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Timbercorp Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 26-September 2, 2007
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Stage 2 - August 26: Moama to Barham, 112.9 km
Reluctant Macca moves into yellow
By Rod Morris in Barham, Victoria
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When Sydney rider Peter McDonald won last week's criterium at the Australian Cycling Grand Prix at Ballarat, he had full intentions of having a spell from the bike. With the eight day Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River looming, McDonald didn't think he had much of a chance. "The Murray River tour is all pretty flat and I'm more of a hill climber, so I didn't intend to race," McDonald said.
At the end of the opening day of the tour, McDonald surprisingly finds himself the holder of the coveted leader's yellow jersey. Racing in the best form of his career, McDonald won the afternoon's second stage from Moama to Barham, eight seconds ahead of David Pell (Vic) and a further 13 seconds to Geelong teenager Leigh Howard.
It is the first time in his career, McDonald has led a multi-stage tour, but he is making no bold predictions. "This is only day one, there's a lot of racing to go yet and you can bet everyone will be attacking me now,” he said. "Its going to be very hard to defend this for the next seven days, but I'll give it a good shot."
How it unfolded
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The afternoon's second stage provided the longest race of the tour, 112.9 km from Moama to Barham along flat, hot and dusty country roads. But with the race venturing into NSW, Sydney rider Peter McDonald took full opportunity to win on home soil. Part of a strong breakaway group of a dozen riders, McDonald took the initiative six kilometres from the finish when he and Victorian David Pell forged further ahead.
Then in the last kilometre, McDonald hit out again, escaping from Pell and cruising to what looked like a comfortable win, eight seconds ahead of Pell. The chasing bunch was led home by exciting Geelong 17 year-old Leigh Howard, who has just returned from winning a gold medal at the World Junior Track Championships.
Next in line was tour veteran Robert McLachlan (Canberra), with Patrick Shaw (Vic) fifth. McDonald had dual reason to celebrate as he also forced his way into the prized leader's jersey, 12 seconds clear of Pell and a further 13 seconds to Shaw.
Queenslander Grant Irwin, who led after the opening stage, finished 10th in the afternoon's race, 23 seconds adrift of McDonald and coupled with bonuses, dropped to fourth place overall, 29 seconds shy of the New South Welshman.
The tour continues on Monday with another double stage day. The morning's action will see a 33 km criterium in Kerang and then the afternoon will include a 74.7 km road race from Kerang to Cohuna.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- You have to look good for the 2007 Tour of the Murray River!
- Who said beer doesn't grow on trees!
- Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF) takes out stage two of the Tour into Barham.
- The stage two podium (L-R): David Pell (Savings & Loans), Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF), and Leigh Howard (VIS).
- Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF) is the new Fishers IGA Tour leader after the second stage.
Results
1 Peter Mcdonald 2.54.46 2 David Pell 0.08 3 Leigh Howard 0.21 4 Robert Mclachlan 5 Patrick Shaw 0.22 6 Benjamin King 7 Tom Middleton 0.23 8 John Ebeling 9 David Kemp 10 Grant Irwin 11 Jack Bobridge 12 Cameron Hughes 0.25 13 Brad Edmunds 9.07 14 Tony Mann 9.10 15 Miles Watson 9.12 16 Darcy Rosenlund 9.23 17 Gavin Nicholls 9.46 18 Nicholas Sanderson 19 Re Meneaud-Young 20 Mark Jamieson 21 Jarrod Harman 22 Peter Dawson 23 Brett Aitken 10.15 24 Craig Robertson 15.32 25 Glen Peterson 26 Gilbert Gutowski 27 Hayden Josefski 28 Michael Stallard 29 Travis Frisby 30 Brendan Schultz 31 Joe Mcdonnell 32 Lachlan Stewart 33 Will Dickeson 34 Timothy Decker 35 Daniel Mcculloch 36 Chris Steffanoni 37 Will Wettenhall 38 Luke Aggett 39 Evan Corry 40 Ben Mather 41 Jacob Lea 42 David Tozer 43 Chris Jory 44 Jamie Crass 45 Sean Finning 46 Matt King 47 Matt Sillars 48 Russell Gill 49 Daniel Furmston 50 Robert Lyte 51 Steven Robb 52 Shaun Higgerson 53 Douglas Repacholi 54 Gary Mueller 55 Peter Milostic 56 Miles Olman 16.09 57 Samuel Rix 23.50 58 Nigel Sullivan 29.29 59 Thomas Baxter 60 Daniel Braunsteins 61 Matthew Sherwin 62 Jonathan Coulter 63 Vaughan Bowman 30.23 64 Jason Hegert 65 Peter Smith 31.13 66 Simon Brown 31.42 67 Nathan Wise 68 Grant Webster 32.47 69 Malcolm Rudolph 32.51 70 Brendon Sharratt 33.05 71 Stephen Price 37.44 72 Jeremy Hills DNF Craig Mccartney DNF Nicholas Walker DNF Peter Johnstone DNF Daniel Johnston DNF Jack Hudson DNF Josh Page DNS Alexander Machin Sprints Green Gu 1 Peter Dawson 3 pts 2 Robert Lyte 2 3 Miles Watson 1 Fairfield 1 Grant Irwin 3 pts 2 Miles Watson 2 3 Peter Dawson 1 Merryban 1 Peter Dawson 3 pts 2 Miles Watson 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Caltex 1 Miles Watson 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Darcy Rosenlund 1 Caldwell 1 Peter Dawson 3 pts 2 David Pell 2 3 Miles Watson 1 Toroga 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 David Kemp 2 3 Benjamin King 1 Tyebar 1 Peter McDonald 3 pts 2 David Pell 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Most aggressive rider 1 Robert McLachlan 2 pts General classification after stage 2 1 Peter McDonald 3.29.20 2 David Pell 0.12 3 Patrick Shaw 0.25 4 Grant Irwin 0.29 5 Leigh Howard 0.36 6 Robert Mclachlan 0.37 7 Tom Middleton 0.43 8 John Ebeling 9 Benjamin King 0.46 10 David Kemp 11 Cameron Hughes 0.47 12 Jack Bobridge 0.48 13 Miles Watson 9.17 14 Brad Edmunds 9.20 15 Tony Mann 9.35 16 Darcy Rosenlund 9.38 17 Peter Dawson 9.56 18 Nicholas Sanderson 10.00 19 Mark Jamieson 10.11 20 Jarrod Harman 21 Brett Aitken 10.25 22 Re Meneaud-Young 10.26 23 Gavin Nicholls 11.14 24 Russell Gill 15.48 25 Robert Lyte 15.50 26 Will Dickeson 15.52 27 Sean Finning 28 Gilbert Gutowski 15.54 29 Ben Mather 15.55 30 Gary Mueller 31 Michael Stallard 15.57 32 Travis Frisby 33 Chris Steffanoni 34 Daniel Mcculloch 35 Hayden Josefski 36 Brendan Schultz 37 David Tozer 38 Timothy Decker 39 Craig Robertson 40 Jacob Lea 41 Evan Corry 42 Lachlan Stewart 43 Matt King 44 Peter Milostic 45 Chris Jory 46 Daniel Furmston 47 Steven Robb 48 Matt Sillars 49 Douglas Repacholi 50 Shaun Higgerson 16.14 51 Joe Mcdonnell 16.27 52 Jamie Crass 16.33 53 Miles Olman 16.54 54 Will Wettenhall 19.22 55 Glen Peterson 21.42 56 Luke Aggett 57 Samuel Rix 24.15 58 Matthew Sherwin 29.49 59 Daniel Braunsteins 29.54 60 Vaughan Bowman 30.48 61 Jason Hegert 62 Nigel Sullivan 30.59 63 Jonathan Coulter 64 Peter Smith 31.38 65 Nathan Wise 32.05 66 Simon Brown 33.12 67 Malcolm Rudolph 33.16 68 Brendon Sharratt 33.30 69 Thomas Baxter 35.39 70 Grant Webster 36.37 71 Stephen Price 40.24 72 Jeremy Hills 42.44 Sprints classification 1 Miles Watson 20 pts 2 David Pell 13 3 Patrick Shaw 13 4 Peter Mcdonald 13 5 Brad Edmunds 10 6 Peter Dawson 10 7 Grant Irwin 6 8 Darcy Rosenlund 5 9 Sean Finning 5 10 Leigh Howard 4 11 Gilbert Gutowski 3 12 Robert Lyte 2 13 David Kemp 2 14 Cameron Hughes 1 15 Benjamin King 1 Most aggressive rider classification 1 David Pell 2 pts 2 Robert McLachlan 2
