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BikeWise Junior International Tour - SC
Wanganui, New Zealand, September 24-26, 2004
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Stage 3 - September 26: Wanganui - Maxwell Deviation - Wanganui, 60 km
Three out of four ain't bad...
But Christchurch rider Darren Shea wraps up overall
By Team Australia
The Australian U19 national 'B' team of Josh Wall (Australian clubs national road and time trial champion), Scott Peoples, Dean Windsor, Wesley Sulzberger and Mark O'Brien combined to take the green and polka dot jerseys as well as three separate stage wins in the four stage BikeWise Junior International Tour of New Zealand.
The audacious move by young New Zealand rider Darren Shea in gaining a break on the field that stretched to four minutes at one stage in the tough 120km Saturday road stage threw the challenge to the Australian team. Great team riding by O'Brien, Wall and Sulzberger reduced the gap to only two minutes at the completion of the first road stage.
Josh Wall showed the sizzling form that gained him two gold medals at the national road titles recently by breaking the record for the uphill prologue and going into the first road stage wearing the yellow jersey. His team-mates were only seconds behind with all five Australians in the top seven.
Bathurst rocket Dean Windsor set the early pace taking three of the four sprints points on the road to place him clear favourite for the green sprint jersey, a trophy that he secured the next day by more than fifteen points clear of his team-mate Wesley Sulzberger.
Promising Shepparton junior Scott Peoples secured the polka dot jersey (King of the Mountain) with a placing in four of the eight hill climbs on offer proving his late selection into the team was more than warranted. Scott's capacity to read a race and launch himself at the appropriate time indicates his real strength in team racing and will see him as a sought after cyclist as he progresses into the senior ranks.
The youngest rider of the team, the 'Horsham horror', Mark O'Brien, showed maturity beyond his years in playing an essential team role. O'Brien ensured the green and polka dot jerseys travelled across the Tasman by chasing any New Zealand riders that looked dangerous. Team coach for the Australians, Josh Armstrong, was very impressed with the young Victorian: "As a first year U19 cyclist there were no expectations placed on Mark. However, he responded to every request of him and placed a selfless role in working hard for the team. He has a very bright future if this race is any indication," said Armstrong.
Sizzling Sulzberger stamped his name on the race taking out second place on general classification (GC) and winning two of the three road stages on offer. His solo victory in the final stage was the most dominant, riding the race like a seasoned professional, eventually dropping the yellow jersey and finishing a full 15 seconds clear with the peloton a further one minute and 30 seconds behind.
Team coach Armstrong was buoyed by the performance of the Australian riders, saying, "A courageous assault by the (Wollongong rider) Joshua Wall in the final stage was testament to the character displayed by the team." Chasing a two minute deficit and sitting second on GC, Wall launched a brave solo break, leading the field by over a minute at one stage. The win-at-all-costs move sparked the Australian team into action, covering everything that moved in an effort to allow Wall to take the overall classification. Strong riding by the tour leader Shea brought the breakaway under control, securing the victory for the Christchurch rider.
However, it also allowed Sulzberger to show his tremendous talent as a road cyclist, attempting to break the lead group on three separate occasions before establishing a clear lead on the final Goat Valley hill climb, six kilometres from the finish. His victory, on top of the morning's stage victory that saw the Tasmanian first and Wall second, secured a very successful tour for the Australian contingent amidst some strong emerging talent from New Zealand.
Results
1 Wesley Sulzberger (Australia) 1.36.25 2 Peter Rennie (Te Awamutu) 0.10 3 Darren Shea (Christchurch) 0.12 4 Samuel Reed (Marlborough) 1.46 5 Michael Kraakman (Pukekohe) 6 Sam Bewley (Rotorua) 7 Oliver Pearce (Christchurch) 8 William Curtayne (Auckland) 9 Joshua England (Auckland) 10 Andrew Robertson (Auckland) 11 Alex Meenhorst (Auckland) 12 Luke Cornille (Hamilton) 13 Mark Langlands (Cambridge) 14 Ben Olesen (Morrinsville) 15 Thomas Warren (Hastings) 16 Joshua Bronnigan (Hastings) 17 Chris Sanson (Levin) 18 Sam Ross (Auckland) 2.23 19 Scott Peoples (Australia) 20 Joshua Wall (Australia) 21 Mark O'Brien (Australia) 22 David Ayre (Nelson) 3.10 23 Andrew Curtayne (Auckland) 13.32 24 Andrew Wells (Hamilton) 15.15 25 Logan Hunn (Auckland) 16.22 26 Dean Windsor (Australia) 27 Matthew Fox (Christchurch) 17.32 28 Ross Stewart (Christchurch) 18.17 29 Neil Martin (Palmerston North) 20.28 30 Michael Naylor (Nelson) 22.05 31 Sam Jennings (Auckland) 28.59 DNF Matthew Haydock (Auckland) DNS Eliot Crowther (Tauranga) DNS Sam Horgan (Palmerston North) DNS Michael Northey (Auckland) DNS Adam Coker (Auckland) DNS Ben Simpson (Auckland) DNS Luke Gilchrist (Rangiora) DNS Neil Best (Auckland) DNS Miles Watson (Hamilton) Sprints Francis Rd Sprint, 3.0 km 1 Dean Windsor 2 Samuel Reed 3 David Ayre 4 Matthew Haydock Maxwell Sprint, 42.6 km 1 Wesley Sulzberger 2 Darren Shea 3 Peter Rennie 4 Scott Peoples Mountains Kai Iwi Beach Hill Prime, 12.6 km 1 David Ayre 2 Samuel Reed 3 Joshua Wall 4 Andrew Curtayne 5 Matthew Haydock Kai Iwi Hill Prime, 20.8 km 1 Andrew Curtayne 2 Scott Peoples 3 Joshua Wall 4 Wesley Sulzberger 5 Oliver Pearce Maxwell Hill Prime, 25.3 km 1 Joshua Wall 2 Scott Peoples 3 Wesley Sulzberger 4 Peter Rennie 5 Chris Sanson Goat Valley Hill Prime, 54.3 km 1 Wesley Sulzberger 2 Darren Shea 3 Peter Rennie 4 Scott Peoples 5 William Curtayne Final general classification 1 Darren Shea (Christchurch) 2 Wesley Sulzberger (Australia) 1.55 3 Peter Rennie (Te Awamutu) 2.33 4 Michael Kraakman (Pukekohe) 3.50 5 Sam Bewley (Rotorua) 3.54 6 Andrew Robertson (Auckland) 4.01 7 Joshua England (Auckland) 4.04 8 Oliver Pearce (Christchurch) 4.05 9 Ben Olesen (Morrinsville) 4.07 10 Alex Meenhorst (Auckland) 4.08 11 Joshua Wall (Australia) 4.14 12 William Curtayne (Auckland) 4.16 13 Sam Ross (Auckland) 4.44 14 Mark O'Brien (Australia) 4.45 15 Samuel Reed (Marlborough) 7.00 16 Mark Langlands (Cambridge) 8.27 17 Chris Sanson (Levin) 8.49 18 Luke Cornille (Hamilton) 10.30 19 Joshua Bronnigan (Hastings) 11.23 20 Andrew Curtayne (Auckland) 15.52 21 Thomas Warren (Hastings) 16.32 22 Logan Hunn (Auckland) 18.47 23 David Ayre (Nelson) 18.58 24 Dean Windsor (Australia) 21.31 25 Matthew Fox (Christchurch) 22.57 26 Ross Stewart (Christchurch) 27.13 27 Scott Peoples (Australia) 29.49 28 Michael Naylor (Nelson) 33.15 29 Andrew Wells (Hamilton) 34.48 30 Sam Jennings (Auckland) 38.54 31 Neil Martin (Palmerston North) 53.23 Mountains classification 1 Scott Peoples 33 pts 2 Andrew Curtayne 28 3 Darren Shea 21 4 Wesley Sulzberger 19 5 Joshua Wall 19 6 David Ayre 14 7 Samuel Reed 11 8 Dean Windsor 8 9 Peter Rennie 7 10 Alex Meenhorst 6 11 Oliver Pearce 5 11 Mark O'Brien 5 13 Matthew Haydock 3 14 Thomas Warren 2 14 Sam Bewley 2 14 Joshua England 2 17 Chris Sanson 1 17 Joshua Bronnigan 1 17 Mark Langlands 1 17 William Curtayne 1 17 Andrew Robertson 1 Sprints classification 1 Dean Windsor 27 pts 2 Wesley Sulzberger 12 3 David Ayre 10 4 Darren Shea 8 5 Mark O'Brien 7 6 Samuel Reed 6 7 Matthew Haydock 6 8 Mark Langlands 3 8 Peter Rennie 3 10 Sam Bewley 2 11 Eliot Crowther 1 11 Joshua England 1 11 Scott Peoples 1 11 Joshua Wall 1
