We're staying on Rottnest Island for the second stage of the Tour de Perth: a flat, but due to heavy crosswinds challenging timetrial!
Some of today's favorites will also hope for a good GC-result: Cooper (Huon), Morgan (Jayco) or Carpenter (Euride) could survive tomorrow's crucial hilly road race, so a great TT would help them!
Harry Carpenter is also one of the first of today's most promising riders and the Euride-captain beats a long lasting BT by Squillari (African Wildlife) by 4 seconds:
new BT - 22'52"!
David Edwards (Subway) is the next favorite in line and he delivers:
new BT - 22'51", beating Carpenter by a second!
Mark Jamieson (Target), winner of the ITT in the Mersey Valley Tour, definitely should be mentioned as a top-favorite for this ITT. He does well, but can't beat Edwards:
provisional 3rd with + 4" on Edwards!
And here comes Joe Cooper (Huon). The Kiwi was rather disappointing in Mersey Valley's TT (10th), but he knows of his good chance for both a great result today and a good GC-finish later:
new BT - 22'46", beating Edwards by 5 seconds!
Alex Morgan (Jayco) should aim for the same goals as Cooper and the Victorian based does well, too:
provisional 2nd with + 2" on Cooper! A great ride.
Jordan Kerby (Budget) will be today's last promising contender. He looks good on the road, but misses the podium by a small margin:
5th with + 6" on today's winner Cooper!
Cooper celebrates a nice stage-win and will also wear the yellow on tomorrow's crucial day through Perth Hills!
The most interesting news should be the results of some more GC-contenders though:
Carpenter (4th, + 0.06)
Haig (12th, + 0.13)
Neil Van der Ploeg (16th, + 0.17)
Wurf (36th, + 0.29)
Anderson (40th, + 0.34)
Semple (47th, + 0.38)
So especially Anderson (Oceanian TT-champion this year!) and Semple (local hero) didn't really had their best days and need to attack Huon's strong looking duo Cooper/Haig.
Haig surprisingly low for Huon. But Cooper covers that. Also great stuff from Morgan and Edwards who i was not expecting to be that high up. Euride also looking strong as well with 3 guys up there.
It's a lot closer than Mersey Valley, but then again that was after the TT.
@Manx: Haig, yes. Would have expected more, but it's a narrow gap only and everything seems possible. Euride is a strong TT-squad, so they may be similar strong in more TTs this year!
@Ian: Yap, real Don't ask me why it's called so... fantastic
@sutty: Or maybe someone else for Budget?! Anyway, Budget needs to deliver soon!
@aidan: Open race, yes. And as for hillier stage.. check the newest report
Tour de Perth (Stage 3, Hilly, 144km)
Third day in the Tour of Perth and we're certainly going to see the most challenging stage today: a tough loop around Kalamunda, through Perth Hills with tough hilltop-finish on Zig Zag!
Race-leader Cooper may hope for a less selective race, but he's a decent puncheur and his team Huon should have two nice options in him and Haig. Also, what will Perth born Adam Semple do today? He needs to attack.
Let's go right into the action of this road race! An early breakaway (with Drapac's Rudolph grabbing the KoM-lead) has been caught 30km before finish and with the peloton already being reduced to 58 riders, we see the first serious attempts with 25km to go:
Wood (ProTeam DU)
Sheppard (search2)
Anderson (Budget)
Gillett (African Wildlife) and
Semple (Satalyst)
attack the bunch on one of today's several short climbs! So we've at least two favorites (Anderson, Semple) attacking early!
It's of course a brutal pace now, as the peloton - led by Huon - knows of the danger in this move!
Anderson and Semple dropped their companions and keep pacing hard!
18" behind a group of three riders (Sulzberger, Talbot, Melville) tries to follow now, the peloton is 35" in arrears.
16km remaining and on today's penulitmate climb, Huon-Genesys and Drapac share the work on the chase!
The leading duo Anderson/Semple still holds on to a 30-second-gap, but it's of course an open race with two strong teams chasing hard..
And here goes another group trying to bridge the gap to the leading two:
Haig (Huon)
Talbot (Kangaroos) and
Wood (ProTeam DU)
launch an attack 11km before finish, narrowing the gap quickly! So Huon obviously goes for Haig now, race-leader Cooper tried to join the first attack by group Semple, but now struggles to compete with the best.
With the finish climb up the Zig Zag nearing, Haig appears to be the strongest - as for the moment:
he simply dropped Talbot/Wood and also the former leading duo Anderson/Semple once he caught up to them!
And Haig accelerates again, he leads by 20" on Anderson/Semple and 32" on the still chasing bunch (40 riders)!
With the skyline of Perth in the background, we see Haig fighting hard on the challenging Zig Zag.
Anderson dropped Semple and tries to chase Haig solo, being 16" behind with 4km to go.
38" behind Haig, it's an aggressive Talbot trying to hang on, Semple is back in the bunch, 55" in arrears!
2km remaining and Anderson closes up to solo-leader Haig! Looks like we will see a thrilling battle here, they lead by 48" on the bunch now, which pulled back Talbot in the meantime.
But some other favorites haven't given up on the race yet:
Lapthorne (Drapac) and
Neil Van der Ploeg (search2)
went for a late attack close to the "flamme rouge", quickly narrowing the gap to 26"!
Lapthorne, who already proved his shape in the Mersey Valley Tour (as 2nd), actually looks like he could catch up to the leading two, where Haig got a small advantage over Anderson now!
But Jack Haig takes out the stage! Anderson lost contact and finishes behind a strong Lapthorne, all within the same time though!
21" behind NRS-champion Van der Ploeg sprints for a good 4th and valuable seconds (as he and Haig already did well in the timetrial).
43" behind Haig, a bigger group with several favorites and also race-leader Cooper crosses the line. So we will see some changes, but also some well-placed riders defending their positions:
Biggest winner is - surprise, surprise - Haig, who takes the race-lead, 26" ahead of Anderson and 36" on Van der Ploeg!
Cooper drops on 4th, still ahead of Lapthorne (6th), who lost too many time in yesterday's ITT.
Biggest loser today: local hero Semple, who finished within the bunch, entering the final flat stage as 20th in GC with 1'16" behind Haig..
Whats going on here? "my" boys need to wake up..
This last report has some great screens mate.. really like the colors..
Anderson and Haig did good, i believe we will see Huon and Budget starting to deliver better results..
Great to see last year's NRS champion move into the top 4 on GC. He might not be the strongest on paper, but he does have abilities to score consistently on almost every terrain. If knocks up a win or two and more podiums/top 10s, we can see him take the title again
@aidanvn: Totally agree about VdP! And he had a quite promising start into his title defending campaign, so yes, he could do well this year
And thanks for the words on the screens! That's always appreciated, especially as this spectator-views are something I always try to "recreate" in this NRS story
Tour de Perth (Stage 4, Flat, 107km)
Final stage of the Tour de Perth - a road race through Bold Park around Perry Lakes, just by the Indian Ocean. Rated as a flat stage, the course features some challenging speed bumps.
Race-leader Haig knows a strong team behind him, being capable of defending the decent gap on Anderson and Van der Ploeg, who did quite well in stages like this in 2013!
James Rendall (African Wildlife) is the last of a 5-men-break fighting to maintain a small gap!
He leads by 50" on the chasing bunch with now only two laps (12km) to go..
It's a tough day in the rain and the challenging profile adds some thrill, too! 9km remaining and yes, we will see the GC-contenders attacking each other:
GC's 2nd Anderson (Budget) goes all-in and launches a move!
Race-leader Haig immediately reacts and follows Anderson, who's 26" behind in GC!
So it's an empty-handed move, Haig shows that he's not only a great stage-racer, but also aware of tactical moves.
The peloton (reduced to about 80 riders by now) enters the final lap and the sprinter-teams (Drapac, Pure Tasmania) take control of the pace now.
But the race is everything but settled for a bunch-sprint yet, which is great news for the spectators!
Anderson
Van der Ploeg
Morgan (Jayco, GC's 5th) and
Wurf (19th)
go for another attack 4km before finish! The GC-battle is still open, they quickly create a 18"-gap!
So Haig has to fight once again! He tries to jump behind this strong looking leading group a few moments later, will he catch up?
Well, he's not too far behind, but still faces a 10"-gap with 1.7km remaining! So let's have a look at the GC-situation:
E1 (4)/
Anderson (GC's 2nd, + 0.26)
Van der Ploeg (3rd, + 0.36)
Morgan (5th, + 0.43)
Wurf (19th, + 1.10)
E2 (1)/
Haig at 0.10
P (79)/
with several GC-contenders at 0.52
The leading group comes down the finishing stretch and still holds on to a small gap on solo-chasing Haig!
Good news for the race-leader though, as Anderson now suffers to stay with the group, where Van der Ploeg leads the sprint to the line!
And Neil Van der Ploeg takes out the final stage of Perth ahead of Morgan and Wurf! The NRS-champion delivers once again, will he even manage to grab the GC-win?
GC's 2nd Anderson fights hard to finish within the same time and he does!
Where's Haig? The race-leader suffered from his work and couldn't close the gap, eventually losing 16" on group Van der Ploeg/Anderson, finishing just a few metres ahead of the peloton!
But luckily - at least for him - Jack Haig could defend his lead and wins the inaugural edition of the Tour de Perth!
What a final stage. Van der Ploeg managed to grab GC's 2nd thanks to bonus seconds and better stage-finishes ahead of Anderson, who completes the podium. Van der Ploeg is back in shape, he already did well in the rather mountainous season opener!
Morgan with a great 4th ahead of former race-leader Cooper, the two TT-specialists did well in the hillier stages. Lapthorne, Edwards, Carpenter, Wurf (improving from 19th to 9th today) and Vink complete the Top-10. A close race this time and a well deserved podium: Haig - winner on the Zig Zag - Van der Ploeg - for obvious reasons - and Anderson - with his attacking style - made for a great race here.
Local hero Semple won't be happy about finishing as 19th only. He was part of the crucial attack in the third stage, but couldn't hang on with Anderson and Haig there, eventually finishing within the bigger group. A missed chance.
Yeah!!! Van der Ploeg takes it! Epic final stage. Really cool tactics from the riders - not the monotonous mass sprint finish. Van Der Ploeg is really starting to seek like a likely favourite for another NRS title
Huon 2 for 2 at the moment. Great start for them. Also VdP showing 2013 might not be a one-off, great aggressive racing.
Season really delivering so far
@aidan: Yap, I really enjoyed following that final stage, was hoping (but didn't expect) those GC-contenders to attack and actually create a gap! VdP.. well, he continues to shine, which should make things interesting!
@sutty: Nice result for him, but he had some luck in the end. But he showed some good racing in the hilly stage before, so well deserved.
@Manx: Huon with a great start indeed, but also VdP keeps delivering! Should make for a close season, hopefully
@baia: Thanks, mate. I enjoyed this race, too. Close til the end and a nice final stage.
With the first two events being held, it's time for the first rankings update: Huon-Genesys kicked the new season off with a bang, winning both races and so already more stage-races than they won in 2013 (Donnelly, Herald Sun Tour)!
Haig, Van der Ploeg and Lapthorne scored in both events, while the first takes the NRS-lead ahead of the defending champion thanks to his GC-win in Perth. Earle, dominating in Tasmania, skipped Perth, but will be back for the next event - the Tour of Toowoomba.. and VdP? He's doing what he does best: scoring on all terrains and grabbing great GC-results as well!
As for the team's ranking, Huon really delivered so far, taking out both classifications ahead of Budget. So the top-duo seems to be the strongest again, followed by Jayco (with two great races for Norris and Morgan), Drapac, Euride and of course search2retain.
Really like that pic with Anderson and Haig on his tail...
Those rankings look great.. i´m not nervous about it("my" boys rank), i´m pleased to to see they are doing good and i´m sure it can only get better.. loving to see such fights so early in the season. hope this can continue until the end... Huon vs Budget vs Search vs Drapac vs Jayco... just great... the other teams have to wake up or might be too late to make any changes.
![imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg](https://imgur.com/KlJUqDx.jpg[/img[img]]https://imgur.com/yUygrQ.jpg)
Don't ask me why it's called so... fantastic 
"my" boys need to wake up..
