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Tattersall's Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 29-September 3, 2006
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Stage 9 - September 2: Merbein To Wentworth , 80.4 km
Stage to Kemp, but McLachlan still leads
By Rod Morris in Wentworth
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Defending Tattersall's Cup champion, Robert McLachlan will carry a five second lead into the final day of the 2006 Subaru Tour of the Murray River. McLachlan continued his exciting prizefight battle with Toowoomba's David Kemp in yesterday's dual stage day at Merbein and Wentworth (NSW).
South Australian Brett Aitken won his third stage of the tour, claiming the Merbein Criterium, but then in stark contrast, finished last in the afternoon stage from Merbein to Wentworth, complaining of leg cramps.
Kemp, who had started the day wearing the leader's yellow jersey, was reeled in by McLachlan in the morning stage, but then gained a little revenge in the afternoon when he won his first stage of the tour,
It is an intriguing and entertaining match McLachlan and Kemp are staging and outside of today's stage bonuses, there will be 23 intermediate sprints as well for McLachlan and Kemp to fight over. The first nine stages of this tour have produced a little bit of everything and with just five seconds separating the two leaders, the final day will almost certainly be just as entertaining.
How it unfolded
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"The Thriller in the Murray" continued into NSW with David Kemp and Robert McLachlan slugging it out on the road from Merbein to Wentworth. Whilst neither rider featured in any of the five intermediate sprints along the 80.5 km journey, the cat and mouse tactics employed by both continued to add intrigue and suspense to this tour.
The original field of 120 riders has now been reduced to 95, but Stage 9 again had an impact. After winning the morning criterium in Merbein, Adelaide's Brett Aitken limped home in last place, 19'23 behind the leaders. A bigger contrast you could not have imagined.
But the real interest was out the front of the bike race. The field had broken up into four distinct groups and of the GC challengers, nine of the top 10 ensured they were in the front bunch. The odd one out was Victorian Commonwealth Games medalist, Sean Finning, who missed a vital break and was unable to get across. Finning ended up finishing in the second bunch, 2'41 behind Kemp and in the GC, he fell to 16th, with his top 10 place being taken by Jason Hegert (NSW).
Crossing the Victorian – NSW border, the lead group stepped up the tempo even further and attack after attack had everybody guessing as to where the winner would come from. The finish line straight at Wentworth was about 600 m long and on either side of the road were the two main tour protagonists, Kemp and McLachlan. Less than a wheel length separated the pair in the final lunge, but it was Kemp who took the honours. Despite his tremendous battle with McLachlan for the overall lead, this was Kemp's first stage victory of the tour.
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"Its nice to finally crack it for a win," Kemp said. "I've got myself into a position in the tour that I have to race a smart tactical race and that includes watching everything Robbie (McLachlan) does," Kemp said. "I'm leading the sprint championship as well and am pretty keen to win both that and GC, but I have to do everything right or Robbie is going to get me."
The final sprint was made a little easier for Kemp when McLachlan and his lead-out man, Zakkari Dempster both went on the outside line of a traffic island just before the turn into the home straight. "It was a pretty dumb move on my behalf, but don't take anything away from David's ride, he deserved the win, he rode very well," McLachlan said.
McLachlan turned his overnight deficit of four seconds into a seven second lead after the Merbein Criterium, but saw that reduced to five seconds after the road stage into Wentworth. "It's a handy lead, but it hasn't got me over the line yet, there's still plenty of work to do."
Taking third in the stage was 19-year-old Victorian Johnny Walker, younger brother of international star, William Walker.
McLachlan also crept a little closer to Wesley Sulzberger in the overall points tally in the Tattersall's Cup. From 21 races – with 13 remaining – Sulzberger has scored 160 points and leads McLachlan on 119. McLachlan is the defending champion in the Tattersall's Cup but missed the recent Australian Cycling Grand Prix in Ballarat.
"I was sick when the Grand Prix was on and I didn't ride all that well in the Tour of Gippsland, which Wes won, so while it would be nice to win the Tattersall's Cup again, I'm not sure whether I can get enough points to get to Wes," McLachlan said.
There are still two stages of the Tour of the Murray River to be raced, while the 11-stage Tour of Tasmania will be held from October 24-29. The Tour of the Murray River concludes on Sunday with two kermesses, one in Cardross and then in Mildura in the afternoon.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Tour leader Robert McLachlan takes a seven second lead going into the ninth stage
- Scott Peoples from Victoria goes off-road on the narrow roads near Merbein
- Brendan Rowbotham from Victoria leads Western Australian Darren Harry and Queenslander Craig Mackie in a truly national road race series
- Craig Mackie from Queensland jumped on the front of the peloton early into stage nine from Merbein to Wentworth
- South Australian James Hannam on the front and in 21st place overall going into stage nine
- Riders raced under blue skies and in warm conditions during stage nine, with temperatures in the high twenties in the Mildura region
- The race split up into four groups near the twenty kilometre mark and an elite bunch formed at the front
- The Mildura Road Safe Sprint Points leader David Kemp (green) has company (L-R): Stuart Shaw, Johnnie Walker and Wes Sulzberger
- Johnnie Walker from Victoria in the leading group and ninth overall going into the stage
- Peter McDonald from New South Wales in 12th place overall on the GC heading into the stage
- Nicholas Walker from Victoria is not far behind his brother, Johnnie, on the GC in 17th place
- Victorian Casey Munro has wrapped up the Victorian Tourism King of the Mountains competition with no more hill climbs on the tour
- Tasmanian Wes Sulzberger is a cool customer in the peloton - peace man!
- Queenslander David Kemp gets the stage win he has been after in Wentworth
- The stage nine podium (L-R): Robert McLachlan (2nd), David Kemp (1st), and Johnnie Walker (3rd)
- Tour leader Robert McLachlan has taken a year of his teaching position in Canberra to ride for the Drapac Porsche outfit and is proving a winning move - so far
Results
1 David Kemp 1.50.10 (43.79 km/h) 2 Robert McLachlan 3 Johnnie Walker 4 Daniel Newnham 0.02 5 Joe McDonnell 6 Jason Hegert 7 Nicholas Walker 8 Brendan Hill 9 Ricky Peoples 10 Casey Munro 11 Stuart Shaw 12 Peter McDonald 13 Chris Jongewaard 14 Joshua Marden 15 Craig McCartney 16 Zakkari Dempster 17 Wesley Sulzberger 18 Brad Edmunds 19 Scott Peoples 0.23 20 Matthew Wood 2.34 21 Darren Harry 22 Jacob Sutherland 23 Gary Mueller 24 Craig Mackie 25 Jai Crawford 26 Gilbert Gutowski 27 Adrian Hanson 28 Robert Cater 29 Richie Porte 30 Peter Ladd 2.39 31 Luke Pledger 32 Kym Howard 2.41 33 Cameron Peterson 34 Daniel Burtt 35 Chris Steffanoni 36 Stephen Cunningham 37 Brendan Rowbotham 38 Jack Anderson 39 Jeremy Betts 40 Peter Barnett 41 Nicholas Sanderson 42 Patrick Shaw 43 Fabio Calabria 44 Sean Finning 45 Mark O'Brien 46 Leigh Egan 47 Peter Herzig 48 Brendan Brooks 49 James Hannam 50 David Tozer 51 Steven Pilson 52 Kyle Marwood 53 Michael Ford 54 Simon Pearson 55 Damien Turner 7.13 56 Brett Franklin 12.04 57 Matthew Sherwin 58 Peter Smith 59 David Hiley 60 Andrew Ward 61 Will Wettenhall 62 Bradley Clark 63 Jarrod Harman 64 Nigel Sullivan 65 Phillip Stokes 66 Joshua Gundry 67 Matthew Jensen 68 Timothy Decker 69 Hamish Mackirdy 70 Daniel Furmston 71 Nick Culvenor 72 Tom Middleton 73 Will Dickeson 12.20 74 Peter Milostic 75 Tremain Permewan 14.32 76 Christopher Wilding 14.34 77 James Fitzgerald 14.39 78 Cameron Irwin 79 Thomas Baxter 80 James Robinson 81 Matthew Kennett 82 Grant Webster 83 Matthew Davis 84 Simon Van Der Aa 85 Benjamin Juzwin 86 Marcus Wettenhall 87 Damon De Angelis 88 Glen Peterson 89 Tim Hucker 90 Jamie Kelly 91 William Murray 18.06 92 Brett Aitken 19.23 Sprints Red Cliffs Lawn Cemetary 1 Peter McDonald 3 pts 2 Brad Edmunds 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Koorlong Primary School 1 Brad Edmunds 3 pts 2 Peter McDonald 2 3 Joe McDonnell 1 Lido Lodge 1 Peter McDonald 3 pts 2 Brad Edmunds 2 3 Stuart Shaw 1 Merbein Mushrooms 1 Joe McDonnell 3 pts 2 Peter McDonald 2 3 Joshua Marden 1 Yelta Silos 1 Joe McDonnell 3 pts 2 Brad Edmunds 2 3 Joshua Marden 1 General classification after stage 9 1 Robert McLachlan 12.00.44 2 David Kemp 0.05 3 Casey Munro 1.04 4 Brad Edmunds 1.32 5 Joshua Marden 1.35 6 Chris Jongewaard 2.09 7 Wesley Sulzberger 2.11 8 Johnnie Walker 3.04 9 Zakkari Dempster 3.20 10 Jason Hegert 3.24 11 Peter McDonald 3.37 12 Joe McDonnell 3.48 13 Stuart Shaw 3.55 14 Nicholas Walker 4.02 15 Ricky Peoples 4.16 16 Sean Finning 5.43 17 Brendan Hill 5.53 18 Craig McCartney 6.21 19 Scott Peoples 6.27 20 Robert Cater 6.31 21 Nicholas Sanderson 6.36 22 Kyle Marwood 6.52 23 Brendan Brooks 7.02 24 James Hannam 7.08 25 Stephen Cunningham 7.10 26 Peter Ladd 7.15 27 Daniel Newnham 7.18 28 Daniel Burtt 7.27 29 Leigh Egan 8.02 30 Patrick Shaw 8.24 31 Craig Mackie 8.37 32 Brendan Rowbotham 8.38 33 Peter Barnett 8.47 34 Gilbert Gutowski 8.49 35 Jacob Sutherland 8.51 36 Mark O'Brien 8.58 37 Kym Howard 9.13 38 Darren Harry 9.37 39 Richie Porte 10.27 40 Gary Mueller 10.28 41 Fabio Calabria 10.30 42 Michael Ford 10.41 43 Chris Steffanoni 10.42 44 Jack Anderson 10.49 45 Luke Pledger 11.42 46 Adrian Hanson 11.57 47 Jeremy Betts 12.02 48 Jai Crawford 13.55 49 David Tozer 15.45 50 Timothy Decker 18.01 51 Joshua Gundry 19.56 52 Nick Culvenor 19.57 53 David Hiley 20.05 54 Andrew Ward 20.06 55 Tim Hucker 21.36 56 Will Wettenhall 22.10 57 Marcus Wettenhall 22.22 58 Thomas Baxter 23.42 59 Christopher Wilding 23.50 60 Tom Middleton 61 Brett Franklin 24.09 62 Matthew Jensen 24.52 63 Peter Milostic 25.09 64 Bradley Clark 25.15 65 Hamish Mackirdy 25.25 66 Phillip Stokes 26.08 67 Cameron Peterson 26.14 68 Cameron Irwin 26.15 69 Steven Pilson 26.26 70 Simon Pearson 26.58 71 Matthew Davis 27.19 72 Brett Aitken 28.59 73 Jamie Kelly 29.07 74 Daniel Furmston 31.33 75 Jarrod Harman 31.40 76 Will Dickeson 31.53 77 Glen Peterson 32.32 78 Peter Smith 34.14 79 Nigel Sullivan 34.40 80 Peter Herzig 36.11 81 Matthew Sherwin 37.21 82 Matthew Kennett 39.02 83 Matthew Wood 39.03 84 Grant Webster 43.51 85 Tremain Permewan 44.31 86 Damien Turner 48.05 87 Benjamin Juzwin 49.50 88 Damon De Angelis 51.26 89 James Fitzgerald 57.56 90 Simon Van Der Aa 1.14.19 91 William Murray 1.19.18 92 James Robinson 1.22.48 Sprints classification 1 David Kemp 51 pts 2 Joshua Marden 41 3 Brad Edmunds 39 4 Chris Jongewaard 36 5 Wesley Sulzberger 35 6 Casey Munro 32 7 Patrick Shaw 27 8 Peter McDonald 26 9 Robert McLachlan 24 10 Joe McDonnell 22 11 Zakkari Dempster 17 12 Scott Peoples 13 13 Peter Barnett 11 14 Craig Mackie 10 15 Marcus Wettenhall 10 16 Sean Finning 7 17 Stuart Shaw 7 18 Johnnie Walker 6 19 Brendan Hill 6 20 Jeremy Betts 5 21 Gary Mueller 5 22 Craig McCartney 4 23 Daniel Furmston 3 24 Will Dickeson 3 25 Robert Cater 3 26 Kyle Marwood 3 27 Ricky Peoples 3 28 Michael Ford 2 29 Jason Hegert 2 30 Peter Milostic 2 31 Adrian Hanson 2 32 Nicholas Walker 1 33 Chris Steffanoni 1 34 Tom Middleton 1 35 Brendan Brooks 1 36 Nicholas Sanderson 1 37 David Hiley 1 38 James Hannam 1 39 Brett Aitken 1 40 Peter Herzig 1 41 Joshua Gundry 1 Mountains classification 1 Casey Munro 17 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 16 3 Robert McLachlan 6 4 Brad Edmunds 5 5 Joshua Marden 3 6 David Kemp 2 7 Matthew Wood 1 8 Stuart Shaw 1 9 Brendan Brooks 1 10 Zakkari Dempster 1 11 Wesley Sulzberger 1 Criterium Championship 1 Robert McLachlan 42 pts 2 Brett Aitken 39 3 Leigh Egan 35 4 Wesley Sulzberger 26 5 David Kemp 25 6 Gary Mueller 20 7 Joshua Marden 19 8 Jeremy Betts 15 9 Robert Cater 9 10 Chris Jongewaard 9 11 Brendan Rowbotham 8 12 Johnnie Walker 6 13 Daniel Furmston 5 14 Sean Finning 4 15 Darren Harry 4 16 Nicholas Sanderson 4 17 Casey Munro 3 18 Brad Edmunds 1 19 Jacob Sutherland 1 20 Ricky Peoples 1 Most aggressive rider 1 Wesley Sulzberger 4 pts 2 David Kemp 3 3 Peter McDonald 2 4 Chris Jongewaard 2 5 Zakkari Dempster 2 6 Brad Edmunds 2 7 Peter Barnett 2 8 Robert McLachlan 1
