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Jayco Tour of Tasmania - NE
Australia, October 24-29, 2006
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Stage 2 - October 24: Grindelwald - Beauty Point, 48.9 km
Come-backer McLachlan strikes fear
Young Walker takes overall lead
By Rod Morris in Beauty Point
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19 year-old little known Tasmanian Tim Walker will have to pinch himself to find out if he's dreaming or not after finishing the opening day of the Jayco Tour of Tasmania with the coveted leader's yellow jersey. Walker claimed a third place behind Englishman Kristian House and Queensland's David Kemp in the first stage from Launceston to Grindelwald and then backed up in the afternoon's sprint from Grindelwald to Beauty Point to get himself into another breakaway group and finish eighth behind Canberra's Robert McLachlan.
His aggregate time over the first two stages edged him 15 seconds ahead of House, 37 seconds in front Kemp, 1.32 minutes to Finland's Kjell Carlström and another two seconds to both McLachlan and Victorian Mark O'Brien.
"I am stoked and I really don't believe it yet," a surprised Walker said. "I suppose all the hard training is paying off, but I can't believe I'm matching it with the likes of McLachlan, Kemp, House and Carlström among others. I don't suppose they were all that worried about me and that's why I was able to get into the breaks without too much attention from them. It will no doubt be different tomorrow."
Fellow Tasmanian Wesley Sulzberger had – by his own expectations – a disappointing day, finishing 11th in the morning and 10th in the afternoon to be 18th overall and more than 3 minutes behind Walker.
Walker is the first Tasmanian to lead the Tour of Tasmania since a then teenaged Nathan Clarke won the opening stage of the 1996 tour.
The six day tour continues on Tuesday with dual stages at Westbury, a morning criterium and an afternoon out and back course over 78.7 km.
How it unfolded
The terrain between Grindelwald and Beauty Point in Launceston's West Tamar valley region demanded that the second stage was going to be flat and fast, and the riders didn't disappoint. An escape group just 20 km into the race put the hammer down and they soon opened up a lead of more than two minutes, although that was narrowed to 1.15 minutes at the finish line.
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The breakaways started with nine and didn't include Robert McLachlan (ACT), but he was able to get across and then control the tempo to his liking. Others in the group included Kjell Carlström, Mark O'Brien, Tasmanian duo Tim Walker and Ryan Sullivan, Victorian pair Craig McCartney and Scott Peoples and Queensland's Peter Herzig.
For about 20 km, Tim Guy (NSW) and Darcy Rosenlund (NSW) were also going tempo with the leaders but once the hit the highway just shy of Beaconsfield, they dropped back to the chasing peloton.
McLachlan wasn't interested in chasing the intermediate sprints along the way as he has openly declared he "Has bigger fish to fry." The catch that he's after is the $10,000 Tattersall's Cup, in which he started this tour in second place behind Wesley Sulzberger. Adrift by 29-points prior to stage 1, McLachlan has Sulzberger well and truly in his sights at just 14-points away, with nine stages and overall tour placings still to be counted.
"The Tattersall's Cup is the title I want, I won it last year and I want it again, it is a very prestigious reward for a great bike series," remarked Mclachlan.
The sprint finish at Beauty Point included crossing many residential areas and McLachlan was unable to shake off his fellow challengers, although his sprinting power came to the fore down the final 500m, holding out O'Brien and Carlström.
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The 35-year-old veteran, a member of Australia's 1992 Barcelona Olympic team returned to road racing three and a half years ago after an 8 year retirement. He has bounced back arguably better than he was in the early 1990s and this year alone he has won an amazing 25 races.
Included in his list of titles in 2006 are:
Melbourne to Warrnambool
Grafton to Inverell
3 stages of the Tour of the Murray River (plus GC:)
4 stages of the Tour of Japan
2 stages of the Tour of China (plus overall honours)
2 stages of the Canberra Tour (plus overall)
Muswellbrook Open
"I'm not absolutely certain on the number of wins, I don't really keep a list of them or a diary, I just get on the bike and race," he explained.
And the way McLachlan is racing has everyone else shaking in their boots, particularly Wesley Sulzberger who is watching his Tattersall's Cup lead being whittled down day by day.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Kristian House of England found a window of opportunity when he grabbed the tour leader's yellow jersey after the first stage
- The Tour heads along the Tamar River in the early part of stage two near Rosevears in Northern Tasmania
- Daniel Furmston (Praties) leads the pelton on the narrow road beside the Tamar River in the scenic Tamar Valley region of Northern Tasmania
- The field make their way through an Events Tasmania intermediate sprint point at Rosevears
- Johnnie Walker (Jayco/VIS) escapes the peloton's clutches with an accomplice during stage two
- The field begins to fragment near Gravelly Beach during the 48.9km stage two
- Peter Herzig (FRF Couriers/Carroll & O'Dea) is an attacking rider and is on the front again
- A break has formed and others are trying to cross the gap
- The lead group climb their way towards Beaconsfield leaving the Tamar River behind
- The peloton still have the leaders in sight half-way through stage two
- Tim Guy from New South Wales was among the leading group until the final twenty kilometres
- Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas), out of the saddle in the leading group and has Robert McLachlan (Drapac Porsche) on his tail
- The lead group on small climb near Sidmouth with chasing riders behind
- Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas) in a relaxed riding mode in the lead group near Beaconsfield
- Robert McLachlan (Drapac Porsche), fresh from his win in the Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic and looking for another stage win in the Tattersall's Cup
- Kjell Carlstrom takes an intermediate sprint into Beaconsfield with Robert McLachlan (far left) and Peter Herzig providing the argy bargy
- The lead group head through the main street of Beaconsfield where the mine disaster rocked the world on Anzac Day earlier this year
- Robert McLachlan (Drapac Porsche, red), controls the leading group around a gravel-laden corner approaching the finish in Beauty Point
- The yellow jersey of Tour leader Kristian House, back in the chasing peloton and wary of a nasty corner
- David Kemp is the leader of the Events Tasmania Sprint Points Competition after two stages
- Tim Walker (Praties) is the new Tour leader after the second stage, Walker is from Launceston and knows these roads like the back of his hand
Results
1 Robert McLachlan 1.09.15 (42.37 km/h) 2 Mark O'Brien 3 Kjell Carlstrom 4 Ryan Sullivan 5 Peter Herzig 6 Scott Peoples 0.04 7 Craig McCartney 0.06 8 Timothy Walker 0.10 9 Jarrod Harman 1.15 10 Wesley Sulzberger 11 Ricky Peoples 12 Daniel Furmston 13 David Kemp 14 Matthew McDonagh 15 Richie Porte 16 Kristian House 17 Joshua Wilson 18 William Ford 19 Cameron Hughes 20 Reuben Young 21 Patrick Shaw 1.17 22 Chris Jory 23 Johnnie Walker 24 Simon Brown 1.20 25 Ben Mather 26 Daniel Braunsteins 27 Jack Anderson 28 Sean Finning 29 Hayden Josefski 30 David Oliver 31 Paul Logan 32 Nathan Earle 33 Chris Steffanoni 34 William Robinson 35 Simon Pearson 36 Joshua Chugg 37 Cameron Wurf 1.27 38 Chris Stack 39 Nathan Clarke 1.29 40 Darcy Rosenlund 41 Matthew Sydes 42 Christos Winter 1.31 43 Eugen Schilter 44 Tim Buchanan 1.41 45 Rob Licciardo 1.48 46 Michael Fitzgerald 1.50 47 Stephen Wooldridge 1.51 48 Tim Guy 2.00 49 Jason Johnson 11.14 50 Malcolm Hart 51 Andrew Hanigan 11.25 52 Jack Alexander 16.23 53 Peter Barrett 28.17 DNF Jason Bellchambers DNF Jai Crawford DNF Brendan Washington DNF Gregory Walmsley Sprints Mocha 8 - Ninth Island Vineyard 1 Craig McCartney 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Daniel Furmston 1 Mocha 12 - Rosevears Waterfront Tavern 1 Scott Peoples 3 pts 2 Kjell Carlstrom 2 3 Peter Herzig 1 Mocha 25 - Gravelly Beach General Store 1 Daniel Furmston 3 pts 2 Daniel Braunsteins 2 3 William Ford 1 Mocha 36 - Marions Vineyard 1 Mark O'Brien 3 pts 2 Tim Guy 2 3 Peter Herzig 1 Mocha 42 - Sidmouth General Store 1 Peter Herzig 3 pts 2 Mark O'Brien 2 3 Kjell Carlstrom 1 Mocha 57 - Beaconsfield Tattersalls Newsagent 1 Kjell Carlstrom 3 pts 2 Scott Peoples 2 3 Robert McLachlan 1 Hill Climbs Cat.4 Mocha 41 - Pass Rowella Road 1 Kjell Carlstrom 3 pts 2 Tim Guy 2 3 Robert McLachlan 1 General Classification 1 Timothy Walker 2.25.39 2 Kristian House 0.15 3 David Kemp 0.37 4 Kjell Carlstrom 1.32 5 Mark O'Brien 1.34 6 Robert McLachlan 7 Scott Peoples 1.45 8 Sean Finning 1.49 9 Peter Herzig 2.00 10 Craig McCartney 11 Ryan Sullivan 2.13 12 William Ford 2.54 13 Reuben Young 3.02 14 Matthew McDonagh 15 Joshua Wilson 16 Patrick Shaw 17 Cameron Hughes 18 Wesley Sulzberger 19 Johnnie Walker 3.04 20 Daniel Braunsteins 3.05 21 Richie Porte 22 Jarrod Harman 3.16 23 Nathan Earle 3.21 24 Joshua Chugg 25 David Oliver 3.27 26 Ben Mather 27 Hayden Josefski 28 Ricky Peoples 3.37 29 Darcy Rosenlund 3.51 30 Chris Jory 4.09 31 Daniel Furmston 4.11 32 Tim Guy 4.18 33 Chris Steffanoni 4.20 34 William Robinson 35 Jack Anderson 36 Cameron Wurf 4.27 37 Nathan Clarke 4.29 38 Simon Pearson 4.50 39 Michael Fitzgerald 40 Simon Brown 4.52 41 Paul Logan 5.07 42 Eugen Schilter 5.12 43 Matthew Sydes 5.16 44 Stephen Wooldridge 5.38 45 Christos Winter 6.12 46 Chris Stack 6.36 47 Tim Buchanan 6.41 48 Rob Licciardo 6.54 49 Andrew Hanigan 16.34 50 Malcolm Hart 17.34 51 Jack Alexander 18.24 52 Jason Johnson 18.35 53 Peter Barrett 34.12 Sprints 1 David Kemp 9 pts 2 Kjell Carlstrom 6 3 Peter Herzig 5 4 Scott Peoples 5 5 Mark O'Brien 5 6 Daniel Furmston 4 7 Kristian House 4 8 Craig McCartney 3 9 Sean Finning 3 10 Timothy Walker 2 11 Tim Guy 2 12 Daniel Braunsteins 2 13 Patrick Shaw 2 14 William Ford 1 15 Robert McLachlan 1 Hill Climbs 1 Kristian House 10 pts 2 David Kemp 7 3 Timothy Walker 4 4 Kjell Carlstrom 3 5 Tim Guy 2 6 Robert McLachlan 1
