Second flat crit in the Bay Classics and after seeing the bunch struggling to pull the escapees back in the opening crit, the biggest question may be, wether they do better today or not.
Again hard to pick a favorite, but as Awang (OCBC) was the fastest sprinter in the opener, he may be one of those favorites today. Same goes - of course - for Howard (Becherovka) as 3rd yesterday. But it was a close bunch sprint, so don't count guys like Drapac (Avanti) or Davis (UniSA) off.
Like yesterday, three riders escaped from the bunch early in the first lap - and again it's three Oceanic teams involved:
O'Shea (Becherovka)
Vink (Fletcher) and
O'Brien (Oz Cycling) established a minutes-gap quickly.
An interesting group from Oz Cycling's point of view: with Becherovka's guest rider O'Shea and O'Brien plus former team member Vink, this is kind of an Oz-group..
The three are joined by two riders 38km before finish and one familiar face made it into the breakaway once again:
Masuda (Japan) and yesterday's winner Cuming (GBR)! Will he strike again?
The race settled down until the final 20km, but now we see a group of four riders trying to bridge the 1'20"-gap on the escaping group:
Lloyd (UniSA)
Avery (Budget)
Earle (Stobart) and again
Sutton (Risa)
attack the bunch! So Lloyd with another attempt to grab points and Sutton keeps his tactics to attack instead of saving energy for a bunch sprint..
It's a short-lived attempt anyway, as the peloton already went for a higher pace in order to pull the early escapees back in time!
Those five still hold on to a minutes-gap 12km before finish and now it's Oz's O'Brien trying to solo away from his breakaway companions! And he opens up a gap quickly..
Back in the pack, the pace is now set by An Post (most probably for Bennett, who didn't deliver yesterday). It's again a close one, even though most of the escapees (except of O'Brien and Avery) have been reeled in with now only 3km to go!
O'Brien though maintains a decent gap..
The solo-leader faces tough final 2km though: solo-chasing Avery is soon to be swallowed by the bunch and O'Brien may already feel the pressure, too..
He suffers from his efforts, that's for sure: 20" for O'Brien under the kite.. and the bunch is already in sprint-formation:
Hawkins leads out Bennett (AnPost), Sutton and Matthews (Risa) in the mix this time, as well as Rowe (GBR), Howard (Becherovka), Nelson (Budget), Drapac (Avanti) and Anuawar (Malaysia).
Blame it either on our reporter or the tremendous speed, but we missed the moment, where solo-leader O'Brien got caught by the bunch! He appeared to be completely empty and is already a few positions behind a leading trio:
Bennett
Howard
Nelson
look like they would be the strongest here, but also
Haidar Anuawar
Matthews
are still in the mix with only a few metres to go!
And here we see O'Brien fighting for at least some points.. an interesting point of view, especially as we see a thrilling finishing sprint between
Bennett and Howard! It's certainly going to be very close..
Bennett still holds on to a small advantage on Howard, while both Nelson and Haidar Anuawar won't stand a chance against those two!
Sam Bennett (AnPost) takes it! Howard finishes 2nd again - he couldn't answer on Bennett's strong sprint. A huge win for Bennett, who struggled in the Bay Crits so far (and last year)!
Behind a celebrating Bennett (and frustrated Howard), Ricki Nelson completes the podium ahead of a strong Anuawar and one of the top-favorites Matthews. Risa ain't in "Bay-shape" yet - also thanks to some strange tactics so far.
Drapac with another Top-10, just like Rowe as 7th.. Two leadouts (Barclay, Hawkins) grab points ahead of today's most aggressive rider O'Brien, who at least hang on for a single point.
Tomorrow's hilly crit in Portarlington is likely to mix the overall GC once again and as no puncheur (except of maybe O'Brien) couldn't score points today, the top-favorites like Lloyd, Hatanaka or Haas need to deliver.
Sam Bennett
Leigh Howard
Ahmad Haidar Anuawar
Matt Rowe
