Schedule
PreviewBy Jeff Jones Australia's Bay Criterium Series has been going, in one form or another, since 1989, when it was just two criteriums. It has now grown to five criteriums, held on consecutive days starting on Wednesday, January 5, calling in at several towns around Victoria's Port Phillip Bay. The series will be followed by a new race on the Australian calendar, the 165 km Cat 1.5 Melbourne to Sorrento on January 12. Race director, John Trevorrow, has very ambitious plans for this one day race, intending to incorporate it into the 2002 World Cup, and this is not as far fetched as it sounds. The criteriums will attract nearly all of Australia's best cyclists, as they prepare for a hard season in 2000. Sixteen teams of five riders each will compete in the Men's A grade events, headed by last year's Tour Down Under winner, Stuart O'Grady who will ride for the Skilled Engineering Team. He will be supported by Swedish Credit Agricole teammate, Magnus Backstedt and will seek to win the overall crown in the absence of last year's placegetters, Robbie McEwen and Dave McKenzie. It will be no easy task, with the likes of Brett Aitken, Graeme Brown, Stephen Pate, Jay Sweet, Jeremy Hunt and Henk Vogels all keen to give him a run in the sprints. In addition, there will be strong riders such as Tom Leaper, Scott Sunderland, Jamie Drew, Cadel Evans and Peter Milostic, who are dangerous if allowed to get up the road too far. The women's competition boasts similar strength, and the winner of the previous two years, Anna Wilson, will be on the start list. However, due to commitments to her Saturn team (she has to return for a training camp), she will only be present for two out of the five races. Although she would like to defend her title this year, she intends on setting things up for one of her Jayco-VIS teammates. This will likely be Liz Tadich who was second overall last year, but she will have strong competition from Sandra Smith who was 3rd in 1999. Australia's number two ranked cyclist, and the world's number three, Tracey Gaudry will also line up and will provide strong competition for everyone present. Other riders to watch for will be Oceania Games road race 1st and 2nd placegetters, Margaret Hemsley and Hayley Rutherford, as well as top NSW sprinters, Rochelle Gilmore, Felicity Myers, and Kristy Scrymgeour. The courses for all the criteriums are all quite fast, being either "4 corners" or a "hotdog" circuit, in the case of the last race in St. Kilda. The racing each day gets under way at 1.00 pm, and finishes at 3.30. Skilled Engineering 1 Stuart O'Grady (SA) Credit Agricole 2 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Credit Agricole 3 Marcel Gono Vic (CA) 4 Peter Milostic (NSW) 5 Leigh Bryan (Tas) Jayco VIS 6 Brett Aitken (SA) Palmans 7 Tom Leaper (Vic) Navigare 8 Jamie Drew (Vic) 9 Cadel Evans (WA) Volvo/Cannondale 10 Brad Davidson (Vic) Woolmark AIS 11 Scott Davis (Qld) 12 Alan Davis (Qld) 13 Nic Brown (NSW) 14 Ben Godridge (WA) 15 Darren Rolfe (NSW) Herald Sun AIS 16 Shane Kelly (Vic) 17 Gene Bates (SA) 18 Nigel Grigg (SA) 19 Luke Roberts (SA) 20 Andrew Mason (Vic) Peugeot 21 Scott Sunderland (NSW) Palmans 22 Colin Sturgess (GB) 23 Stephen Pate (Vic) 24 Baden Burke (NSW) 25 Robert Tighello (Vic) Limerick Arms Hotel 26 Rik McCaig (Vic) 27 Brent McCaig (Vic) 28 Ashley Sheard (Vic) 29 Leigh Egan (Vic) 30 Florian Huber (Ger) Brumby's Bakeries 31 Daniel Moore (GB) Amore e Vita 32 Ian Melvin (GB) 33 Darryn Metcalfe (GB) 34 Matt Pryce (GB) 35 Dan Bridges (GB) Crown Casino 36 Franco Malvuli (Swi) 37 Manuel Mori (Ita) 38 Bernadino Gannone (Ita) 39 John-Luca Calzaretta (Ita) 40 Mark Roland (Qld) Pura Milk 41 Jeremy Hunt (GB) Big Mat 42 Graeme Brown (NSW) 43 Stephen Woolridge (NSW) 44 Brent Dawson (NSW) 45 Dan Smith (NSW) Crash Bang Wallop(!) 46 Jay Sweet (SA) Big Mat 47 Corey Sweet (SA) 48 Kristin Lewis (SA) 49 Scott Suckling (WA) 50 Cameron Hughes (Qld) Skilled Development 51 Simon Gerrans (Vic) 52 David Pell (Vic) 53 David Collins (Vic) 54 Jono Hall (NSW) Festina 55 Paul Redenbach (Vic) Mildara Blass 56 Hilton Clarke (Vic) 57 Kristjan Snorrason (Vic) 58 Chris Carr (Vic) 59 Brendan Gilholme (Vic) 60 Justin Hogan (Vic) Sanitarium NZ 61 Jason Allen (NZ) 62 Heath Blackgrove (NZ) 63 Gordon Westoby (NZ) 64 Nathan Dahlberg (NZ) 65 Bart Duraj (NZ) Nortas 66 Nathan Clark (Tas) 67 Matthew Rice (Tas) 68 Darren Young (Tas) 69 Caleb Manion (Tas) 70 Luke Gilmore (Tas) Flying Start 71 John Den Braber (Ned) 72 Jens Mourtis (Ned) 73 Trent Wilson (NSW) 74 Josh Kersten (NSW) 75 Simon Small (Can) Bicycle Superstore 76 Henk Vogels (WA) Mercury 77 Brett Lancaster (Vic) 78 BJ McIntosh (Vic) 79 Pelle Kil (Ned) 80 Andrew Stalder (Vic) 1 Anna Wilson (Mlt) 2 Tracey Gaudry (ACT) 3 Elizabeth Tadich (Shp) 4 Sandra Smith (WA) 5 Alayna Burns (SA) 6 Margaret Hemsley (NSW) 7 Geraldine Denham (Hor) 8 Karen Barrow (Bbn) 9 Jacinta Coleman (NZ) 10 Jenny Macpherson (Car) 11 Hanneke Geysen (ACT) 12 Alison Wright (ACT) 13 Gillian Govan (B/S) 14 Katherine Martin (B/S) 15 Debbie Chambers (Bbn) 16 Rebecca Cleveland (Bbn) 17 Sophie Freshwater (Bbn) 18 Helen Ingpen (Bbn) 19 Sue Mccarthy (Bbn) 20 Emily Phillips (Bbn) 21 Annabelle Vowels (Bbn) 22 Sally Smalley (Bfd) 23 Alexandra Drapac (Bwk) 24 Joanne Robinson (Bwk) 25 Anna Baylis (Car) 26 Louise Gomes (Car) 27 Louisa Hamilton White (Car) 28 Katie Knight (Car) 29 Katie Mactier (Car) 30 Lia Sarto (Car) 31 Jessica Amy (Csl) 32 Claire Baxter (FTF) 33 Dellys Franke (FTF) 34 Kim Howard (Glw) 35 Vanessa Crawford (Ham) 36 Rebecca Mcconnell (Nor) 37 Emma Rickards (Nor) 38 Katherine Bates (NSW) 39 Natalie Bates (NSW) 40 Fiona Dwyer (NSW) 41 Rochelle Gilmore (NSW) 42 Emma James (NSW) 43 Fjelda Lee (NSW) 44 Kristy Scrymgeour (NSW) 45 Zoe Southwell (NSW) 46 Alison Urquhart (NSW) 47 Katrina Purcell (Prs) 48 Sara Carrigan (Qld) 49 Bridget Evans (Qld) 50 Juanita Feldhahn (Qld) 51 Karen Sumpton (Qld) 52 Symeko Jochinke (SA) 53 Felicity Myers (SA) 54 Alison Bush (Shp) 55 Naomi Williams (Tas) 56 Louise Yaxley (Tas) 57 Megan Hughes (UK) 58 Tracey Bowyer (WA) 59 Anne Bramley (WA) 60 Lyn Nixon (WA) 61 Hayley Rutherford (WA) |