Welcome to Portarlington, where the Bay Classic's only hilly crit will be held today. Last year's event was won by Lachlan Morton out of a mid-race attack, so how will this crit unfold today?
Top-favorites should be Hatanaka (Japan), Haas (Risa) or Lloyd (UniSA), while also last year's 4th Gerrans (Oz) or Kiwi Bauer (Lotto) may fancy their chances. Several more riders could well end up finishing high, like Walker (Risa) or defending Portarlington-winner Morton (Avanti).
And of course some riders (especially those sprinters trying to steal points) will go for the ever dangerous breakaway. It's seven riders right from the start today, including two sprinters, who already scored points so far:
Haidar Anuawar (Malaysia) and Matthews (Risa) may hope for a scenario, in which the bunch struggles to control the race.
They are accompanied by Renshaw (Stobart), Khalifa (OCBC), Edmondson (Avanti), Wohler (Budget) and Meenhorst (Scotty Browns).. some more riders are close behind, trying to catch up.
Ever wondered how many good sprinters could be part of one single breakaway attempt? Well, here you go! The 11-men-breakaway features some well known names:
Giacoppo (Oz) and Meyer (Fletcher) joined the first attacking group! So we've at least five of those sprinters in this group, plus Gough (Becherovka) and Hawkins (AnPost)!
The gap on the bunch is at 2'00" with still 36km to go though.
It's a rather quiet race so far, with the peloton looking in total control of the sitation. With 16km remaining, the gap is at less than a minute and except of one ride, the break of the day has already been reeled in!
Khalifa (OCBC) is this solo-leader, trying to fight his way alone to the finish. 53" for him. A brave attempt!
But let's keep it short: he won't stand a chance against a focussed bunch (now led by Japan) and he's pulled back just on the next (and third to last climb)!
So it's up to the big guns to set the agenda late in the race. Something the fans certainly were hoping for.
9km before finish, we see the first serious attempt:
Earle (Stobart) attacks, immediately followed by
Haas (Risa) and also
Lloyd (UniSA) tries to hang on!
And this is definitely considered as a crucial move by some more favorites, who quickly jumped behind:
Hatanaka (Japan)
Anuar Aziz (Malaysia)
Morton (Avanti)
Bauer (Lotto) and also
Wurf (Stobart)
managed to catch up to the attacking trio on today's penultimate climb! Edie Stobart looks totally motivated here, as also Neil Van der Ploeg (19" in arrears) joins the action.. The bunch (including Gerrans, Walker, Ito or Mat Senan) sits up now.
The top-favorites won't sit up at all, as the attacking continues just at the top of the climb:
Haas and Hatanaka try to escape from the 7-men-group with 5km to go! Risa with tactics, that just make sense.
The duo actually managed to establish a small gap on the group! With just 2km to go, they still face a thrilling finishing climb:
E1/ Hatanaka, Haas
E2/ Lloyd at 0.16
E3/ Anuar Aziz, Wurf, Morton, Bauer, Earle at 0.28
E4/ Neil Van der Ploeg at 1.05
So especially Lloyd (who already scored valuable points as 4th in the opening crit) is well within striking distance.. and so is the chasing group with future superstar Morton!
And here they enter the short but tough climb! And with Lloyd catching up to the leading duo, it seems like it will be up to those three:
E1/ Haas, Hatanaka, Lloyd
E2/ Wurf, Morton, Bauer, Aziz, Earle at 0.40
So the gap is getting bigger.. Lloyd still as a few bike lengths of disadvantage.. this is going to be a nice fight!
Haas now with a nice advantage on Hatanaka, who suffers a bit on those final hundred metres! Lloyd though couldn't really narrow the gap to Haas yet.. still some way to climb..
But he holds on to a clear gap: Nathan Haas (Risa) brings his team back in "Bay-mode", celebrating a prestigious and impressive win on Portarlington's "wall"!
Hatanaka lungs in for 2nd ahead of Lloyd, who missed a chance to take the provisional overall lead today. Still a nice effort by all three top-favorites.
47" later, Bauer (Lotto) secures himself a nice 4th place ahead of a surprisingly strong Wurf (Stobart)! Morton ends up as 6th this year, beating Stobart's second rider Earle and Malaysian Anuar Aziz.. A nice team effort by Stobart, as also Van der Ploegs scores points as 9th.
Top-favorite for the overall win though remains Howard, who still sits on top of the GC with 18 points.. Lloyd climbs onto 2nd with 15pts, while Haas joins the two previous winners (12pts) for a provisional podium.
This is of course likely to change in tomorrow's concluding flat crit in Eastern Park, Geelong. We've already seen two close flat crits, so escapees may well stand a chance to grab points.
Nathan Haas
Yusuke Hatanaka
Jack Bauer
Mohamed S Anuar Aziz
Michael Cuming
Sam Bennett
