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Jayco Tour of Tasmania - NE
Australia, October 24-29, 2006
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Stage 8 - October 27: Sheffield, 32 km
McLachlan claims third and tour tightens
By Rod Morris in Sheffield
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The Jayco Tour of Tasmania will go the wire with England's Kristian House and Finland's Kjell Carlström separated by just 14 seconds with three stages and 165 km still to be raced. House saw his Stage 6 overnight lead of 35 seconds reduced to 12 seconds after Friday's tough Deloraine to Sheffield stage over "Heartbreak Hill" but then go back out by 2-seconds in the Sheffield Kermesse stage.
Shepparton (Victoria) rider Scott Peoples is the leading Australian in the tour and at 59 seconds behind House is not out of the picture of claiming overall honours when the race finishes in Launceston on Sunday. Carlström laid his cards on the table for House to see when he won the morning stage, while in the afternoon Kermesse at Sheffield, Canberra's Robert McLachlan won his third stage of this tour and sixth race of this series.
Tasmanian ace Wesley Sulzberger finished second in both of yesterday's stages but extended his lead in the Tattersall's Cup to 33-points with three races remaining.
How it unfolded
With only 90 minutes recovery time between stages, riders were still the pinch when the starter called them to the line for the Sheffield Kermesse stage, a race held on an undulating 3.2 km circuit, in which they were asked to cover 10 times.
Tasmanian trio Daniel Furmston, Will Robinson and Nathan Clarke, along with sprint championship contenders Patrick Shaw (Vic.) and Peter Herzig (Qld), as well as Tim Guy (NSW) did not take long to form an escape group. With none of the group challengers on the GC leaderboard, the peloton offered no reaction and the sextet were allowed some breathing space.
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The biggest margin they got out to was 32 seconds, but with an average lap time of just under five minutes it never looked to be enough to warrant any surprise predictions.
Shaw again had the better of Herzig in the intermediate sprints, extending his lead to 15-points, although Furmston closed his gap to 24-points in third place and with 30 sprints still remaining, this championship category is far from over.
The peloton started to up the tempo with four laps to go, gradually reducing the margin to 26 seconds, then 24 seconds and then at the bell, just 8 seconds, meaning tour spectators would most likely be treated to a bunch finish.
The finish straight for the Sheffield Kermesse is more than 1 km in length, but McLachlan was in front on the final turn and his enormous strength came to the fore when he outsprinted Wesley Sulzberger and David Kemp, to win his third stage this week, his sixth race in the Tattersall's Cup series and his 26th open class win for the year.
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"I suppose these conditions were always going to suit a rider of my size and strength, but it was still a tough race to be in and I'm rapt to get another win," McLachlan claimed. "I don't think I can reel Wes in now to take the Tattersall's Cup, but you never know what might happen, I'll keep the pressure on him. ... But Wes is riding very well and he's going to be difficult to beat."
The tour continues on Saturday with two more stages, a criterium at George Town followed by this week's longest race, a 90 m hike from George Town to Scottsdale. The tour climaxes in Launceston on Sunday with a 34 km criterium.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- The field leave the startline in Sheffield for the stage eight Kermesse over 32kms
- The peloton climbs up the rise before the finish-line in the main street of Sheffield
- Riders sprint to towards the line for Events Tasmania Championship points
- The peloton climb into Sheffield and had to cover ten laps of a 3.3km circuit
- A break begins to form not long after the start to stage eight in Sheffield
- They have unusual pets in the picturesque township of Sheffield
- Tour leader Kristian House (yellow) in the peloton and right on Robert McLachlan's (red) wheel
- The Tour heads down the back straight in Sheffield with Mt.Roland in the background
- The race is on for the finish-line and Robert McLachlan (all red at the front) is about to pounce
- Riders string-out in the sprint to the line as Robert McLachlan (red) raises his arm to win in the distance
- David Kemp (3rd) is the first to pop the cork as Wes Sulzberger (far left, 2nd), and stage winner Robert McLachlan prepare to celebrate
- Patrick Shaw (Jayco VIS) stills holds a fifteen point lead in the Events Tasmania Sprint Points Championship
- Kristian House (Recycling.Co.UK) holds onto a fourteen second lead with three stages left
- Conditions were difficult for stage eight with strong winds and rain…but snow?
Results
1 Robert McLachlan 49.44 (38.61 km/h) 2 Wesley Sulzberger 3 David Kemp 0.02 4 Ricky Peoples 5 Joshua Wilson 6 Scott Peoples 7 Kristian House 0.04 8 Cameron Hughes 9 Mark O'Brien 10 Ryan Sullivan 11 Kjell Carlstrom 0.06 12 Craig McCartney 13 Reuben Young 14 Johnnie Walker 0.08 15 Simon Pearson 16 Hayden Josefski 17 Chris Jory 18 Jack Alexander 0.10 19 Cameron Wurf 20 Nathan Clarke 21 Jack Anderson 22 Matthew McDonagh 23 Daniel Braunsteins 24 William Ford 25 Michael Fitzgerald 0.16 26 Peter Herzig 27 William Robinson 28 Tim Buchanan 29 Sean Finning 0.24 30 Tim Guy 0.28 31 Daniel Furmston 0.30 32 Timothy Walker 33 Stephen Wooldridge 0.42 34 Joshua Chugg 35 Patrick Shaw 1.30 36 Eugen Schilter 4.59 37 Paul Logan 38 Jarrod Harman 39 Christos Winter 9.58 40 Nathan Earle 41 Simon Brown 42 Darcy Rosenlund 19.56 43 Andrew Hanigan 44 Jason Johnson 24.55 45 Chris Stack 34.53 DNF David Pell DNF Brendan Washington DNF Brad Edmunds DNF Stuart Grimsey DNF Chris Steffanoni DNF Malcolm Hart DNF Rob Licciardo DNF Ben Mather DNF Glenn Myler DNF Jai Crawford DNF Jason Bellchambers DNF Gregory Walmsley DNF Peter Barrett DNF Richie Porte DNF David Oliver DNF Matthew Sydes Sprints End of Lap 2 1 Daniel Furmston 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Peter Herzig 1 End of Lap 3 1 Tim Guy 3 pts 2 Daniel Furmston 2 3 Peter Herzig 1 End of Lap 4 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 Daniel Furmston 2 3 Peter Herzig 1 End of Lap 5 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 Tim Guy 2 3 Daniel Furmston 1 End of Lap 6 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 Daniel Furmston 2 3 Tim Guy 1 End of Lap 7 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 Daniel Furmston 2 3 William Robinson 1 End of Lap 8 1 William Robinson 3 pts 2 Daniel Furmston 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 General Classification 1 Kristian House 10.50.45 2 Kjell Carlstrom 0.14 3 Scott Peoples 0.59 4 David Kemp 1.41 5 Wesley Sulzberger 2.04 6 Mark O'Brien 2.13 7 Robert McLachlan 3.16 8 Joshua Wilson 3.35 9 Craig McCartney 3.38 10 Cameron Hughes 4.16 11 William Ford 4.24 12 Johnnie Walker 4.33 13 Ryan Sullivan 4.45 14 Ricky Peoples 5.43 15 Hayden Josefski 6.53 16 Reuben Young 7.35 17 Jack Anderson 8.10 18 Matthew McDonagh 9.24 19 Daniel Braunsteins 20 Simon Pearson 16.27 21 Peter Herzig 17.26 22 Chris Jory 19.24 23 Nathan Clarke 20.17 24 Cameron Wurf 21.35 25 Timothy Walker 24.07 26 Patrick Shaw 24.33 27 Daniel Furmston 25.07 28 Nathan Earle 25.32 29 Tim Buchanan 28.15 30 Sean Finning 29.19 31 Stephen Wooldridge 30.39 32 Jack Alexander 33.32 33 William Robinson 34.43 34 Tim Guy 34.55 35 Paul Logan 35.23 36 Michael Fitzgerald 36.43 37 Eugen Schilter 38.41 38 Joshua Chugg 39.28 39 Darcy Rosenlund 40.21 40 Simon Brown 40.23 41 Christos Winter 59.59 42 Jarrod Harman 1.05.59 43 Andrew Hanigan 1.12.45 44 Chris Stack 1.13.02 45 Jason Johnson 1.16.19 Most Aggressive Rider Kjell Carlstrom 2 pts Kristian House 2 Robert McLachlan 2 David Kemp 2 Sean Finning 2 Patrick Shaw 2 Scott Peoples 2 Peter Herzig 2 Sprint Classification 1 Patrick Shaw 63 pts 2 Peter Herzig 48 3 Daniel Furmston 39 4 David Kemp 18 5 Kristian House 18 6 Scott Peoples 15 7 Sean Finning 14 8 Tim Guy 11 9 Kjell Carlstrom 9 10 Cameron Hughes 9 11 Jason Johnson 8 12 Chris Jory 8 13 Darcy Rosenlund 7 14 Mark O'Brien 5 15 Jack Anderson 5 16 Ryan Sullivan 4 17 William Robinson 4 18 Ricky Peoples 4 19 Wesley Sulzberger 4 20 Stephen Wooldridge 3 21 Craig McCartney 3 22 Chris Stack 3 23 Timothy Walker 2 24 Daniel Braunsteins 2 25 Robert McLachlan 2 26 Johnnie Walker 2 27 William Ford 1 28 Matthew McDonagh 1 Mountains Classification 1 Kjell Carlstrom 28 pts 2 Scott Peoples 19 3 Joshua Wilson 16 4 Cameron Hughes 14 5 David Kemp 11 6 Kristian House 10 7 Timothy Walker 7 8 Peter Herzig 6 9 Patrick Shaw 6 10 William Ford 5 11 Mark O'Brien 4 12 Robert McLachlan 3 13 Tim Guy 2 Criterium Championship 1 Wesley Sulzberger 20 pts 2 Sean Finning 15 3 Scott Peoples 13 4 Kjell Carlstrom 13 5 David Kemp 11 6 Kristian House 10 7 Robert McLachlan 10 8 Peter Herzig 10 9 Ricky Peoples 8 10 Chris Jory 8 11 Patrick Shaw 7 12 Daniel Braunsteins 7 13 Joshua Wilson 6 14 Daniel Furmston 6 15 Tim Guy 5 16 Stephen Wooldridge 4 17 Cameron Hughes 3 18 Jarrod Harman 3 19 Mark O'Brien 3 20 Craig McCartney 2 21 Ryan Sullivan 1
