The Bay Classics conclude with a third flat crit. Like the opening race, we will be in Geelong, Eastern Park this time. A bit more challenging, but still too flat to be considered a tricky one.
GC-leader Howard (18pts) has a nice advantage of 6pts on the next sprinter (Bennett), thanks to sprinting for podium in both flat crits. He still waits for a first win at The Bay. Will he complete the overall win by taking out today's crit? Or will he fail hard with someone else grabbing the title? And - of course - will escapees try and go for this overall win? Cuming and also Lloyd are well within striking distance.
The race kicks off with four riders breaking clear for a decent gap and we see some names, we've seen in breakaways before:
O'Brien (Oz)
Lane (Budget)
Destribois (OCBC)
Masuda (Japan)
A maybe even more interesting group of four riders is a minute in arrears though:
Dennis (Lotto)
Hepburn (Becherovka)
Haig (Avanti) and
Lloyd (UniSA)!
The latter is a real threat for overall leader Howard (18pts)! Thanks to his 3rd yesterday and his 4th in the opening flat crit, Lloyd (15pts) was expected to at least try and steal more points to grab the overall win!
The two groups joined each other to make for an 8-men-breakaway. The race settled down after that and there were no more serious attempts to attack the bunch..
..which looks in better control of the race than in the two previous flat crits though: the escapees enter the final lap with only 30" on the peloton. Will they stand a chance?
Well, there's definitely a chance! The bunch somehow struggles to close the gap and with now 3km remaining, the gap is back at 45"!
Lane now attacks the leading group, trying to solo away for the win.. in the meantime, Becherovka leaves Howard "all alone" by allowing Gough a late attack! Tactical move or just weird stuff?
It ain't the worst move, to be honest. Gough quickly caught up to the leading group, so he would actually prevent Lloyd from grabbing "easy" points..
Lane still holds on to a small gap, with Destribious catching up though! Gough already a few metres behind with a strong acceleration.
The bunch narrowed the gap to 30" and is now to be seen in the background.. still 2km to go!
And just under the kite, the sprinting bunch also catches up to the remaining escapees!
Lane still fights, but Gough is head-to-head now.. Lloyd looks totally empty and is unlikely to score points today..
And so is both Lane and Gough! The escapees look completely lost once the bunch sprint is on full-mode!
And it's Risa, who had the best train here: Sutton finally made a nice leadout for Matthews, who moves forward with great speed now!
Nelson (Budget) tries to hang on, while the other remaining top-sprinters try to come from the left side.. facing a clear gap though!
Matthews won't care, as he keeps pulling the strings! Nelson now overtook Sutton, desperately trying to catch up to Matthews..
Sutton still on third position, with guys like Bennett, Drapac, Howard or Drapac still too far behind..
Michael Matthews makes it two-in-a-row for Risa! The team is finally back where they left The Bay last year. It's the fifth stage-win for Risa in two years!
Nelson with a nice 2nd (just like in last year's final crit) and defending Bay-champion Sutton really delivered to complete the podium! Risa in love with The Bay? Yes.
The overall win goes to top-favorite Leigh Howard though. The Aussie sprinted for 4th place today and this is enough to secure his first overall win of the Bay Crits after his runner-up in 2013.
Bennett with a Top-5, ahead of a consistent Drapac, Rowe, Arashario and a yet again disappointing Cam Meyer. He already struggled in last year's edition and this 9th place today is his best result in 2014...
So.. Howard is a well-deserved overall winner. 3rd, 2nd and 4th in the flat crits. Most consistent sprinter, without any doubt. Bennett and Matthews share the runner-up spot thanks to both taking out one crit.. Nelson with a nice overall performance as well, but unlucky as 4th (no win, so that's why he's behind the duo).
Drapac will be satisfied with his Top-5 and so will Lloyd with a nice 6th overall. Two Brits (Rowe, Cuming), Haas and two Asians (Awang, Hatanaka) round up the Top-10. See you next year at The Bay!
Michael Matthews
Sam Bennett
Matt Rowe
Yukiya Arashiro
Azizulhasni Awang
