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Australian Cycling Grand Prix - NE
Ballarat, Australia, August 17-19, 2007
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Stage 1 - August 17: Time trial, 38.5/27.4km
By Rod Morris in Learmonth
Nineteen year-old Queensland rider Hayden Josefski and former rower Bridie O'Donnell were the big winners on the opening day of the Timbercorp Australian Cycling Grand Prix at Ballarat in Victoria 's central highlands.
Josefski surprised the many of the favourites in the men's 38.5km individual time trial, relegating pre-race favourite Mitchell Docker (Vic) to another year on the podium in a minor role.
O'Donnell however was able to atone for her third placing last year, winning from fellow Australian representative Vicki Whitelaw in the women's 27.4 km equivalent title race.
Hailing from Maryborough, Josefski rides for the newly formed Ord Minnett Cycling Team and his win is the second in a row for the group. His teammate Grant Irwin won the final stage of the recent Tour of Gippsland, which was the opening of four legs of the newly named Timbercorp Cup National Cycling Series, with this weekend's ACGP, the Tour of the Murray River and the Tour of Tasmania to complete the schedule.
With the field of 58 riders starting in reverse seeding order, Josefski was the 20 th cyclist to leave the starter's gate, highlighting how he snuck under the radar of race organizers.
Ballarat local Damien Turner was the first rider to start and his time of 53.55 minutes sat on top of the leaderboard until Josefski crossed the line in 51.21 minutes. The Queenslander then had a nervous 30 minute wait as all of his other challengers finished, one by one all failing.
West Australian Benjamin King went close, taking over second spot with a time of 53.01 minutes, but was soon relegated by Gavin Nicholls (Qld) with 52.52,
Niggling rain clouds set in over the last 15 minutes of the race and this no doubt had an affect on the higher ranked riders.
Peter Milostic (NSW), Ben Mather (Tas) and Matt King (NT) all posted times good enough to warrant a top 10 spot, but there was still plenty of speculation and interest as to what the more favored riders could achieve. Consistent NSW rider Peter McDonald snatched the bronze medal with a 51.46, while Docker who was the third last rider to start, fell agonizingly short of Josefski.
David Pell, second last year to Zak Dempster in this same event and second in the 2006 Melbourne to Warrnambool, recorded a time of 52.49, but this was only enough for eighth place.
The No. 1 seed was the reigning Australian road race champion, Darren Lapthorne, but like all others, he fell short, timed in at 52.01 and in outright fourth.
Josefski has been racing for approximately nine years and was second in this year's national time trial whilst winning the same event at the Oceania Championships.
“I suppose by the look of my results, you could call me a bit of a time trial specialist, but I'm looking to improve my criterium and road racing,” Josefski said.
“I struggled for form in the Tour of Gippsland and I knew this week would be tough, but it's nice to get a win and race into some better form.” Josefski's “struggling” description of his Gippsland tour was a bit harsh, as he recorded two top 10 stage finishes and 32 nd in General Classification. “It's great to get a win and I hope I can now go on with it over the rest of the weekend.”
Docker made no excuses but was lamenting another near miss. “I went close in all three races here last year, so I'll just keep plugging away, perhaps a win will come,” he said.
Two hard luck stories that emerged from the men's event came from Queensland 's Grant Irwin and former New Zealander Miles Watson. Irwin misjudged his start time and had only seconds to spare before the starter waved him off. His tardiness would have left him mentally upset and his finish time of 54.15 minutes left him in 17 th place. Watson, now living in Melbourne , somehow managed to miss a turn and cycled 10 km down a different road before he realized something was wrong. He didn't record a finish time.
Melbourne based doctor of medicine; Bridie O'Donnell was among the hot chances for victory and confirmed her recent wild card invitation-only selection in the Trophee European time trial in France next month.
As the only Australian in the elite 25 lady field, O'Donnell will be looking to keep her name firmly in the minds of national selectors for next year's Beijing Olympics.
Third behind Elizabeth Hayman and Briana James last year, O'Donnell continued her improvement with a sixth in the Australian Championships in January and a fourth in the Oceania titles. Married to top Australian triathlete Mitch Anderson and coached by Geelong based Donna Rae-Szalinski, O'Donnell is one of the brightest prospects of Australia 's women cyclists. “I'm a little older at 33, than most of the other girls, but I am really enjoying the racing,” she said.
“The crosswinds made the time trial very difficult, but I kept thinking it wasn't going to be any easier for the others, so I just kept my head down and raced as hard as I could,” she explained.
O'Donnell was timed at 39.59 minutes for the 27.4 km, which in more simple terms meant an average of more than 40 kph leaving her with a winning margin of 1.48 minute to Whitelaw and a further 1.04 minutes to Victorian Jenny MacPherson.
Her time was also almost six minutes faster than Hayman's winning effort of last year.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Speeding past the Learmonth Garage on day one of the Ballarat Australian Cycling Grand Prix
- Grace Sulzberger (TIS/Cyclingnews.com) leaves the starting-gate for the women's 27.4km time-trial
- One of the pre-race favourites Bridie O'Donnell (Drapac Porsche) in action early into her ride against the clock
- Liz Young from Queensland on a climb at the back of the course near Learmonth
- Stephanie Frawley from New South Wales out of the saddle during her time-trial
- Bridie O'Donnell (Drapac Porsche) on her way to victory in the women's time-trial
- Vicki Whitelaw of the Australian Capital Territory rode into third place for the time-trial
- The podium spray minus one; Winner Bridie O'Donnell (L) and runner-up Jenny MacPherson celebrate together
- A happy Bridie O'Donnell after her winning ride in the women's time-trial in Learmonth
- Adopting the time-trial position in between elite events in Learmonth
- Pip Grinter (Drapac Porsche) warms-up in-front of his team's transport in Learmonth?
- Mitchell Docker has the support of his Drapac Porsche teammates right behind him
- Angus Morton takes a drink prior to his ride against the clock in the men's 38.5km time-trial
- Patrick Shaw (VIS) leaves the starting-gate in Learmonth
- Cameron Carlyle from Victoria heads down the main straight in Learmonth
- Reigning National Road-Race Champion, Darren Lapthorne (Drapac Porsche) was the last rider to leave the starting-gate in Learmonth
- David Pell (Savings & Loans) corners 15 kilometres out from the finish
- Peter Milostic (right) tries to close the gate on Mitchell Docker 15 kilometres from the finish
- Matt King from the Northern Territory pounds the pedals heading towards the finish in Learmonth
- Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF) heads towards a podium finish in the time-trial
- The podium spray from the men's time-trial (L-R): Mitchell Docker (2nd), Hayden Josefski (1st), and Peter McDonald (3rd)
Results
Elite Men 1 Hayden Josefski (Qld) 0.51.21 2 Mitchell Docker (Vic) 0.15 3 Peter Mcdonald (NSW) 0.25 4 Darren Lapthorne (Vic) 0.40 5 Matt King (Nt) 0.52 6 Ben Mather (Tas) 0.54 7 Peter Milostic (NSW) 1.20 8 David Pell (Vic) 1.28 9 Gavin Nicholls (Qld) 1.32 10 Robert Lyte (NSW) 1.40 11 Benjamin King (WA) 12 Joe Mcdonnell (NSW) 1.54 13 Damien Turner (Vic) 2.14 14 Casey Munro (Vic) 2.40 15 Cameron Carlyle (Vic) 2.43 16 Simon Pearson (SA) 2.49 17 Grant Irwin (Qld) 2.54 18 Matt Sillars (Nz) 3.01 19 Darcy Rosenlund (Qld) 3.04 20 Tom Middleton (SA) 3.11 21 Daniel Braunsteins (Vic) 3.18 22 Joshua Chugg (Tas) 3.26 23 Robert Williams (NSW) 3.27 24 Matthew Chessum (Vic) 3.47 25 Scott Kilmartin (Qld) 3.49 26 Mark Hooper (Vic) 3.59 27 Patrick Shaw (Vic) 4.03 28 Angus Morton (NSW) 4.34 29 Pip Grinter (Vic) 4.38 30 Brad Edmunds (Vic) 4.43 31 Nicholas Mitchell (Vic) 5.19 32 Chris Jory (NSW) 6.04 33 Nathan Wise (Vic) 6.07 34 Will Wettenhall (Vic) 6.13 35 Stuart Grimsey (Vic) 6.26 36 Matthew Sherwin (Vic) 6.34 37 Samuel Rix (Vic) 6.36 38 Darren Pearce (Vic) 6.59 39 Simon Shaw (Vic) 7.00 40 Daniel Furmston (Tas) 7.16 41 Jeremy Hills (Tas) 7.46 42 Reece-Emerson Van Beek (Vic) 7.56 43 Adam King (Vic) 9.50 44 Martin Tobin (Vic) 12.20 DNS Chris Pryor (Qld) DNS Tony Mann (Qld) DNS Craig Mccartney (Vic) DNS Jarrod Harman (Tas) DNF Jason Hegert (Vic) DNF Miles Watson (Vic) DNS Jack Hudson (Qld) DNS Mark Gainsmith (Vic) DNS Wayne Gebert (Vic) DNS Chris Jensen (Vic) DNS Robert Regester (Vic) DNS Andrew Rolland (Vic) DNS Marcus Wettenhall (Vic) DNS Timothy White (Vic) Women 1 Bridie O'donnell (Vic) 0.39.59 2 Vicki Whitelaw (Act) 1.48 3 Jenny Macpherson (Vic) 2.52 4 Nicole Whitburn (Vic) 2.56 5 Stephanie Frawley (NSW) 2.59 6 Helen Griffiths (Qld) 3.01 7 Grace Sulzberger (Tas) 3.13 8 Liz Young (Qld) 3.22 9 Carly Hibberd (Qld) 3.53 10 Katherine Baker (Act) 3.59 11 Clare Vlahopoulos (Vic) 4.16 12 Rowena Fry (Tas) 4.19 13 Rachel Rayner (Vic) 4.44 14 Jemma O'brien (NSW) 4.58 15 Kirsty Robb (Vic) 5.00 16 Leila Bunnett (Vic) 5.14 17 Simone Spykers (Vic) 5.36 18 Vanessa Courtot (SA) 6.12 19 Lorraine Meinke (Vic) 8.39 20 Penny Robinson (Vic) 17.35 DNS Dana Faletic (Tas) DNS Amber Jenkins (NSW) DNS Suzanne Always (Vic) DNS Lisa Jacobs (Vic) DNS Joanna Somerville (NSW)
