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Timbercorp Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 26-September 2, 2007
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Stage 13 - September 2: Waikerie kermesse, 44 km
McDonald declared Murray River Champ
By Rod Morris in Waikerie (Sa)
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Sydney based Peter McDonald claimed his first ever overall victory in the Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River and will carry an 11-point lead to Tasmania in the Timbercorp Cup National Cycling Series. McDonald (28) successfully defended the coveted leader's yellow jersey for seven days in the 756-kilometre tour after moving into the lead in the second stage from Moama to Barham last Sunday.
The expanded Tour of the Murray River took in three states (Victoria, NSW and South Australia) for the first time and finished in the riverland district town of Waikerie yesterday afternoon with a brilliantly successful 44-kilometre kermesse on the edge of the famous river. The final day's stage on a tight and technical circuit was spectator friendly and making full use of the opportunity to display his talents, West Australian gold medal Olympian Peter Dawson won handsomely. In a great burst at the finish, Dawson held off another gold medal Olympian, Brett Aitken, with luckless Victorian Nicholas Sanderson coming home in third.
It was Sanderson's fourth minor placing for the tour and it was Dawson's second stage win. Whilst Dawson was impressive in his victory, his main focus remains the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he hopes to again part of the Australian pursuit team. Dawson missed a ride in the final of the 2004 Athens final, but was presented with a gold medal courtesy of his inclusion in the preliminary rounds.
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"I have just signed a new contract with an American team and I believe I am racing in the best form of my life, so I'm looking forward to the next few seasons, in particular smashing them on the boards in Beijing next year," he said. Dawson and his southaustralia.com team-mates didn't control the final stage, but they controlled their own tactics and orchestrated the right finish, with Dawson appearing to provide the lead out for Sanderson, but then having enough sprint power left in himself to win outright.
Queensland's Grant Irwin, riding for the newly established Ord Minnett team was offered the perfect opportunity to improve his General Classification rating from third to second after picking up 19 bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints and then a further one second bonus for finishing sixth in the stage. Irwin leapfrogged South Australian teenager sensation Jack Bobridge for outright second, finishing 1.13 minutes and 1.23 minutes behind McDonald respectively.
How it unfolded
Grant Irwin featured in all but one of the intermediate sprints, winning four of them as his Ord Minnett team drove the peloton rigorously throughout the 44-kilometre kermesse. Irwin was still in contention for the final sprint, but there were plenty of challengers throwing everything at him. With Dawson leading out Sanderson, Savings and Loans South Australian rider Brett Aitken was also coming, while the tour's RoadSafe Mildura Sprint champion Miles Watson was also in the mix, as was last year's Tour of the Murray River sprint champion, David Kemp. But Dawson, who won the Euston Criterium earlier this week was superb in the closing stages, while Aitken and Sanderson almost locked handlebars as they crossed the line. Such is their super bike skills, no damage was done.
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"This was a great way for the team to finish the tour, we didn't have a rider in contention on GC, so for the bulk of the tour we concentrated on stage wins and it worked pretty well for us in the end." The southaustralia.com Australian U23 team won six of the 13 stages, with Dawson and Mark Jamieson claiming two wins each and Sean Finning and Miles Olman also successful.
The team also had Sanderson in four minor placings and Dawson, Olman and Finning also claiming minor stage results. Jamieson also won the tour's Most Aggressive Rider award for some outstanding efforts mid-tour prior to him crashing out of the event in Friday's Ouyen – Patchewollock – Ouyen road stage. Miles Watson dominated the sprint championship, amassing 106 points to finish 46 points clear of McDonald. In the Tourism Victoria King of the Mountain Championship, Tasmanian Daniel Furmston scored a 9-point win over Miles Olman and in the WHK Thomsons Criterium Championship, Grant Irwin won by 6-points from Nick Sanderson.
The Timbercorp Cup National Cycling Series is now 24 races old this year and Peter McDonald leads on 171 points.
Next closest to him is Grant Irwin on 160 and then Patrick Shaw on 140. No other rider has triple figures with the 11 stage Tour of Tasmania to determine final standings from October 2-7.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- The Murray River region is famous for it's oranges and has made the Tour a fruitful one
- Some Tour of the Murray River artwork on display in Waikerie for the final day of the race
- After a hard night on the red wine… Nothing like an egg and bacon sandwich in the morning eh Rick? (Tour official, Rick Martin)
- Gavin Nicholls (Ord Minnett/Triple Play) was 20th overall on the GC going into the final stage in Waikerie
- Russell Gill (WHK Thomsons) sports an armband for the late Scotty Peoples
- Benjamin King (WAIS) leads the peloton around a sharp bend at the start of the home straight
- Leigh Howard (Jayco VIS) was awarded the MADEC Most Aggressive rider for the final stage
- Brendon Sharratt (Ballarat City Cycles) corners into the home straight
- Shaun 'Fankles' Higgerson (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) will be looking for some hills on the racing calender over the summer
- The peloton pass the Murray River Queen on the banks of the Murray River in Waikerie
- The Tour has been kicking goals all the way along the Murray River in the past eight days
- Glen Peterson (Specialized) leads Thomas Baxter from South Australia around the streets of Waikerie
- Ben Mather (Praties) will be looking forward to the hills back home in Tasmania for the final leg of the Timbercorp National Road Cycling Series in October
- A spectator takes it easy under the Australian sun as the Tour speeds by in Waikerie
- SouthAustralia.com/AIS drive the peloton with one lap remaining and 2.2 kilometres of the Tour
- Peter Dawson (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) takes out the final stage in Waikerie and his second for the Tour
- The final stage podium (L-R): Brett Aitken 2nd (Savings and Loans), Peter Dawson 1st (SouthAustralia.com/AIS), and Nic Sanderson 3rd (SouthAustralia.com/AIS)
- Miles Watson (Specialized) won the Mildura RoadSafe Sprint Points Championship of the Tour
- Grant Irwin (Ord Minnett/Triple Play) won the WHK Thomsons Criterium Championship of the Tour
- Daniel Furmston (Praties) won the Tourism Victoria King of the Mountains Championship of the Tour
- Mark Jamieson (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) won the MADEC Most Aggressive rider of the Tour award
- The final GC Tour podium (L-R): Grant Irwin 2nd (Ord Minnett/Triple Play), Peter McDonald 1st (NSWIS/FRF), and Jack Bobridge 3rd (SAIS)
Results
1 Peter Dawson 58.14 (45.335 km/h) 2 Brett Aitken 3 Nicholas Sanderson 4 Miles Watson 0.02 5 David Kemp 6 Grant Irwin 7 Leigh Howard 8 Jason Hegert 9 Russell Gill 10 Gary Mueller 11 Brad Edmunds 12 Ben Mather 13 Patrick Shaw 14 Jack Bobridge 15 Peter McDonald 16 Cameron Hughes 17 Benjamin King 18 John Ebeling 19 Miles Olman 20 Tom Middleton 21 Daniel Braunsteins 22 Peter Smith 0.09 23 Darcy Rosenlund 24 Michael Stallard 25 Robert Cater 0.13 26 Tony Mann 27 Matthew Sherwin 0.19 28 Matt Sillars 0.21 29 Luke Aggett 0.26 30 Jarrod Harman 31 David Pell 0.31 32 Daniel Mcculloch 0.33 33 Chris Jory 0.44 34 Gavin Nicholls 0.46 35 Gilbert Gutowski 36 David Tozer 37 Nigel Sullivan 38 Samuel Rix 0.51 39 Sean Finning 40 Will Dickeson 1.48 41 Shaun Higgerson 42 Brendan Schultz 43 Nathan Wise 44 Matt King 45 Simon Brown 2.55 46 Will Wettenhall 4.22 47 Glen Peterson 48 Thomas Baxter 49 Brendon Sharratt 5.06 50 Travis Frisby 5.50 51 Daniel Furmston 52 Grant Webster 8.45 53 Craig Robertson 11.40 54 Jeremy Hills 55 Stephen Price 56 Chris Steffanoni 57 Brendan Jones 58 Douglas Repacholi 59 Re Meneaud-Young DNF Peter Milostic DNF Lachlan Stewart Sprints Lap 2 1 Grant Irwin 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Darcy Rosenlund 1 Lap 4 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 Grant Irwin 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Lap 6 1 Shaun Higgerson 3 pts 2 Grant Irwin 2 3 John Ebeling 1 Lap 8 1 Tony Mann 3 pts 2 Leigh Howard 2 3 Grant Irwin 1 Lap 10 1 Miles Olman 3 pts 2 Leigh Howard 2 3 Benjamin King 1 Lap 12 1 Russell Gill 3 pts 2 Grant Irwin 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Lap 14 1 Grant Irwin 3 pts 2 Matt King 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Lap 16 1 Grant Irwin 3 pts 2 Peter Dawson 2 3 Leigh Howard 1 Lap 18 1 Grant Irwin 3 pts 2 David Pell 2 3 Shaun Higgerson 1 Criterium championships 1 Peter Dawson 10 pts 2 Brett Aitken 9 3 Nicholas Sanderson 8 4 Miles Watson 7 5 David Kemp 6 6 Grant Irwin 5 7 Leigh Howard 4 8 Jason Hegert 3 9 Russell Gill 2 10 Gary Mueller 1 Most aggressive rider 1 Leigh Howard 2 pts Final general classification 1 Peter McDonald 17.43.04 2 Grant Irwin 1.13 3 Jack Bobridge 1.23 4 Patrick Shaw 1.33 5 Cameron Hughes 1.47 6 David Kemp 1.53 7 Benjamin King 1.54 8 Leigh Howard 2.03 9 Tom Middleton 4.42 10 John Ebeling 5.02 11 David Pell 10.55 12 Peter Dawson 13.13 13 Brad Edmunds 13.22 14 Miles Watson 16.02 15 Tony Mann 16.44 16 Miles Olman 19.33 17 Darcy Rosenlund 23.41 18 Robert Cater 23.43 19 Gavin Nicholls 26.15 20 Nicholas Sanderson 26.23 21 Gilbert Gutowski 35.49 22 Michael Stallard 36.47 23 David Tozer 37.53 24 Daniel Mcculloch 38.11 25 Matt Sillars 39.01 26 Ben Mather 40.20 27 Russell Gill 42.39 28 Jarrod Harman 43.40 29 Daniel Furmston 44.32 30 Daniel Braunsteins 45.43 31 Chris Jory 46.29 32 Matt King 48.37 33 Brendan Schultz 52.05 34 Jason Hegert 52.52 35 Matthew Sherwin 54.17 36 Will Dickeson 55.30 37 Shaun Higgerson 55.49 38 Chris Steffanoni 58.07 39 Craig Robertson 58.32 40 Brett Aitken 58.48 41 Peter Smith 59.26 42 Sean Finning 1.00.14 43 Glen Peterson 1.00.31 44 Nathan Wise 1.02.20 45 Samuel Rix 1.04.37 46 Gary Mueller 1.12.00 47 Douglas Repacholi 1.18.08 48 Travis Frisby 1.18.57 49 Luke Aggett 1.20.46 50 Will Wettenhall 1.22.42 51 Brendan Jones 1.24.36 52 Nigel Sullivan 1.25.38 53 Re Meneaud-Young 1.28.58 54 Thomas Baxter 1.30.25 55 Simon Brown 1.51.23 56 Stephen Price 1.53.22 57 Grant Webster 2.00.05 58 Brendon Sharratt 2.04.49 59 Jeremy Hills 3.10.13 Sprints classification 1 Miles Watson 106 pts 2 Peter McDonald 60 3 Darcy Rosenlund 50 4 David Pell 48 5 Patrick Shaw 44 6 Brendon Sharratt 37 7 Grant Irwin 36 8 Sean Finning 35 9 Benjamin King 35 10 Peter Dawson 25 11 Robert Cater 20 12 Cameron Hughes 20 13 Tony Mann 19 14 Jack Bobridge 17 15 Chris Jory 14 16 Brad Edmunds 13 17 Leigh Howard 12 18 Peter Milostic 11 19 Miles Olman 9 20 Daniel Furmston 9 21 Nathan Wise 9 22 Brendan Jones 9 23 John Ebeling 6 24 Gilbert Gutowski 5 25 Shaun Higgerson 5 26 Michael Stallard 4 27 David Kemp 4 28 Russell Gill 3 29 Matt King 2 30 Gavin Nicholls 2 31 Lachlan Stewart 2 32 Matthew Sherwin 2 33 Nicholas Sanderson 1 34 Matt Sillars 1 35 Will Dickeson 1 36 Daniel Mcculloch 1 37 Chris Steffanoni 1 38 David Tozer 1 39 Tom Middleton 1 Mountains classification 1 Daniel Furmston 25 pts 2 Miles Olman 16 3 Tony Mann 15 4 Peter Milostic 10 5 Brendon Sharratt 6 6 David Kemp 6 7 Gilbert Gutowski 3 8 Benjamin King 3 9 Nathan Wise 2 10 Daniel Braunsteins 2 11 Darcy Rosenlund 2 12 Nicholas Sanderson 2 13 David Pell 1 14 Miles Watson 1 15 Patrick Shaw 1 Criterium championships classification 1 Grant Irwin 39 pts 2 Nicholas Sanderson 33 3 Miles Watson 30 4 Peter Dawson 30 5 Robert Cater 25 6 Brett Aitken 22 7 Leigh Howard 22 8 Patrick Shaw 22 9 Peter McDonald 21 10 Russell Gill 19 11 Sean Finning 18 12 Gary Mueller 18 13 Jack Bobridge 12 14 Douglas Repacholi 12 15 Darcy Rosenlund 12 16 David Kemp 12 17 Brendon Sharratt 10 18 Tony Mann 8 19 Cameron Hughes 8 20 Jarrod Harman 7 21 David Pell 7 22 Matt King 5 23 John Ebeling 4 24 Michael Stallard 4 25 Peter Smith 4 26 Jason Hegert 3 27 Miles Olman 3 28 Tom Middleton 3 29 Will Dickeson 1 30 Daniel Braunsteins 1 31 Matthew Sherwin 1 32 Nathan Wise 1 Most aggressive rider classification 1 Mark Jamieson 4 pts 2 David Pell 2 3 Peter Smith 2 4 Brendon Sharratt 2 5 Daniel Furmston 2 6 Miles Watson 2 7 Cameron Hughes 2 8 Leigh Howard 2 9 Miles Olman 2 10 Sean Finning 2 11 Peter McDonald 2 12 Robert McLachlan 2
