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Central Australia Bike Challenge - NE
Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, March 14-20, 2003
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Stage 4 - March 18: Convention Centre - Undoolya Station, 50 km
The thorny issue of punctures
By Joe Ward
While the world's thoughts turn to war, 65 mountain bikers went into battle at dawn against a hidden enemy. The "coalition of the spinning" against "weapons of mass irritation", pickles and thorns so savage they can take out a 4WD tyre. There's no prize for guessing this would be a race of attrition.
From the start Marcus Amstutz (Switzerland) went out hard and built a 30 second lead within the first 4km. While other riders were suffering up the hills with tyres laden with Slime and thornproof liners, Amstutz bolted up the climbs on lightweight tubes and tyres.
The rest of the pack had to settle for the awesome sunrise and views of the MacDonnell ranges and Alice Springs.
Of course it wasn't long until the desert thorns sorted Amstutz out and before the first water stop he had punctured twice. A handy lead was turned into a not so handy 4th place.
This was only the start of Amstutz's disastrous day as he suffered a further 2 punctures, one a slow leak that he had to pump up every kilometer or so. He'd also gone out without a pump and ran out of CO2 cartridges quickly. Adrian Laing, 4th place overall, showed what sportsmanship's all about and lent him his pump while quietly praying that he wouldn't suffer the some fate. Laing is running the "No Tubes" system, he did pick up a stack of thorns but the "No Tubes" sealed almost immediatly allowing Laing to complete the stage without stopping.
Out at the front, Jaap Viergever (Netherlands) and Chris Jongewaard (Australia) stayed glued to each others wheel, Viergever finding he had the advantage in the sandy sections that many had to walk.
4km from the end Viergever had built up a 20 second lead as they headed back to Undoolya Homestead. Then Viergever developed a slow leak, he stopped to add some air via a CO2 bulb, only to see Jongewaard looming in the distance. The last kilometer was a flat out sprint with both riders pushing the biggest gear they could find. Viergever showing that he's not only a great endurance athlete but can match it with the cross country race whippets on any given day.
Amstutz's day just got worse as he ran out of inner tubes, 5 km from the end the swiss rider showed some bush cunning and stuffed grass and hay into his rear tyre enabling him to complete the stage though he lost over 30 minutes to GC leader Chris Jongewaard who now leads the tour by over 20 minutes.
Jill Burston took out yet another stage to make it a clean sweep thus far. She said today was really hard with the relentless grind on the flats, technical decents and a strong headwind out to Undoolya.
Tommorrow the tour starts at the historic Old Ghan Railway, crossing the MacDonnell ranges and finishing on Anzac Hill in Alice Springs.
Results
Open Men
1 Jaap Viergever 2.09.52
2 Chris Jongewaard
3 Adrian Laing 2.31.31
4 Ben Hodgson 2.39.03
5 Tommy Velthuyzen 2.49.25
6 Ken Wilyman 2.54.01
7 Chris Ravenhall 2.55.59
8 Damian Wells 2.57.42
9 Andre Voegeli 3.01.18
10 Benjamin Gooley 3.01.48
11 Gwyn Tavener-Smith 3.02.39
12 Graham Rankin 3.03.02
13 Damian McGrath 3.04.20
14 Marcus Amstutz 3.05.47
15 Joe Schifano 3.06.22
16 Adrian Hart 3.09.43
17 Aaron Caden 3.12.42
18 Paul Guerin 3.13.00
19 Corey Gerdsen 3.16.08
19 Jack Dermody
21 Julian Fox 3.18.37
22 Jason Hewerdine 3.19.57
23 Sean Keeney 3.20.18
24 Michael Greig 3.21.01
25 Kyle Bawden 3.22.36
26 Huw Kingston 3.23.09
27 Mark Harris 3.23.31
28 Daniel Davis 3.24.05
29 Michael Tobler 3.29.15
30 Steve Bryan 3.30.55
31 Gordon McConnachie 3.32.05
32 Mark Mannering 3.35.28
33 Miguel Blanco Embun 3.36.56
34 Calem Glover 3.41.22
35 Brian Sandercock 3.44.28
36 Alex McNee 3.46.28
37 Tony Roberts 4.10.07
37 Cameron Gray
39 Bruce McEllister 4.12.01
40 Michael Kerr 4.36.10
41 James Bateman 4.36.32
42 Marc Carney 4.38.45
43 Tim Vidler 4.56.42
Open women
1 Jill Burston 3.09.52
2 Melissa Curry 3.48.42
3 Nadine Kelly 4.08.46
3 Sue McConnachie
5 Jennifer Caldwell 4.26.25
6 Alison Culpin 4.49.20
Veteran men
1 John Dermody 3.11.17
2 Robert Watson 3.29.12
3 Peter O'Callaghan 3.34.02
4 Garry Lyon 3.58.15
5 Jon Presswell 4.07.56
6 Graham Butt 4.12.38
7 Peter Haarsma 4.14.34
8 Gary Laver 4.37.15
9 Lawrie Nicholas 4.38.50
General classification after stage 4
Open men
1 Chris Jongewaard 9.34.06
2 Jaap Viergever 9.54.19
3 Marcus Amstutz 10.39.54
4 Adrian Laing 11.16.43
5 Ben Hodgson 11.32.23
6 Chris Ravenhall 12.00.43
7 Ken Wilyman 12.13.07
8 Damian Wells 12.17.08
9 Gwyn Tavener-Smith 12.30.33
10 Tommy Velthuyzen 12.46.49
11 Mark Harris 12.55.46
12 Andre Voegeli 13.00.38
13 Aaron Caden 13.06.28
14 Graham Rankin 13.13.16
15 Damian McGrath 13.25.34
16 Joe Schifano 13.31.26
17 Julian Fox 13.39.58
18 Michael Tobler 13.45.17
19 Mark Mannering 13.48.22
20 Sean Keeney 13.54.50
21 Michael Greig 13.57.25
22 Kyle Bawden 14.02.19
23 Benjamin Gooley 14.05.58
24 Corey Gerdsen 14.08.54
25 Huw Kingston 14.13.14
26 Jack Dermody 14.20.54
27 Paul Guerin 14.51.20
28 Jason Hewerdine 14.59.11
29 Daniel Davis 15.04.30
30 Steve Bryan 15.09.13
31 Miguel Blanco Embun 15.11.21
32 Gordon McConnachie 15.33.40
33 Brian Sandercock 15.44.41
34 Calem Glover 16.21.08
35 Tony Roberts 16.23.59
36 Alex McNee 16.27.56
37 Cameron Gray 17.42.36
38 Bruce McEllister 17.57.30
39 Tim Vidler 20.39.58
40 Marc Carney 20.47.40
Open women
1 Jill Burston 13.36.31
2 Melissa Curry 15.03.31
3 Alison Culpin 17.09.43
4 Nadine Kelly 17.28.27
5 Sue McConnachie 18.00.10
6 Jennifer Caldwell 18.39.13
Veteran men
1 John Dermody 13.05.47
2 Robert Watson 13.29.44
3 Peter O'Callaghan 14.15.59
4 Garry Lyon 16.35.57
5 Jon Presswell 18.00.37
6 Peter Haarsma 18.03.22
7 Graham Butt 18.10.37
8 Lawrie Nicholas 20.28.48
