The Australian Championships are the next stop in this whirlwind week. Here is the startlist:
Spoiler
Red Bull
1. S. Gerrans
2. G. Brown
3. A. Hansen
4. C. Sutton
Pearl
11. W. Walker
Meiji
21. M. Lloyd
22. J. Crawford
Cyclevox
31. T. Lowe
32. M. Docker
Hollister
41. A. Davis
42. Z. Dempster
Colombia
51. M. Rogers
Rapha Condor
61. W. Sulzberger
Koppert
71. J. McCarthy
Oz
81. J. Bobridge
82. H. Clarke
83. J. Clarke
84. S. Clarke
85. L. Durbridge
86. M. Jamieson
87. D. McConnell
88. M. Renshaw
Oz
91. W. Ford
92. B. Cooke
93. A. Laidler
94. S. Lewis
95. M. Matthews
96. G. O'Shea
97. P. Thuaux
98. J. Walker
99. D. Windsor
Wikipedia
101. M. Goss
102. A. Semple
Export
111. C. Evans
WWE
121. R. Sutherland
Milka
131. R. Porte
132. L. Howard
Focus
141. T. Meyer
Dyson
151. S. Higgerson
Bianchi
161. R. Dennis
Sony
171. C. Meyer
Vesuvio
181. M. Ford
Festina
191. D. Drapac
SaMol
201. D. Thorsen
There are a lot of very, very small teams here but two teams to particularly watch out for are Oz Cycling, who would love nothing more than a win here and have two teams to achieve it, and Jayco - Red Bull, who are ditching Australian sponsorship next year but still have a fair few strong riders in this race, including the favourite Gerrans. Other highly-ranked favourites are Davis, Lloyd and Sulzberger.
Our first move consists of five riders: Laidler Meyer McConnell Sutton Dennis
But it is controlled by Crawford, who is playing a very active roll on the front. It is also interesting to note that defending champion McConnell is active from the very start.
A move goes from J. Clarke, but once again Crawford shuts it down. He is the only domestique that Lloyd has, so this is a strange tactic from Meiji.
After 3 out of 11 laps there is still no break formed. The next man to try is Sutton.
He is joined once again by Dennis, and once again it is Crawford who brings it all back together. He is putting in a great ride today.
The new attack comes as the fifth lap begins. This time it is: McConnell Cooke Dennis Docker McCarthy Sulzberger
Crawford is clearly out of energy and Red Bull are probably the only team capable of chasing this. But they lack domestiques and burned out one of them trying to get into the break earlier on. There are some dangerous riders in here, with most of them capable of getting over hills.
There is a roar in the crowd as one of Australia’s stand-out riders from this season attacks away from the pack to try to come across the gap, which is at the 3 minute mark. That man is Bobridge.
With only 50km remaining he manages to bridge up to the break, giving us a 7 man lead group. The gap stands at 4’20” with Red Bull putting in some effort to try to keep this contained. That 7 man group thins down however as a few of the riders are dropped. The dropped riders are: Cooke Dennis McConnell
But the cameras flick back to the peloton to watch a fresh batch of attacks. The aggressors are: Lowe W. Walker
The gap is only at 2’40” with 22km remaining as the second last climb begins and these two are really strong puncheurs. However, they are run down by Davis and a recovered Crawford and brought back into the fold. As the final lap starts the gap is at 2’16”.
And as the final climb starts, with 10.4km to the line, Bobridge puts in his attack away from the breakaway!
He builds up a 40” gap around the middle of the climb and there is a bit of a scramble amongst the remaining parts of the breakaway. As the descent down to the finish begins he is caught by Sulzberger.
The winner will be one of Bobridge, Sulzberger, McCarthy or Docker.
Bobridge is forced to lead out the sprint.
With just over a kilometre to the line Sulzberger goes. The sprint is fast as we are still going downhill just before the final little kick up.
And it is the full-time sprinter Mitchell Docker who comes around and beats him by half a wheel length to become the new Australian champion!
And on to the TT. The clear favourite is of course Rogers, but because he is the new WC he is ineligible to be the national champion as well and as such we won’t bother reporting his times. Because of that the race is going to come down to five riders (in order of departure): Sutherland Laidler Bobridge Dempster M. Ford
Sutherland sets his time of 17’53” through the first check, taking the new best time in the process.
And his new best time at the finish line is 52’43”. That will test the others.
It is clear that Laidler is lacking something here, as he can only manage 18’03” through the first check and then 53’14” at the finish line. That will be well outside podium times today.
The next man up is Bobridge, the precocious youngster who was fourth in the RR. His time through the first check is 17’53”, the same as Sutherland.
And his time at the finish is 52’41” – 2” faster than Sutherland. This puts him provisionally in the lead and in with a real shot at winning this.
Right behind him is Dempster. It quickly becomes apparent that this is an incredible time, as he sets a new best at the first check of 17’34”.
And he finishes the course in 51’48”, beating Bobridge by a huge 53”! This is a great position to be in.
And the final man out on course is the defending champion, Ford. His time through the first check is very strong. 17’41” puts him just 7” outside Dempster.
But he can’t make up that time and comes through in 52’08”. This means that Zakkari Dempster is the new TT champion of Australia!
