Stage 12, Milton to Batemans Bay, 120 km
Friday, November 10, 2000, 10:30 - 12:58
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Pritchard and Brooks
fight it out
By Jeff Jones
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Huw
Pritchard
Photo: © Tom Balks
Stage 12 of the
Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic from Milton to Batemans Bay saw a similar
result to 1999, with a small breakaway group staying away to win. In
an extremely close finish, DuPont's Huw Pritchard outsprinted his professional
teammate, Ben Brooks (NSWIS), with the always aggressive Dan Smith (QANTAS)
taking third.
The 120 kilometre
journey was considered to be a transition stage by many of the top GC
riders. A chance to rest a little after yesterday's battering on the
Southern Highlands. However, there were still a few itchy legs and not
long after the first and only sprint of the day in Ulladulla, a group
of five riders slipped the field.
Pawel Niedzwiecki
(Mroz), Cameron Jennings (Peugeot), Dan Smith (QANTAS), Ben Brooks (NSWIS)
and Huw Pritchard (DuPont) were the five, with Niedzwiecki the best
placed on GC, 8th at 6.56. The peloton sat up and allowed them to have
some freedom, and they took several minutes with ease. By kilometre
46 they had 4:42, their maximum advantage of the day.
At halfway, the
race passed through the finishing town of Batemans Bay, before going
further south to Moruya and then back to Batemans Bay. The rider who
had the most to gain on GC was Niedzwiecki, and he did the lion's share
of the work in the break while the others swapped off quickly. In the
bunch, Dupont and NSW Sport & Recreation realised that they couldn't
let him get too far in front, or he would jeopardize their own leading
riders. They began a chase that cut into the lead, before stabilising
at 3 minutes.
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The
break
Photo: © Tom Balks
At kilometre 74,
Dan Smith decided he'd had enough and launched himself off the front.
He was followed by Brooks and the two worked well together to put a
minute into the three behind. Huw Pritchard had no desire to work (especially
as Brooks was a teammate in Linda McCartney this year), and it was up
to the other two to cooperate to bring Brooks and Smith back. They surprisingly
succeeded in this, with Niedzwiecki again putting his head down.
On the undulations
coming back into Basemans bay, Brooks attacked again with 8 kilometres
to go. This time, Smith and Pritchard followed and the other two were
left stranded. Brooks tried again with 3 km to go, but the three held
together until the finish, and Pritchard led out from Brooks with 350
metres to go to take the stage in a photo finish. Smith rolled over
for third, with Niedzwiecki taking fourth to move himself up one place
in the GC.
Pritchard was one
of the breakaway riders last year in this stage (won by Marcel Wust),
so he knew what to expect. "I had a bit of a cold yesterday so I wasn't
going well at all. I told Shane [Sutton, team manager] that I was feeling
pretty bad this morning and he told me to get in the action and I got
in the move," said the happy Welshman.
"The Mroz guy was
riding really strongly and I was told that he was only 4 or 5 minutes
down on Julian so once the lead got up I sat on the back. I just tried
to make sure we stayed away but not by too much."
"I thought I had
it by a bit more," he said of the sprint "It was only when I looked
through my legs with about 50m to go that I saw Ben coming though and
so I had to dig in a bit more. I was pretty confident."
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Ben
Brooks
Photo: © Tom Balks
Second placed Ben
Brooks has gone through an emotional spectrum during the race so far.
Starting off with low morale and bad form, he has turned it around in
the last three days to net a win and a second place, as well as being
in the early move on yesterday's toughest stage.
The NSWIS team
has tried to keep him positively focussed. "They're always trying to
pick your morale up but at the end of the day it's yourself that has
to keep yourself going. I guess Coogee was the turnaround - you have
one win and that gets your confidence up," said Brooks.
"Today was my last
chance to win a stage so I went for it," he said. The second place was
"not so bad because we were both teammates in Linda McCartney this year."
'Were' is the operative
word at the moment as neither has a contract for next year. Brooks had
a terribly unlucky season with sickness and injuries, struggling to
find form in the early part of the race. A crash 10 weeks ago saw him
break his collarbone which, combined with his release from McCartney
made it hard for him to give his best.
Are there prospects
for a contract next year? "I think it's very late now and I think most
teams are filled up. If I miss out I think I'll go back to the amateur
ranks. I've still got another year as an U23 rider so I'd like to have
a shot at the World Titles."
Results
1 Huw Pritchard (GBr) Dupont 2.55.43 (42.04 km/h)
2 Ben Brooks (Aus) NSWIS
3 Dan Smith (GBr) Qantas-One World 0.06
4 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz 0.18
5 Cameron Jennings (Aus) Peugeot 0.20
6 Ben Day (Aus) Bates Bikes 1.06
7 Hilton McMurdo (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondriest 1.30
8 Steve Williams (Aus) Team Caravello 1.52
9 Dariusz Wojciechowski (Pol) Mroz
10 Andrew Payne (Aus) Team Caravello
11 Dennis Mungoven (Aus) Casino Canberra
12 Russel Van Hout (Aus) Bates Bikes
13 Scott Suckling (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondriest
14 Grzegorz Wajs (Pol) Mroz
15 Julian Winn (GBr) Dupont
16 Cameron Hughes (Aus) Peugeot
17 Phil Thuaux (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec
18 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Peugeot
19 Bart Duraj (Aus) Mroz
20 Peter Milostic (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec
21 Tomas Buchacek (Cze) Bates Bikes
22 Timo Scholz (Ger) Bosch
23 Brent Millar (Aus) Casino Canberra
24 Giles Baudet (Aus) Team Caravello
25 Scott Bradburn (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec
26 Brent Dawson (Aus) Qantas-One World
27 Stephan Gottschling (Ger) Bosch
28 Chris White (Aus) Team Caravello
29 Adam Cox (Aus) Bates Bikes
30 Heiko Szonn (Ger) Qantas-One World
31 Tino Haakman (Ned) Websdale
32 Darren Rolfe (Aus) NSWIS 3.12
33 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) Mroz
34 Jono Davis (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec
35 Alan Sieper (Aus) Casino Canberra 4.05
36 Henk Vaassen (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec 4.44
37 Jans Koerts (Ned) Websdale 5.58
38 Baden Burke (Aus) Peugeot
39 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Caravello
40 Michael Tolhurst (Aus) Casino Canberra
41 Anthony Malarczyk (GBr) Dupont
42 Matt Illingworth (GBr) Dupont
43 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) NSWIS
44 Edmund Hollands (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondriest
45 Danny Clark (Aus) Qantas-One World
46 Dirk Schumann (Ger) Bosch
47 Yento Barker (GBr) Dupont
48 Bjorn Hoeben (Ned) Websdale
49 Graeme Brown (Aus) NSWIS
DNF Paul Van Schalen (Ned) Websdale
DNF Martijn Simons (Ned) Websdale
DNF Mark Chadwick (Aus) Peugeot
Points:
1 Huw Pritchard (GBr) Dupont 5 pts
2 Ben Brooks (Aus) NSWIS 3
3 Dan Smith (GBr) Qantas-One World 2
4 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz 1
Ulladulla Sprint, km 7.15
1 Graeme Brown (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 5 pts
2 Jans Koerts (Ned) Websdale 3
3 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 2
4 Dirk Schumann (Ger) BOSCH 1
General classification after stage 12:
1 Grzegorz Wajs (Pol) Mroz 18.43.41
2 Julian Winn (GBr) Dupont 0.02
3 Dariusz Wojciechowski (Pol) Mroz 0.05
4 Peter Milostic (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec 1.16
5 Scott Suckling (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondriest 1.18
6 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Peugeot 1.49
7 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz 5.17
8 Phil Thuaux (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec 6.00
9 Cameron Jennings (Aus) Peugeot 9.19
10 Dan Smith (GBr) Qantas-One World 11.53
11 Giles Baudet (Aus) Team Caravello 11.57
12 Scott Bradburn (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec 15.39
13 Ben Brooks (Aus) NSWIS 15.46
14 Chris White (Aus) Team Caravello 16.23
15 Hilton McMurdo (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondriest 16.43
16 Heiko Szonn (Ger) Qantas-One World 19.18
17 Steve Williams (Aus) Team Caravello 19.30
18 Brent Dawson (Aus) Qantas-One World 19.52
19 Tino Haakman (Ned) Websdale 22.19
20 Bart Duraj (Aus) Mroz 22.51
21 Adam Cox (Aus) Bates Bikes 24.36
22 Darren Rolfe (Aus) NSWIS 24.36
23 Stephan Gottschling (Ger) Bosch 25.44
24 Jans Koerts (Ned) Websdale 27.08
25 Andrew Payne (Aus) Team Caravello 27.20
26 Yento Barker (GBr) Dupont 28.30
27 Anthony Malarczyk (GBr) Dupont 29.24
28 Bjorn Hoeben (Ned) Websdale 30.12
29 Henk Vaassen (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec 35.01
30 Cameron Hughes (Aus) Peugeot 39.15
31 Russel Van Hout (Aus) Bates Bikes 39.16
32 Timo Scholz (Ger) Bosch 39.40
33 Brent Millar (Aus) Casino Canberra 40.28
34 Danny Clark (Aus) Qantas-One World 40.53
35 Tomas Buchacek (Cze) Bates Bikes 41.01
36 Dennis Mungoven (Aus) Casino Canberra 41.40
37 Edmund Hollands (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondriest 41.45
38 Matt Illingworth (GBr) Dupont 43.56
39 Jono Davis (Aus) NSW Sport & Rec 45.55
40 Baden Burke (Aus) Peugeot 47.43
41 Alan Sieper (Aus) Casino Canberra 48.12
42 Ben Day (Aus) Bates Bikes 51.51
43 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) Mroz 52.40
44 Huw Pritchard (GBr) Dupont 53.50
45 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) NSWIS 54.27
46 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Caravello 56.47
47 Graeme Brown (Aus) NSWIS 57.29
48 Michael Tolhurst (Aus) Casino Canberra 58.16
49 Dirk Schumann (Ger) Bosch 59.09
Giant Sprint King:
1 Jans Koerts (Ned) Websdale 16 pts
2 Graeme Brown (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 13
3 Grzegorz Wajs (Pol) Mroz 10
4 Dirk Schumann (Ger) BOSCH 10
5 Ashley Hutchinson (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 10
6 Ben Brooks (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 8
7 Hilton McMurdo (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondriest 8
8 Pawel Niedzwiecki (Pol) Mroz 6
9 Bjorn Hoeben (Ned) Websdale 6
10 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Peugeot 6
11 Dariusz Skoczylas (Pol) Mroz 5
12 Huw Pritchard (GBr) DuPont 5
13 Dariusz Wojciechowski (Pol) Mroz 5
14 Julian Winn (GBr) DuPont 4
15 Dan Smith (GBr) QANTAS-One World 4
16 Matt Illingworth (GBr) DuPont 3
17 Brent Dawson (Aus) QANTAS-One World 3
18 Steve Williams (Aus) Caravello 3
19 Peter Milostic (Aus) NSW Sport & Recreation 2
20 Edmund Hollands (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondrie 2
21 Cameron Hughes (Aus) Peugeot 2
22 Henk Vaassen (Aus) NSW Sport & Recreation 1
23 Phil Thuaux (Aus) NSW Sport & Recreation 1
24 Scott Suckling (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondries 1
25 Ben Day (Aus) Bates Bikes 1
Coca Cola King of the Mountain:
1 Julian Winn (GBr) DuPont 28 pts
2 Dariusz Wojciechowski (Pol) Mroz 16
3 Grzegorz Wajs (Pol) Mroz 14
4 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Peugeot 12
5 Ben Brooks (Aus) NSW Institute of Sport 10
6 Peter Milostic (Aus) NSW Sport & Recreation 8
7 Scott Suckling (Aus) Glen Parker Cycles-Fondriest 7
8 Heiko Szonn (Ger) QANTAS-One World 6
9 Bjorn Hoeben (Ned) Websdale 2
10 Dan Smith (GBr) QANTAS-One World 2
Teams classification:
1 Mroz 55.37.05
2 NSW Sport & Recreation 10.59
3 Peugeot 20.21
4 Caravello 29.43
5 QANTAS 40.38
6 DuPont 43.25
7 Glen Parker Cycles 54.38
8 Websdale Printing 1.13.29
9 Bates Bikes 1.15.14
10 NSW Institute of Sport 1.24.05
11 Casino Canberra 1.37.31
12 Bosch 1.53.02
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