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Tour of the Southern Grampians - NE
Australia, April 8-9, 2006
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 3 - April 9: Coleraine, 72km
Dickeson does the business
Another day, another two stages. Stage 3 with an early start time commenced in almost perfect: cool and still conditions. The countryside, although extremely dry, could not have looked more picturesque. The constant valleys and hills no doubt explains why the vast landscape is predominantly grazing land, the contours would make cropping a difficult exercise. The 72km morning stage down to Merino and back to Coleraine included three KOMs but was also littered with short pinches and long drags, in fact the roads were hardly ever flat.
The first two KOMs were over the same climb, a nasty 500 metre ascent that had potential to cause splintering of the pack. The stage finish was atop of four kilometre climb that was not steep but if history was anything to go by, would create a solo finish rather than a bunch kick.
How it unfolded
The A Grade bunch took off in an easterly direction just after 8.00am. The attacks started almost immediately. Marcus Wettenall (Geelong Cycling Club), Chris Fry (Geelong Cycling Club) and Andy Graham (De Grande Cycles) were all trying to instigate a successful break away. Two of the three were eventually rewarded when a group of five managed to get clear around eight kilometres into the stage. The five riders were Wil Dickeson (Savings and Loans), Marcus Wettenhall (Geelong Cycling Club), Chris Fry, Casey Munro (Giramondo) and David Tozer (Bicycle Superstore). The group was bolstered by the addition of Simon Pearson (Savings & Loans) and Jacob Sutherland (Fitzroy Cycles) just after the first of the KOMs (12kms).
The leaders co-operated to the benefit of Munro who, having been involved in Saturday’s break-away, had the most to gain from a successful break. To his credit Munro did the lion share of work on the front of the group. The reward for toil came in the form of increasing time gaps. At the halfway point in the race the gap was around 3 minutes, ten seconds. This gap was to be maintained for the majority of the rest of the stage.
Back in the groupetto, a number of riders attempted to encourage the pack but as was the case in stage 2, the main teams were represented and the team mates of those in front were content to ‘de-motivate’ any chasers. The leaders continued working together right up to the thee kilometres to go sign. With two riders in the lead group of seven, Savings & Loans team mates Wil Dickeson and Simon Pearson had the best cards and played them like ‘Texas holdem’ champions. Any attempts made by Chris Fry to skip away were covered by Pearson whilst Dickeson calmly waited for the right moment, that moment came with just under 1000 metres to travel. His attack came after his plucky team mate had not only chased Fry down but also counter attacking in order to force the pint sized Geelong rider to react. Dickeson quickly created a winning gap that would have in some respects made up for a disappointing, unlucky day on Saturday.
Chris fry (2nd) managed to hold off a fast finishing Sutherland (3rd) and Wettenhall (4th).
The wait for the GC leaders was a tense affair. Munro had done all he possibly could to snatch the leaders jersey going into the criterium stage. Many a stopwatch were being studied, just prior to the main packs approach to the final bend, Nick Walker’s father called out to Casey Munro, “I think it’s going to be real close, Casey. And close it was, Munro had managed to carve 3.06 out of his previous day’s deficit. It now left four riders in play for the overall. Munro had clawed his way to within 26 seconds of Lapthorne’s lead. Between those two remained Walker and Hegert. With stacks of interim and final bonus seconds up for grabs, the outcome would once again be decided in the final stage.
Would Nick Walker be able to pull off an unbelievable trifecta of D Grade in 2004, B Grade in 2005 and A Grade in 2006? The 2004 race reporter was hardly Nostradamus when the prediction was made in the tours first year, that the youngest of the Walker brothers may have some potential! Or Could Jason Hegert reward the faith that the Sydney based FRF Couriers-Caravello team had placed in the Ballarat based rider? Four riders had an afternoon to ponder the answers.
Results
A Grade 1 Will Dickeson (Sturt Holdfast Marion CC) 1.48.00 2 Christopher Fry (Geelong CC) 0.07 3 Jacob Sutherland (Brunswick CC) 4 Marcus Wettenhall (Geelong CC) 5 Simon Pearson (Norwood CC) 6 David Tozer (Port Fairy CC) 7 Casey Munro (Brunswick CC) 0.25 8 Stephen Cunningham (Adelaide CC) 3.31 9 Darren Lapthorne (Coburg CC) 10 Damien Turner (Ballarat & Sebastopol CC) 11 Tim Hucker (Bendigo & District CC) 12 Bradley Scott (Shepparton CC) 13 Leigh Egan (Shepparton CC) 14 Glen O'Shea (Bendigo & District CC) 15 Nicholas Walker (Brunswick CC) 16 William Ford (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 17 Daniel Braunsteins (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 18 Ricky Peoples (Shepparton CC) 19 Jason Hegert (Ballarat & Sebastopol CC) 20 Steven Robb (Brunswick CC) 21 Fabio Calabria (Canberra CC) 22 Michael Ford (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 23 Daniel Furmston (Hobart Wheelers) 24 Scott Peoples (Shepparton CC) 25 Jordan Sutherland (Coburg CC) 26 Leigh Howard (Geelong CC) 27 Brett Aitken (Adelaide CC) 3.52 28 Josh Smith (Adelaide CC) 29 Will Wettenhall (Geelong CC) 30 Steve Pilson (Coburg CC) 31 Andrew Graham (Port Fairy CC) 32 Matthew Wood (Ararat & District CC) 33 Pip Grinter (Bendigo & District CC) 34 Peter Ladd (Bendigo & District CC) 35 Cameron Wise (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 36 Andrew Roe (Norwood CC) 37 Chris Steffanoni (Sunbury & Hume Districts CC) 38 Tim Walker (West Tamar CC) 39 Alexander Smyth (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 4.02 40 Nick Culvenor (Brunswick CC) 41 Damien Ladd (Bendigo & District CC) 4.40 42 Peter Barnett (Broadford-Seymour CC) 9.59 43 Raymond Forbes (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) Women (52km) 1 Deborah Fagg (Albury-Wodonga CC) 1.36.29 2 Alicia Evans (Geelong CC) 1.19 3 Lisa Friend (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 4 Emma Gaul (Footscray CC) 5 Stephanie Frawley (Mildura-Coomealla) 6 Peta Mullens (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 7 Melinda Rolland (St Kilda CC) 8.08 8 Kylie Strong (St Kilda CC) 9 Karan Courtney-Hagg (St Kilda CC) 10 Claire Stevens (Coburg CC) 8.43 11 Penny Beaver (Albury-Wodonga CC) 11.50 B Grade (72km) 1 Tom Middleton (Norwood CC) 1.57.45 2 Matthew Sherwin (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 0.38 3 Aidan McInerney (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 4 Robert Mann (Mt Gambier CC) 5 Christos Winter (Norwood CC) 6 Jonathan Lovelock (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 7 Cameron Bowden (Norwood CC) 8 Jay Burke (Ballarat) 9 Wayne Evans (Blackburn CC) 10 Greg Nicolson (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 11 Cameron Winton (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 12 Matthew Jensen (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 13 James Langedyk (Geelong CC) 14 Ryan Mannix (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 15 Jamie Paisley (MTBA) 16 Tim Roe (Norwood CC) 17 Graeme Rutter (Sutherland Shire CC) 18 Luke Hanley (Warragul CC) 19 Brian McNamara (Warrnambool CC) 20 Chris Cheney (Warrnambool CC) 21 Stuart Morgan (Coburg CC) 22 John Hughson (Geelong CC) 23 Andrew Wilson (Sunbury & Hume Districts CC) 24 Scott Jensen (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 1.01 25 Peter Howard (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 1.11 26 Dylan Hately (Camperdown) 1.26 27 Bruce Tallon (St Kilda CC) 1.36 28 Ben Ledwidge (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 1.50 29 Benjamin Serpell (Warragul CC) 2.48 30 Chris Stack (Norwood CC) 2.57 31 Christopher Eichler (Hamilton) 3.22 32 Paul Nolte (Hamilton) 5.19 33 Michael Gallagher (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 7.36 34 Timothy Lee (Warragul CC) 9.59 35 Errol Schmidt (Mildura-Coomealla) 22.44 DNF Steve Martin (Blackburn CC) DNF Andrew Steele (Blackburn CC) C Grade (72km) 1 Steve Rylance (Norwood CC) 2.01.17 2 Paul Munro (Brunswick CC) 0.36 3 Matthew Davis (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 4 Richard Reynolds (Blackburn CC) 5 David Moreland (Bendigo CC) 6 Tom McDonough (Coburg CC) 7 Matthew Opperman (Mt Gambier CC) 8 Glen Hastings (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 9 Geoff Pyman (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 10 Glyn Thomas (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 11 Shannon Hall (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 12 Gavin Drury (Illawarra CC) 13 Aaron Christensen (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 14 Stewart Denmead (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 15 Peter McDonough (MTBA) 16 Phillip Angus (Mt Gambier CC) 17 Nicholas Kidman (Mt Gambier CC) 18 Mark Zander (Northcote CC) 19 Kevin Harnett (Sturt Holdfast Marion) 20 Rohan Creed (Warrnambool CC) 21 Stefan Kirsch (Blackburn CC) 1.01 22 Andrew Gannon (Brunswick CC) 23 Luke Aggett (Port Fairy CC) 24 Robert Gaggini (Adelaide CC) 1.24 25 Roland Evans (Port Fairy CC) 26 Michael Chiller (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 1.36 27 Craig Van Der Valk (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 28 Derek James (Mt Gambier CC) 29 John Marcan (Sunbury & Hume Districts CC) 30 Paul Ambry (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 31 Adam Webb (Ballarat & Sebastopol CC) 2.34 32 Stuart Bendall (Blackburn CC) 33 Timothy Kirkham (Footscray CC) 34 Joel Watson (MTBA) 3.40 35 Edmund Knowles (Sutherland Shire CC) 3.53 36 Robert Moore (St Kilda CC) 37 Michael Hartman (Preston CC) 5.25 38 Tim Clarke (Blackburn CC) 9.08 39 Luke Burns (Warrnambool CC) 11.24 40 John Anderson (Hamilton CC) 21.27 41 Cam Woolcock (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 42 Simon Nettleton (Hamilton CC) 26.27 D Grade (66km) 1 Wayne Gebert (Coburg CC) 1.34.40 2 Andrew McGrath (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 3 Adrian Sinnatt (Blackburn CC) 4 Nicholas Robinson (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 5 Richard McClelland (Albury-Wodonga CC) 0.04 6 Evan Butler (Blackburn CC) 7 Brad Hazell (Albury-Wodonga CC) 8 Stuart Verrier (Brunswick CC) 9 Jason Laird (Coburg CC) 10 Peter Doody (Mildura-Coomella) 11 Malcolm Tirrabassi (Mt Gambier CC) 12 Neale Adams (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 13 Laurie Lovelock (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 14 Stephen Cook (St Kilda CC) 0.14 15 Steve Petersen (Brunswick CC) 0.39 16 Andres Rojas (Coburg CC) 0.58 17 Richard Senior (Albury-Wodonga CC) 1.27 18 Gerard O'Brien (Horsham CC) 2.02 19 Ken Dacomb (Hamilton CC) 2.10 20 Thomas Dermody (Mt Gambier CC) 21 Troy Sait (Bendigo & District CC) 3.13 22 Matt Janssen (Norwood CC) 4.03 23 Peter Ladd (Bendigo & District CC) 24 Greg Gillard (Coburg CC) 25 Tom Barry (MTBA) 5.05 26 Arthur Anderson (Mildura-Coomella) 5.37 27 Ron Petersen (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 5.57 28 John Lokan (Mildura-Coomealla) 29 Malcolm Clayton (Ararat & District CC) 8.19 30 Stuart Pratt (Mt Gambier CC) 8.51 31 Clive Madder (Brunswick CC) 9.13 32 Chris Hitchen (Sunbury & Hume Districts CC) 11.15 33 Howard Bartlett (Mt Gambier CC) 16.56 34 Matthew Reynolds (Blackburn CC) 24.02 35 Douglas Reynolds (Blackburn CC) DNF Neil Duncan (Port Fairy CC) DNF William Probert (Sunbury & Hume Districts CC) General Classification after Stage 3 A Grade 1 Darren Lapthorne (Coburg CC) 5.45.42 2 Nicholas Walker (Brunswick CC) 0.07 3 Jason Hegert (Ballarat & Sebastopol CC) 0.12 4 Casey Munro (Brunswick CC) 0.26 5 Fabio Calabria (Canberra CC) 4.09 6 Daniel Furmston (Hobart Wheelers) 4.16 7 Scott Peoples (Shepparton CC) 4.24 8 Jacob Sutherland (Brunswick CC) 6.08 9 Will Dickeson (Sturt Holdfast Marion CC) 7.13 10 Christopher Fry (Geelong CC) 7.25 11 David Tozer (Port Fairy CC) 7.36 12 William Ford (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 9.39 13 Daniel Braunsteins (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 14 Jordan Sutherland (Coburg CC) 15 Tim Walker (West Tamar CC) 10.09 16 Leigh Egan (Shepparton CC) 10.49 17 Stephen Cunningham (Adelaide CC) 11.04 18 Tim Hucker (Bendigo & District CC) 19 Glen O'Shea (Bendigo & District CC) 20 Ricky Peoples (Shepparton CC) 21 Steven Robb (Brunswick CC) 22 Michael Ford (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 23 Leigh Howard (Geelong CC) 24 Brett Aitken (Adelaide CC) 11.15 25 Steve Pilson (Coburg CC) 11.25 26 Andrew Graham (Port Fairy CC) 27 Alexander Smyth (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 11.35 28 Nick Culvenor (Brunswick CC) 12.12 29 Pip Grinter (Bendigo & District CC) 16.20 30 Marcus Wettenhall (Geelong CC) 16.24 31 Simon Pearson (Norwood CC) 16.33 32 Bradley Scott (Shepparton CC) 17.18 33 Damien Turner (Ballarat & Sebastopol CC) 18.04 34 Will Wettenhall (Geelong CC) 18.25 35 Matthew Wood (Ararat & District CC) 20.20 36 Cameron Wise (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 37 Andrew Roe (Norwood CC) 38 Chris Steffanoni (Sunbury & Hume Districts CC) 39 Damien Ladd (Bendigo & District CC) 21.08 40 Peter Ladd (Bendigo & District CC) 23.39 41 Josh Smith (Adelaide CC) 25.15 42 Peter Barnett (Broadford-Seymour CC) 26.27 43 Raymond Forbes (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 29.46 Women 1 Deborah Fagg (Albury-Wodonga CC) 4.44.43 2 Alicia Evans (Geelong CC) 0.49 3 Peta Mullens (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 1.10 4 Lisa Friend (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 2.16 5 Emma Gaul (Footscray CC) 6.04 6 Stephanie Frawley (Mildura-Coomealla) 8.38 7 Melinda Rolland (St Kilda CC) 25.06 8 Kylie Strong (St Kilda CC) 9 Karan Courtney-Hagg (St Kilda CC) 10 Claire Stevens (Coburg CC) 28.48 11 Penny Beaver (Albury-Wodonga CC) 36.30 B Grade 1 Tom Middleton (Norwood CC) 5.30.19 2 Jay Burke (Ballarat) 0.34 3 Aidan McInerney (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 4 Wayne Evans (Blackburn CC) 0.35 5 Stuart Morgan (Coburg CC) 0.37 6 Matthew Jensen (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 0.38 7 Christos Winter (Norwood CC) 0.39 8 Greg Nicolson (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 0.43 9 Robert Mann (Mt Gambier CC) 10 Jonathan Lovelock (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 0.44 11 Cameron Winton (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 0.47 12 Jamie Paisley (MTBA) 13 Tim Roe (Norwood CC) 14 Luke Hanley (Warragul CC) 15 Brian McNamara (Warrnambool CC) 16 Scott Jensen (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 1.09 17 Dylan Hately (Camperdown) 1.35 18 Cameron Bowden (Norwood CC) 4.12 19 John Hughson (Geelong CC) 4.13 20 Matthew Sherwin (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 5.14 21 Ryan Mannix (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 5.49 22 Graeme Rutter (Sutherland Shire CC) 23 Michael Gallagher (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 7.02 24 Andrew Wilson (Sunbury & Hume Districts CC) 8.07 25 James Langedyk (Geelong CC) 9.40 26 Peter Howard (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 11.30 27 Christopher Eichler (Hamilton) 11.52 28 Paul Nolte (Hamilton) 14.05 29 Chris Stack (Norwood CC) 14.49 30 Bruce Tallon (St Kilda CC) 15.07 31 Chris Cheney (Warrnambool CC) 15.19 32 Benjamin Serpell (Warragul CC) 15.25 33 Ben Ledwidge (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 23.24 34 Timothy Lee (Warragul CC) 37.17 35 Errol Schmidt (Mildura-Coomealla) 59.46 C Grade 1 Matthew Davis (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 5.40.38 2 Matthew Opperman (Mt Gambier CC) 0.01 3 Paul Munro (Brunswick CC) 0.07 4 Andrew Gannon (Brunswick CC) 0.15 5 David Moreland (Bendigo CC) 0.30 6 Aaron Christensen (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 0.32 7 Richard Reynolds (Blackburn CC) 0.52 8 Gavin Drury (Illawarra CC) 1.48 9 Stefan Kirsch (Blackburn CC) 1.49 10 Glyn Thomas (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 11 Phillip Angus (Mt Gambier CC) 2.02 12 Glen Hastings (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 2.12 13 Tom McDonough (Coburg CC) 2.43 14 Stewart Denmead (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 15 Peter McDonough (MTBA) 2.46 16 Rohan Creed (Warrnambool CC) 17 Paul Ambry (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 18 Steve Rylance (Norwood CC) 3.46 19 Nicholas Kidman (Mt Gambier CC) 5.55 20 Geoff Pyman (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 6.16 21 Kevin Harnett (Sturt Holdfast Marion) 6.28 22 Joel Watson (MTBA) 7.18 23 Timothy Kirkham (Footscray CC) 8.06 24 Michael Hartman (Preston CC) 9.05 25 Robert Gaggini (Adelaide CC) 9.17 26 Shannon Hall (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 9.55 27 Adam Webb (Ballarat & Sebastopol CC) 10.15 28 Stuart Bendall (Blackburn CC) 29 Craig Van Der Valk (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 10.17 30 Derek James (Mt Gambier CC) 10.38 31 John Marcan (Sunbury & Hume Districts CC) 10.48 32 Luke Aggett (Port Fairy CC) 12.01 33 John Anderson (Hamilton CC) 13.12 34 Cam Woolcock (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 35 Edmund Knowles (Sutherland Shire CC) 15.49 36 Robert Moore (St Kilda CC) 20.29 37 Roland Evans (Port Fairy CC) 28.30 38 Mark Zander (Northcote CC) 30.46 39 Tim Clarke (Blackburn CC) 40 Luke Burns (Warrnambool CC) 33.05 41 Michael Chiller (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 36.50 42 Simon Nettleton (Hamilton CC) 56.12 DNF Anthony Peacock (Blackburn CC) DNF Adrian Grech (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) DNF Brooke Nelson (Hamilton CC) DNF Sean Gallagher (Mildura-Coomealla) DNF Scott Noonan (Mt Gambier CC) DNF Jonathan King (Norwood CC) D Grade 1 Andrew McGrath (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 4.35.06 2 Evan Butler (Blackburn CC) 0.21 3 Malcolm Tirrabassi (Mt Gambier CC) 0.24 4 Nicholas Robinson (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 0.26 5 Peter Doody (Mildura-Coomella) 2.09 6 Neale Adams (Caulfield-Carnegie CC) 2.12 7 Stuart Verrier (Brunswick CC) 2.51 8 Wayne Gebert (Coburg CC) 3.37 9 Richard McClelland (Albury-Wodonga CC) 3.43 10 Laurie Lovelock (Hawthorn Citizens Youth Club) 4.33 11 Gerard O'Brien (Horsham CC) 6.45 12 Jason Laird (Coburg CC) 7.37 13 Andres Rojas (Coburg CC) 8.19 14 Brad Hazell (Albury-Wodonga CC) 8.39 15 Adrian Sinnatt (Blackburn CC) 8.49 16 Thomas Dermody (Mt Gambier CC) 9.33 17 Ken Dacomb (Hamilton CC) 10.11 18 Richard Senior (Albury-Wodonga CC) 12.12 19 Steve Petersen (Brunswick CC) 12.47 20 Peter Ladd (Bendigo & District CC) 15.04 21 Stephen Cook (St Kilda CC) 17.15 22 Arthur Anderson (Mildura-Coomella) 18.57 23 Troy Sait (Bendigo & District CC) 20.57 24 Clive Madder (Brunswick CC) 25.44 25 John Lokan (Mildura-Coomealla) 26.02 26 Malcolm Clayton (Ararat & District CC) 26.31 27 Matt Janssen (Norwood CC) 27.25 28 Tom Barry (MTBA) 32.27 29 Stuart Pratt (Mt Gambier CC) 38.05 30 Ron Petersen (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) 39.09 31 Greg Gillard (Coburg CC) 39.32 32 Chris Hitchen (Sunbury & Hume Districts CC) 39.55 33 Douglas Reynolds (Blackburn CC) 54.53 34 Howard Bartlett (Mt Gambier CC) 55.49 35 Matthew Reynolds (Blackburn CC) 1.21.46
