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Stage 12, Nowra Criterium, 30 kmsResults and Report |
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With just three hours to recover from their arduous morning stage, the surviving members of this year's Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic prepared for their regular 30 km criterium dose, this time around the centre of Nowra. The 0.88 km circuit had to be completed 34 times, involving more than 200 bends. The mornings tiredness clearly showed on many riders who were dropped and/or lapped during the race. The pace was mainly being set by Jonathon Hall (Festina), and Scott Sunderland (QANTAS) who were keen to escape and pick up some time bonuses. However, it was not to be as the Poles and Slovenians countered any moves that these two attempted to make.
After 10 laps, a group of three riders jumped clear of the bunch to go for one of the sprint primes. The three were Jans Koerts (Websdale Netherlands), Paul Esposti (Dupont UK), and Dan Smith (UK, Sportscover). Their move paid off as most of the bunch were happy to let them go, or not in a position to chase them down. The three increased their gap to the extent that they almost lapped the main field by the end. Koerts was the odds-on favourite to win in a sprint, so it was up to the other two to try and steal the race from him. With one lap to go, "part-timer" Dan Smith attacked the other two and used the technical circuit to his advantage, holding off Koerts for the win, with Esposti taking third. Sportscover were again active in the main bunch, with Jeremy Hunt attacking on the last lap to take fourth from Slovenia's Martin Hvastja. However, coming into the final corner, Nelson Bay stage winner Torsten Wilhelms (Bosch) overcooked it and crashed into the barriers, taking Antony Malarczyk (Dupont) and Scott Sunderland (QANTAS) with him. Although Scott was not seriously hurt, the other two fared a lot worse and had to be taken to hospital where they were treated for lacerations and bruises. It is doubtful whether they will start tomorrow. Smith's win was the Sportscover team's third of the Classic and he was delighted with himself. He hails from Great Britain, first coming out to race the Classic in 1997. However in 1998, a bad fall took him out for much of the year and he decided to pack it in and move to Australia. He now works for race director, Phill Bates and has only been training part time (2 days a week) for this event. He admits that this hasn't helped him much on the longer stages, but he can summon up plenty of speed for the 40 minute criteriums as he showed today. It's always good to see someone win like this against the full timers, and he's probably the closest Australia has come to winning a stage in the event. Tomorrow should be fairly straightforward for the riders, as it is only one stage of 120 kms and no climbs. If it gets windy along the coast, the peloton may split up but it's unlikely that the key players will allow themselves to be caught out. However, there are still sprint and time bonuses up for grabs which could see a very attacking race from the Poles and Slovenians. For Complete Results
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