowing down after his lead-out for Grenda.


Wow, we got a photo-finish here! And the winner is Scott Law (GPM), who collects yet another stage-win in 2013!

Huon's talent Beckinsale 2nd, ahead of veteran McCauley! (Beckinsale just turned 20 years a few months ago.. McCauley is already 41 years old.)

Grenda 4th, Van der Ploeg 5th and a rather disappointing start for top-favorite Davison as 9th..


Scott Law (GPM) is the first leader of the race, but it's of course a close one.. 6-4-2-1 are the bonus seconds here, by the way.

sutty68 wrote:
A Good sprint from Law to win the first stage

Tour of the Murray River (Days 2 & 3, three flat)

We continue with a summary of the second and third day of the Murray River Tour, with three flat stages in total.. kicking off with a tricky criterium in Swan Hill.

STAGE 2 - SWAN HILL CRITERIUM/


Nothing special happened in the day's opening crit, so we had another bunch sprint:

and this time, Luke Davison (Drapac) looks in shape, establishing a nice gap in his fight with Neil Van der Ploeg (search2)!


And yes, Davison takes out the second stage! Race-leader Law (GPM) came close, but finishes 2nd - defending his lead thanks to more bonus seconds.

Van der Ploeg 3rd, Grenda with another 4th place and yesterday's runner-up Beckinsale misses bonus seconds as 7th today (same goes for McCauley as 8th).

STAGE 3 - SWAN HILL TO QUAMBATOOK ROAD RACE/


And we're jumping straight to the next bunch sprint in the road race to Quambatook!

Law kicked off the sprint earlier this time, leading the bunch under the kite!

Behind him, it's Van der Ploeg (search2), McCauley and Davison (Drapac) and also Grenda (Oz) in the mix for the line honours..


Davison really was on fire today: two stage-wins for the defending NRS-champion!

Grenda with a nice 2nd and first podium here, ahead of 41 years old McCauley, who continues his nice racing. No bonus seconds for race-leader Law (7th), who loses his lead to Davison now!

STAGE 4 - KERANG TO COHUNA ROAD RACE/


..but Law is at the front in the next stage and sprint again: a nice leadout by teammate Jones brings the former race-leader in decent position with 1km to go..

Oz's duo Lovelock/Grenda, as well as Van der Ploeg, race-leader Davison and also Huon's Beckinsale will be in contention once again!


But Scott Law took advantage of the good work by Jones, taking out this fourth stage and re-taking the race-lead!

Beckinsale 2nd ahead of Davison, who was fast but came from too far behind.. Van der Ploeg 4th ahead of youngster Kerrison (Budget) and Grenda.


So after three days, Scott Law is in yellow again! GPM's top-sprinter leads the race by 2" ahead of top-favorite Davison. Both delivered so far by taking out two stages each!

Beckinsale 3rd with 8" behind.. also looking strong so far: Grenda, Van der Ploeg, McCauley, but the leading duo has been very consistent by now!