18th Canberra Tour - NEAustralia, April 28-30, 2000Stage 3 - April 30: Duffy-DuffyMenReports by Mark Carter The final 148km stage of the Canberra tour was raced today, over what is widely regarded as the toughest stage in Australia. Canberrans, Denis Mungoven, Kelvin Martin and Paul Forrest filled the top three places in an epic final stage, Mungoven triumphant in a most emphatic fashion. Mungoven had held 2nd place on General Classification (GC) after stage one and had made the winning break on stage two, which made him the leader on the road, as the yellow jersey was not present in the move. Unfortunately for Mungoven he 'hit the wall' late in the stage and drifted back to the main field, where team mate Brent Miller and Cameron Jennings (Qld) nursed Mungoven up the final climb to the finish, leaving him Mungoven in 11th place with one stage remaining. Mungoven tried last year's bold tactic of going on the attack right from the outset and established a small group which included Team mate Brent Miller, as well as surrogate Canberran, New Zealander Warren Clark, Michael Payne of Canberra, as well as stage one winner Graham Brown. The move was neutralised by the 20km mark, before the next major attack of the day was established near the Corin Dam turn off at 30km covered. The break again included Warren Clark (NZ), Kelvin Martin (Canberra), Paul Forrest (Canberra), Andrew Payne (Penrith), Wayne Anderson (Caravello), David Pell (Bendigo), Steve Stannard and Lindsay Burke (Canberra). Denis Mungoven had missed the break and was chasing solo for some 10km, in the meantime Lindsay Burke had been notified that Mungoven was coming across the gap solo and dropped back to assist Mungoven in his pusuit. The pair joined the front group just before Tharwa at about 42km covered, making the lead group nine strong. On the main climb of the day, the notorious Fitz's Hill, Steve Stannard took the 'King of the mountains' (KOM) points from Mungoven and Forrest. At the half way turnaround the leaders had over two minutes on the main field. On the final KOM climb, returning over Fitz's Hill, Mungoven sealed victory in the KOM (polka dot jersey) classification by cresting first, ahead of Clark and Stannard. The lead was now three minutes, with 90km covered The main field was starting to get organised and over the next 25km had erased two minutes, taking the lead down to 1.05 at the Point Hutt turnoff. Tragedy struck Mungoven just near the Birragai camp at 120km covered as he punctured and received a slow wheel change. As the announcement came over the PA at the finish line, the strong Canberra contingent all sighed in disbelief, as they pondered the same thoughts. No more updates ensued and the crowd expected that Mungoven must have dropped back to the main group only one minute behind, but in the true tradition of bike racing Mungoven single handedly chased for over 10km in a mind blowing performance of power and raw tenacity as he chased his ultimate goal. On the final climb out of the Cotter, it was Kelvin Martin who repeatedly attacked in an effort to break the rhythm of the group, to no avail. As the leading eight riders swept into the final straight, single file, then one by one standing up out of the corner jostling for the final sprint, it became apparent that Mungoven was in the group. Mungoven followed Paul Forrest's wheel and patiently waited. When Kelvin Martin jumped first, Mungoven followed and overhauled him with 50m to go to take an epic victory in the queen stage of Australia's toughest race, leaving Martin and Forrest to take the minor places. Immediately after his victory, as Mungoven was congratulated by his team mates, his voice quavered slightly as he said "for eight years I've wanted to win this stage and now I've done it", shaking his head in disbelief as the sweat and emotion stung his eyes.
Results - 148 km1 Denis Mungoven (Aus) ACTAS 4.13.05 (35.10 km/h) 2 Kelvin Martin (Aus) Caravello 3 Paul Forrest (Aus) Catalyst 4 David Pell (Aus) Bendigo 5 Wayne Anderson (Aus) Caravello 6 Andrew Payne (Aus) Penrith 7 Warren Clark (NZl) Tauranga 8 Steve Stannard (Aus) Manly 9 Gene Bates (Aus) Adelaide 0.27 10 Cameron Jennings (Aus) Rockhampton Final General Classification 1 Warren Clark (NZl) Tauranga 8.08.15 2 Gene Bates (Aus) Adelaide 0.12 3 Denis Mungoven (Aus) ACTAS 0.37 4 Adrian Laidler (Aus) Adelaide 0.38 5 Gary Heagney (Aus) Port Macquarie 0.40 6 Ben Day (Aus) Astra 0.46 7 Chris White (Aus) 1.07 8 Jarrod Poad (NZl) WA 1.11 9 Mark Chadwick (Aus) Rockhampton 1.19 10 Stuart Cowin (Aus) Astra 1.24 King of the mountains 1 Denis Mungoven (Aus) ACTAS 18 pts 2 Warren Clark (NZl) Tauranga 15 3 Graham Brown (Aus) NSWIS 12 WomenThe women's race was completely dominated by Kathy Watt and Margaret Hemsley. Going into the final stage Kathy Watt held a 40 second advantage over Margaret Hemsley. On the first climb of the day out of Pierces Creek, Kathy Watt took the QOM from Hemsley, with NSWIS team mate Natalie Bates third. These three riders created a gap over the rest of the field, which blew out to about three minutes by the halfway stage at the Honeysuckle creek turnoff (54km). On the return route, Kathy Watt dropped her chain, near Murray's corner and Margaret Hemsley siezed the opportunity by lifting the pace. Team mate Natalie Bates found the pace too high and dropped off. Meanwhile Kathy Watt bridged across to Hemsley, leaving the duo to fight out the remaining 15km together. On the final climb out of the Cotter, Margaret Hemsley attacked, only to be reeled in by Watt, whom promptly counter attacked and went away to a 50m lead. Hemsley reduced this to 30m, but the gap remained static over the crest and along the final run to the finish. Kathy Watt won by three seconds from Margaret Hemsley, with Natalie Bates coming in 2:23 in arrears. Overall this meant that Watt took the race by 54 seconds from Hemsley, with Bates nearly five and a half minutes down.
Results - 108 km1 Kathy Watt (Aus) Blackburn 3.26.58 (31.30 km/h) 2 Margaret Hemsley (Aus) Hunter Dist. 0.03 3 Natalie Bates (Aus) Parramatta 2.24 4 Katie Mactier (Aus) Jayco-VIS 12.12 5 Emma James (Aus) Bicisport Final General Classification 1 Kathy Watt (Aus) Blackburn 6.57.46 2 Margaret Hemsley (Aus) Hunter Dist. 0.54 3 Natalie Bates (Aus) Parramatta 5.29 4 Hayley Rutherford (Aus) WAIS 15.59 5 Katie Mactier (Aus) Jayco-VIS 20.30 Queen of the mountains 1 Kathy Watt (Aus) Blackburn 35 pts 2 Margaret Hemsley (Aus) Hunter Dist. 20 3 Natalie Bates (Aus) Parramatta 12 |