The Bay Cycling Classic kicks off with a flat criterium on Ritchie Boulevard in Geelong. One of the most beautiful places at "The Bay", the race will be worth an unofficial season opener to the ManGame.
Defending Bay champion Michael Matthews (Compal) is amongst the favorites again: compatriots like Cam Meyer, Damion Drapac, Mitchell Docker (runner-up last year) or Steele Von Hoff will make for a fierce competition.
Internationals like Mohamed Harrif Salleh, Kenji Itami, Libin Chen, Lahcen Saber or Kiwi Tom Scully will aim to become the first non-Aussie Bay Classic champion in the event's fourth edition.
Notable crosswinds around 45kmh today, the race will be quite challenging with also some early attacks leading to a rather fast pace in the first half:
eventually, a group of 4 riders manages to stay clear, building a minutes-gap on the pack halfway through the race:
N. Van der Ploeg (Avanti), Watson (Grieg), Lloyd (Xero) and Karwowski (The Spark)! Lloyd was often to be seen in Bay breakaways the past years!
And indeed the crosswinds do their damage! With about 30km left, the peloton already went into two big pieces. 29 riders got dropped and we notice quite some unexpected names on the "droplist":
Scully, Von Hoff, Docker, Brenton Jones, Opie as the most notable sprinters! A bummer for particularly the first three..
At the front of the race, it's quite an action packed race in the final quarter: some more attacks from a few riders led to the early break being caught inside the final 15km. A few empty-handed attempts from riders like Bay-legend Chris Sutton did not suceed then.
With 6km remaining, a next group with 3 riders at least opened up a small gap then:
Haijun Ma (China), Archbold (NZL) and Brammeier (Ireland) try their luck!
But the first peloton does it's work and Ma (as the last man standing) doesn't look like he will stand a chance against today's best sprinters. With now just 2km left, the Chinese roleur is soon to be swallowed:
Itami
Drapac with a very strong early kick here!
Will Clarke, Salleh, Matthews, Simon Clarke and Meyer on the further positions. Clarke delivered Drapac a nice leadout earlier on..
Ma is already gone with the kite approaching: Itami vs Drapac at the very front, while we see Salleh, Libin Chen and Matthews trying to move past Will Clarke now.. quite a gap on the leading duo though!
Salleh as the strongest of the "chasers", the Malaysian seems like he actually may close the gap a few hundred metres to the line..
Drapac is now head-to-head with Itami, this is going to be a thrilling finish, it seems!
Salleh comes closer, but apparently too late for line honours: it's between the strongest two, where Drapac now taking the leading position with only a few metres to go..
..and yes, he does it: Damion Drapac wins his first ever Bay Classic criterium! Quite a dominating opener from those three on the podium, namely Itami and Salleh.
Meyer went past Matthews to finish 4th eventually. Simon Clarke and Chen next, while Jayco'z (Wippert 8th, Saber 10th) won't be too happy with this race. A strong Faiers (GBR) comes in as 9th.
Damion Drapac
Kenji Itami
Mohamed Harrif Salleh
Libin Chen
Wouter Wippert
Thomas Faiers
Lahcen Saber
