Michael Cockerill, journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald began "Steven Swart may be eagerly anticipating retirement after almost a decade as a professional cyclist, but there is still time enough for himto bid farewell with victory in the Cycle Classic."
Swart who is 30 years old is riding his final race took the yellow jersey of Chris Lillywhite in the 100 km morning stage. The Motorola team once again showed the differences between a well oiled pro squad and the largely amateur teams competing in this Classic. "Swart, has the goods to go on and win Australia's most prestigious race before returning home next week to NZ for a well earned sabbatical."
Swart had previously won a stage in the 1986 Classic and is now 29 seconds in front of Lillywhite after a singularly gutzy driving day at the front of the breakaway.
"Such is the depth in the Motorola team that it may yet be a team-mate, perhaps Max Van Heeswijk or Bobbie Julich, who ultimately overtakes Swart before the finish in Canberra on Sunday."
After being 15 seconds off the pace at the beginning of the 100 km stage yesterday, Swart powered a breakaway and reached the bottom of Bumble Hill first. "He rose out of his seat only toward the summit, when German Stefan Gottschling (Bosch) managed to edge past over the top. WIth Lillywhite just 1m20s behind at this point, the feeling was that the race would regroup on the homeward leg along Hue Hue Road."
The English Ampol-Caltex team worked to breaking point to bridge the gap with Hunt, Tanner and Lillywhite co-operating for the first time in the stage. Theyu came within site of the three at the front including Swart at the small town of Wyee some 10 kms from the finish. But Swart kept the momentum going.
Swart said "I just wanted to get to the front, set the tempo, and get rid of the weak ones. There was no plan to put me in the yellow, it just worked out that way."
"Nonchalant he may be, but the steely blue eyes suggest that having found himself in the lead, Swart is not the type to concede easily, even to a team-mate."
The English blew it yesterday.They clearly failed to remain watchful. Lillywhite said afterwards that "It was a momentary lapse in concentration, I knew straight away Swart was up the road. Unfortunately for me, the wrong guys got away."