2009 Australian National Elite Men's Individual Time Trial Championship
Welcome to the TT today around the oddly named town of "Bunnyong" where the riders today will attempt to master the 38 kilometer route which is mostly flat.
Former champion Ben Day from Irn Bru is the first on the route and sets the very fast time of 54'16"
The first man capable of competing with Day's time is Credit Lyonnais' Laidler but he disappoints and takes provisional second with 54'55"
Zak Dempster cant beat Day either but only loses 30 seconds and takes at 54'46" which is almost topped by Pearl Jam's Higgerson who sets the third best at 54'55 right after.
La Gazetta Dello Sport's Ford was better than Day on both checkpoints and shaves a chunk of Day's time with 54'01". But can he hold the lead with Rogers, McGee and Evans out on the route?
Bradley McGee (American Suzuki) somewhat disappoints with a of 54'36" putting him in third.
And just as last year, Michael Rogers is just better: 53'32". A time which might stand for the rest of the race.
Alvise Cappioli (The Control Team). Not the man we wanted a picture of, but we missed Cadel Evans when he posted the disappointing time of 54'17" which is just a second slower than Ben Day and means he's 4th right now with no serious contenders remaining.
And Adam Hansen is last man across the line in an unremarkable time meaning that Michael Rogers is the winner yet again!
Of course the game crashed before i could get screenshots, but we still got a top 10!
The 2009 Australian National Championship - Road Race
I hope you like Willunga Hill, because today we wont be eating anything else. Again only 37 riders are at the start line giving Michael Rogers a realistic chance at doing the national championship double and but Cadel Evans and Simon Gerrans cant be underestimated either.
Attacks start right off the bat with Zak Dempster, Mark Renshaw, Baden Cooke and Robbie McEwen and some lesser riders attacking on the first passing of Willunga. They fail though.
Ben Day is first one to get a gap. In the back, Luke Roberts gets a nice gap too, and just behind him, McEwen, Renshaw and Cooke is off!
Just before completing the first lap, the five groups together and they got a four minute gap which is continuing to grow.
We are nearing the end of the third lap and despite the pack going so slow the break got 9 minutes (and still growing slowly), some riders are seemingly struggling. The sprinter Hutchinson have already been dropped by the pack twice.
Halfway point. The break seems stabilized at 10½ minutes right now. Down in the pack, the riders are experimenting with going slowly. The current record is 7 km/h set by La Gazetta's Ford.
The pack woke up, the remaining 16 riders is under four minutes behind the five riders with only 3 laps to go.
McEwen forgot to relay and this happened shortly after: Walker and Lowe (LA MSS and Carlsberg) bridge the tiny gap between the break and the pack. Followed by Wes Sulzberger ruining the party by attacking and making the gap disappear meaning the race is pretty much at status quo. Only with half the riders.
Final Lap: In a move not entirely unpredictable, Evans, Rogers, Gerrans and McGee is off.
And Cadel Evans attacks again right before the hill and gets a gap.
And Evans' gap appears to be game winning. Rogers, Gerrans and McGee is caught by the riders they left behind, and that leads to Trent Lowe counterattacking with 14 kilometers to go.
Cadel Evans australian champion 2009!
Trent Lowe from Carlsberg is second.
The sprint for third is won by Michael Rogers with Simon Gerrans fourth.
