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Stage 11, Wollongong to Nowra, 104 kmsResults and Report |
With just five stages in the race to go, and time running out for the GC contenders to make their mark, today's race was always going to be the toughest. The replacement of tomorrow's hilly Nowra to Goulburn stage with the flattish Milton to Batemans Bay, meant that the two category one climbs in today's stage were the last chance for those with climbing prowess to get ahead. It was going to be a hot and hard day for Jonathon Hall's Festina squad, as well as Sunderland's QANTAS team and Hickson's Caravello boys. They had to contend with the Poles and Slovenians, each of whom had more than one rider capable of taking the lead in the GC. One of Festina's domestiques, 22 year old Swiss, Michel Klinger (not to be confused with David) admitted that the team would find it hard today to get Hall into yellow. "We will try to make it over the first mountain, and after that we'll see, but it will be a very tough day," he said. However, this situation did not arise as the Festina team were forced to chase a break containing Zbigniew Piatek (Pol, MROZ), Uros Murn and Martin Derganc (Slovenia) to the bottom of Jamberoo pass at the 31 km point. As soon as they hit the climb, the bunch collapsed into several groups, with many riders feeling the effects of last night's criterium and post race celebrations. Pretty soon, a group of 5 had formed, containing race leader Gorazd Stangelj, Scott Sunderland, Jonathon Hall, and the Poles Raimondas Rumsas and Zbigniew Piatek. Slovenia's Derganc was dropped and caught by the chasing group, who were some 10 strong. Both Hall and Sunderland were trying everything they had to get rid of the others, succeeding in dropping Piatek, but he regained them over the top. The KOM points and bonus seconds were taken by Sunderland from Rumsas, Hall, and Stangelj. The five held a 1:00 - 1:30 gap to the 10 strong chasing group, which contained Hickson, van Heeswijk (Websdale), Wong (Sportscover), and Jennings (Casino Canberra) amongst others. A few kilometers before the main descent, yellow jersey Stangelj took advantage of a Sunderland and Hall "discussion" and went on the attack taking Piatek with him. Hall was reluctant to counter, being worried about the chasers behind, and allowed Sunderland to do the lions share of the work until they caught up Stangelj again. The chasers got within 45 seconds before the lead group put another 30 into them on the descent into Kangaroo Valley. Incidently, this melted the brakes on our bus although we did not find out until the next descent. Our driver is a genius though and we made it. The top of the next climb of Cambewarra Mountain came with just 12 km to go in the 106 km stage, and as expected Hall tried several attacks. None of these paid off however, and the five stayed together to contest the sprint into Nowra. In this, it was MROZ' Rumsas who won from Sunderland, with Hall taking third. The time bonuses for this and the mountains meant that Rumsas is now just 30 seconds behind Stangelj, with Sunderland and Hall another 20 and 36 seconds further back respectively. Rumsas is the best sprinter of the top five and likely to be a superior time triallist to Stangelj, meaning that the final 4 stages will be anything but uneventful. For a yellow jersey wearer without a comfortable lead, Stangelj seemed quite nonchalant: "I came here to race, but was not really prepared to be the leader. If I lose it, well then it is not a catastrophe. I think it's still anybody's race," he said. He is still in the box seat though, and it seems unlikely that either Hall or Sunderland can close the gap. Sunderland, who rode a great race to clinch the KOM jersey, was unhappy with his performance after suffering from stomach troubles yesterday and today. He did want to really give it something on the climbs, but simply didn't have the strength to be really aggressive. He feels that his best chance for the overall is 3rd, if he can hold off Hall in the time trial, as the Polish and Slovenian teams are simply too strong. Hall agreed with this, saying that it was "definitely a two man race, and the best I can hope for is to win the time trial on Sunday". For Complete Results
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