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Stage 4, Newcastle - Nelson Bay, 60 kmsResults and Report |
In previous years, this stage of the race has often caused some significant changes to the general classification, despite it being only 60 km in length. This is largely due to the strong winds along the route rather than any climbs. However, the Stockton bridge over the Hunter river (12 kms) can cause a small split to occur which can then blow out to several minutes in the crosswinds out to Nelson Bay. Similar in some respects to this year's infamous "Passage du Gois" stage in the Tour de France, where several big names were effectively put out of the overall race after crashes and wind split the peloton. Today therefore, the riders were very anxious before the start, knowing that it would be a battle for position for the entire 60 kms - a small lapse in concentration could cost them dearly. Hong Kong's climbing genius, Kam-Po Wong (Sportscover) looked as though he was going to have kittens as he sat contemplating the stage at the start in Newcastle's Hunter St Mall. Others were more relaxed, and even looking forward to the stage. NSW Institute of Sport's Henk Vaassen was one of these, telling race commentator Stuart Doyle that he was in for a chance if everything went ok. "After the bridge, it'll be on for young and old," he said. As it turned out, the wind made it difficult for such a split to occur, being more of a head/crosswind rather than straight cross or tailwind. The riders had a tailwind up to the Stockton bridge as they cruised along towards it at 65 km/h being spread across the road rather than in single file. Although the peloton did string out over the bridge, no significant gaps occured and it came back together after the descent, though the bunch was still moving very fast along the right hand gutter. There was the potential for a bad crash during the stage, but only two riders came off when they rode off the edge of the road. South Africa's Ryan Cox (Bates Bikes) and Australia's Michael Tolhurst (Casino Canberra) were the unlucky pair, but they safely regained the bunch. Although several attacks were attempted, the speed and wind made it too difficult for any to escape until two Aussies, Henk Vaassen (NSWIS) and Brad Mills (Caravello) established a break with some 20 km to go. Their lead grew to 34 seconds and they looked good enough to stay away, with Vaassen putting in a lot of work at the front. However, coming up the hill into Nelson Bay with 3 km to go, they were caught by the sprinter's teams and there was an immediate counter attack. It came from none other than Jeremy Hunt (GBr, Sportscover) closely followed by Festina's Marcel Wüst and sprint king leader, Jans Koerts (Websdale). However, Wüst did not have the legs and swung over 100 m from the top when he saw that teammate Jonathon Hall was up there as well. The three managed to maintain a slight gap to the finish and once again it was Koerts who won, followed by Hunt and Hall. QANTAS - One World's Franky van Haesebroucke led the bunch home just behind these three. Hunt's second place gave him enough bonus seconds to take over the yellow jersey from Piotr Wadecki (Pol, MROZ), as well as holding onto his points jersey. He is really happy with his form so far and is hoping to remain in yellow for a few more days. Stage winner Jans Koerts who is another contender for the most stage wins club, was happy with his 7th CBCC stage win. However, he said that he would prefer it if fellow Belgian, Max van Heeswijk took the honours (Jay Sweet, where are you?). The stage did not quite go according to Koerts' plans, as he would have preferred more splits to occur as is often the case in windy Dutch races. He's a hard man to please... On the other hand, Jonathon Hall was quite positive about his result and it could be the sign of things to come when the race hits the hills. Although an Australian victory would have been nice it wasn't to be, as Caravello's Brad Mills said afterwards: "We had a pretty good gap, with Henk riding very strongly. After we turned left at the roundabout and started going up the climb, the bunch nailed us and the counterattack went straight away. But, you've got to give it a go if you want to get up there." Indeed, and I'm sure we'll see an Aussie stage win before the Tour has finished. For Complete Results
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