Mark O'Brien added 5 points to his lead in Canberra, that's one point less than Earle did in his latest appearance in the Great South Coast. Anyway, he's now 11 points ahead of Earle, who has to deliver in the next races in Tasmania (one classic, one stage race).

Biggest winner - of course: Jack Haig! After some difficult weeks, the highly talented Victorian based Haig scored 15 points to jump onto 2nd in the NRS! So if he repeats his late season success from last year (grabbing the prestigious Grafton to Inverell classic), he may be even one of only a few to put some pressure on O'Brien!

The team's ranking remains close behind Huon, as all of the Top-4 teams scored between 11 (Drapac), 12 (Euride, Budget) and 15 (Huon) points this time.. Huon again the biggest winner, once again growing the gap on Drapac and Budget. Those two teams promise a thrilling battle for 2nd place, it seems!

INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS/

Rk	Name	Team	Points
1	Mark O'Brien	Euride Racing	52
2	Jack Haig	Huon Salmon - Genesys	44
3	Nathan Earle	Huon Salmon - Genesys	41
4	Luke Davison	Drapac Cycling	37
5	Neil Van der Ploeg	search2retain	34
	Robbie Hucker	Drapac Cycling	34
7	Anthony Giacoppo	Huon Salmon - Genesys	33
8	Scott Law	GPM Data#3	30
9	Michael Cupitt	Budget Forklifts	29
10	Alex Wohler	Budget Forklifts	28
11	Cameron Bayly	search2retain	23
12	Aaron Donnelly	Huon Salmon - Genesys	23
13	Jack Anderson	Budget Forklifts	22
	Stuart Smith	search2retain	22
	Adam Semple	Satalyst Giant Racing	22

TEAM RANKINGS/

Rk	Team	Points
1	Huon Salmon - Genesys	144
2	Drapac Cycling	119
3	Budget Forklifts	118
4	Euride Racing	106
5	search2retain	86
6	GPM Data#3	70
7	Jayco - Honey Shotz	60
8	Satalyst Giant Racing	47
9	Target Trek Racing Team	42
10	African Wildlife Safaris	25
	Charter Mason / Drapac DT	25
12	Pure Tasmania & Polygon Cycling	23
13	Pro Team Downunder	19
14	Subway Cycling Team	18
	Racing Kangaroos	18
16	Suzuki Bontrager	14
17	Downer EDI Mining	11
18	SUVelo Racing	7
19	St George Skoda HP Team	6
	Bianchi Lotto Arbitrage	6
21	Data#3 Cisco Racing Team	5
22	Veneziano Blefari	4

Launceston to New Norfolk Classic

The NRS is heading for Tasmania, where the next two races will be held. Formerly the Launceston to Hobart Classic, this event has a long history – nearly 80 years since its inception.

After Departing Launceston, the classic follows a course through Pateena, Longford, Cressy, Poatina, Arthur's Lake, St. Patrick's Plains, Steppes, Bothwell, Berridale, Hollow Tree, Rosegarland, Gretna, Hayes and Lawitta before finishing in New Norfolk.

At 208kms, taking in a Category One hill climb to rival most European climbs, it is no wonder the event is getting known as the "Hell of the South". The profile surely suits the puncheurs most, so anything but a selective race would be quite surprising.






Neil Van der Ploeg (search2) took out this tough classic in style back in 2013: he escaped from the leading group 17km before finish and solo-chaser Nathan Earle had no chance to catch up to Van der Ploeg, who was dominating the NRS at this time. Maybe his crucial race-win on the way to the title!

Facing the toughest climb of the day..

A nasty fall by Ben Dyball (Huon) on slick roads..

The top-favorites launched the first moves 22km before finish!

Norris (Jayco), Cupitt (Budget), Bayly (search2)

Launceston to New Norfolk (hilly classic)

Welcome to Tasmania and the Launceston to New Norfolk Classic! A tough race and maybe one of the most challenging profiles in the NRS. The biggest names of the series are ready to grab some points here, so let the show begin!

Back in 2013 Neil Van der Ploeg crushed the competition with a solo-effort 17km before the finish. Will we see another solo-victory or a whole different race today?

Note/ Points towards the NRS rankings are rewarded as follows (7-5-4-3-2-1), so only the Top-6 in the race will score points!


We're already more than 150km into the race and still have 70km of a tough profile ahead! The peloton is lead by the strong teams and already started to chase down a 3-men-break (with Mark Jamieson as the most promising name): 4'15" lead for those three by now.

The wind is blowing (62kmh) and the bunch is stretched. Will crosswinds be a factor today?


We jump straight to the climb, that was crucial one year ago - 20km remaining and the early breakaway is soon to be caught by a first group of favorites attacking the bunch:

Earle/Haig (Huon)
Hucker/Walker (Drapac)
Anderson (Budget) and
Sheppard (search2)

give it a go right as the road ascends!


Of course that's the moment for all of the favorites to make their moves (if they have the legs):

Semple (Satalyst)
Horgan (Budget)
Elliott (Target) and defending race-winner
Neil Van der Ploeg (search2)

try to jump behind group Earle as we hit the 20km-mark!


On the top of today's last climb (except of the uphill-finish) it's Earle and Walker 17" ahead of a group with Haig, Hucker, Anderson and also Neil VdP!

44" behind it's the bunch with NRS-leader O'Brien, who's riding at the front of this bunch, trying to hang on.


The race is quite different from last year's action, where two small groups and solo-chaser Earle tried to hang on with a dominating VdP:

now it's still Earle and Walker in the lead, but as the bunch (41 riders) managed to keep contact (still 17 seconds), the two now face a tough challenge with only 8km (mostly flat) remaining..


They had no chance, as teams like Budget and also search2 had too many riders left in this rather big group to swallow the leading duo!

4km to go and the top-favorites try to escape again:

Anderson is quickly followed by
Earle
Walker
Hucker
Haig
O'Brien
Van der Ploeg
Semple
Elliott and
Sheppard!


And those 10 riders managed to drop the bunch to go for a thrilling finish in Launceston!

Earle kicked off the sprint with an impressive speed, establishing a decent gap early in the uphill-finishing stretch!


But it's going to be a close decision, as Walker moves forward with the finish approaching!

Anderson also tries to hang on, but it looks like a head-to-head decision between Walker and Earle..


Earle takes it! Walker looked like he would overtake him, but Earle answered with a late acceleration. Anderson comes in 3rd for a decent result.

And Eale also got some support by teammate Haig, who beats NRS leader O'Brien in the sprint for 4th place! Hucker grabs the last point as 6th.

No luck for Van der Ploeg, who couldn't compete with the best puncheurs and finished 9th eventually.


An important step for Earle in his mission to re-take the NRS from O'Brien! Earle (7 points) starts to narrow the 11-points-gap in the rankings, as O'Brien "only" scored 2 points here.

And it ain't surprising to see Earle winning: the Tasmanian really delivered in the Tasmanian races this year, as he already took out the Mersey Valley Tour in style. Will he also win the Tour of Tasmania to put some more pressure on O'Brien?

Let's keep it short this time: both Earle (7 points) and Haig (3) narrowed the gap to O'Brien (2), who's now leading by six and seven on the Huon duo, that looks like the only remaining contenders (unless sprinter Davison scores a triple in the flat classics)!

While both O'Brien and Haig will now skip the final stage race of the NRS this year, Earle has the big chance to re-take the lead - seven points would do!

In the team's competition, Huon once again scored the maximum points (7) in the Launceston to New Norfolk classic and their title seems to be certain now.. the battle for 2nd place remains close, but Drapac (5) put some pressure on Budget (3) this time.

INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS/

Rk	Name	Team	Points
1	Mark O'Brien	Euride Racing	54
2	Nathan Earle	Huon Salmon - Genesys	48
3	Jack Haig	Huon Salmon - Genesys	47
4	Luke Davison	Drapac Cycling	37
5	Robbie Hucker	Drapac Cycling	35
6	Neil Van der Ploeg	search2retain	34
7	Anthony Giacoppo	Huon Salmon - Genesys	33
8	Scott Law	GPM Data#3	30
9	Michael Cupitt	Budget Forklifts	29
10	Alex Wohler	Budget Forklifts	28
11	Jack Anderson	Budget Forklifts	26
	William Walker	Drapac Cycling	26
13	Aaron Donnelly	Huon Salmon - Genesys	23
	Cameron Bayly	search2retain	23
15	Stuart Smith	search2retain	22
	Adam Semple	Satalyst Giant Racing	22

TEAM RANKINGS/

Rk	Team	Points
1	Huon Salmon - Genesys	151
2	Drapac Cycling	124
3	Budget Forklifts	121
4	Euride Racing	108
5	search2retain	87
6	GPM Data#3	71
7	Jayco - Honey Shotz	60
8	Satalyst Giant Racing	51
9	Target Trek Racing Team	43
10	African Wildlife Safaris	26