Main Page Results Previous stage Stage map Poles start to crackBy Jeff Jones
The Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic is not over yet, after today's stage from Wollongong to Nowra saw Grzegorz Wajs come within two seconds of losing his yellow jersey to Julian Winn. The Welsh Dupont rider was clearly the best climber today, and took valuable bonus seconds on the climbs to move within striking distance of Wajs. The honours of the day went to Australian Glen Chadwick (Peugeot) who attacked before the final climb to eventually win solo. The first obstacle to be tackled was the seriously steep Jamberoo Pass, which could be described as a roof tiler's nightmare. However, last night's stage winner Ben Brooks was not afraid of its pitch as he rode off the front of the bunch to take the first KOM sprint. In second place was Welshman Julian Winn (DuPont) who took a valuable 8 second bonus for the bunch sprint. The leading group contained most of the top GC riders, save for Dan Smith (QANTAS) who had missed the cut. Smith's teammate, Jeremy Hunt had cracked on the lower slopes and abandoned the race, unable to cope with the slope of the Pass.
Over the top of the first climb, Brooks was caught by Winn and Heiko Szonn (QANTAS), with a chasing group of 11 behind them. There were three Poles in that group, who had to work hard to bring the escapees back. Whenever the road went uphill, the gap widened, showing the superiority of Winn's climbing skills. They were finally caught after 63 kilometres, at which time Peter Milostic (NSW Sport & Rec) counterattacked before the dangerous descent into Kangaroo Valley. He was pursued by two riders, Scott Suckling (Glen Parker-Fondriest) and Glen Chadwick (Peugeot), and all were allowed some freedom as they were no real threat to the lead. On the final climb of Cambewarra Mountain, Chadwick accelerated away from Suckling to catch and pass Milostic, who was then caught by Bjorn Hoeben (Websdale). Chadwick stayed away over the top and for the final 12 kilometre descent into Nowra, to take the win with 1'33 to spare on Hoeben (2nd) and Milostic (3rd). The bunch sprint was won by Julian Winn, who also took some seconds on the final KOM. With a total of 15 seconds (net) in bonuses, Winn moved to two seconds of an exhausted Wajs. 24 year old Chadwick, who won this year's Tour of Tasmania, was happy with the win, especially after the team had a bad day on Bumble Hill when both him and Cameron Hughes (the two GC riders) were involved in a crash. "I broke a cable and ended up in the little chainring for 100 kilometres, and it didn't really work. Today I was trying to pull a little time back." "I won the Tour of Tasmania a few months ago, but to win a stage in the final Bank Race is great, especially as it was one of the toughest stages," said Chadwick who used a 42x23 on each climb today. Are the Poles unbeatable? "They're a pretty strong team but you could tell that they were buggered today. Winn went away on the first KOM and we didn't help chase..." There were a few words said between Wajs and Wojciechowski at the finish of the stage, later described as "emotion" by Wajs. The Poles, despite having three in the final cut, could not keep Winn in check and he grabbed far too much time for their liking.
Julian Winn tried "but I just couldn't quite shake off the Poles. There were two and they were giving me the one-two in the last 20 kilometres. The last climb wasn't really steep enough for me to get a gap." "I knew there was seconds on the mountains and I knew there were seconds for the sprint so I made sure I was trying to collect seconds - I may end up winning by one second so everything counts," he said. When he was away with the two others after the first climb, he kept up the pace despite the gap being very slender. "It was a good group. Ben was going well and Heiko was going well and it was good to put them under a bit of pressure. I didn't know what was happening behind but I heard that the yellow jersey was doing quite a bit of chasing." "They were getting really rattled at the end - I thought they were going to punch each other at the finish. I don't know what they were saying but it was good to rattle them," he chuckled. "He was asking me not to sprint in the mountains then you know you've got them under pressure. So I was doing it even more. If he wins, then its fair play to him." Winn vowed that he would put the Poles under pressure right to the end and the race looks to go right down to the wire.
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