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Timbercorp Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 26-September 2, 2007
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Stage 4 - August 27: Kerang To Cohuna, 74.7 km
Pell takes over in close decision
By Rod Morris in Cohuna
Victorian 27 year-old David Pell took over as the new leader of the Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River yesterday, but not before he sent judges and timekeepers scurrying for the records. Pell was sixth home in the Kerang to Cohuna fourth stage and along the way picked up enough intermediate time bonuses to draw level with previous leader Peter McDonald.
Although technically McDonald probably should still be the leader – courtesy of his Stage 2 win at Barham – officials recognized Pell after his consistent performances. The pair are locked on a total race time of 5 hours, 53 minutes and 55 seconds, after four stages and 246 kilometres of hard racing. Whilst the second day of the 13-stage Tour of the Murray River gave Pell plenty of satisfaction, double glory belonged to Queenslander' Grant Irwin.
Irwin won the morning criterium in Kerang and then repeated the performance in the 74.7 kilometre road stage in the afternoon. Irwin has now pushed his way back up into third place and cut his losses to 7-seconds, while Patrick Shaw is well placed at 21 seconds. The Timbercorp Cup series – formerly known as the Tattersall’s Cup – has developed a short history of riders winning dual stages in the same day.
Tasmanian Wes Sulzberger won a double stage in last year's Ouyen day in the Tour of the Murray River and Victorian Cody Stevenson did likewise in the 2006 Tour of Gippsland. Canberra's Robbie McLachlan also scored double success in the 2005 Tour of Gippsland. Ten riders are under a minute behind Pell and McDonald and realistically are the only possible winners with the 13th placed Miles Watson more than 9 minutes adrift.
How it unfolded
Like the previous day, the afternoon's road race was held under a blazing hot sun and strong cross and tail winds. A 74.7-kilometre journey from Kerang to Cohuna took its toll on many riders as the pace in the morning's criterium had been at a cracker pace. Within the first ten kilometres the peloton broke up into five distinct groups, but the majority of the challengers for General Classification honours were all safely tucked away in the lead bunch.
As riders headed towards Murrabit and Koondrook the gaps continued to grow as several attacks and counter attacks were aimed at Tour leader Peter McDonald. Four intermediate sprints along the way were shared between Miles Watson (NZ), Grant Irwin (Qld) and David Pell (Vic). Pell, who was also second in two intermediate sprints, was on his way to bigger glory.
Once the lead group crossed the 10 kilometre to go sign, McDonald decided to make his move, as he did so successfully on day one. But this time, the talented group of chasers proved too good for him, reeling him in relatively quickly. Into the Cohuna township, McLachlan punched his way to the lead and in the final 500-metre sprint to the line looked every inch the winner.
But the powerful sprinting style of Irwin ruined McLachlan's day out. It was a tremendous finish to the stage with Irwin winning by the barest possible margin. Third home – for the second time this week – was Victorian Nicholas Sanderson, followed by Robbie Cater (NSW) and in-form Victorian teenager Leigh Howard. Pell was sixth home, thus earning a further one second bonus towards his overall time. Coupled with his intermediate sprint bonuses, Pell found himself awarded the leader's yellow jersey, on a countback from McDonald.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- The chequered flag is out and the sprint is on for the finish to stage four into Cohuna
- Grant Irwin (Ord Minnett/Triple Play) makes it a double stage victory on the second day of the Tour of the Murray River
- Robert McLachlan (Drapac Porsche) feels thirsty on the podium while his daughter grabs a snack
- Grant Irwin (Ord Minnett/Triple Play) is now only seven seconds back in third place on the GC after four stages
- The stage four podium (L-R): Robert McLachlan (Drapac Porsche, 2nd), Grant Irwin (Ord Minnett/Triple Play, 1st), and Nic Sanderson (SouthAustralia.com/AIS, 3rd)
- Miles Watson (Specialized) currently leads the Mildura RoadSafe Sprint Points competition after four stages
- David Pell (Savings & Loans) joins Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF) as the leader of the Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River after four stages
Results
1 Grant Irwin 1.38.03 (45.711 km/h) 2 Robert McLachlan 3 Nicholas Sanderson 4 Robert Cater 0.01 5 Leigh Howard 6 David Pell 7 Brad Edmunds 8 Patrick Shaw 9 Miles Watson 10 Benjamin King 11 Jack Bobridge 12 Timothy Decker 13 Tom Middleton 14 Steven Robb 15 Peter McDonald 16 Cameron Hughes 17 Michael Stallard 18 John Ebeling 19 Darcy Rosenlund 20 David Kemp 0.07 21 Gilbert Gutowski 0.11 22 Miles Olman 0.14 23 Gavin Nicholls 24 Tony Mann 0.15 25 Daniel McCulloch 0.19 26 Hayden Josefski 0.22 27 Mark Jamieson 28 Peter Dawson 0.29 29 Luke Aggett 9.35 30 Re Meneaud-Young 31 Travis Frisby 32 Stephen Price 33 Jamie Crass 34 Chris Steffanoni 35 Brendon Sharratt 36 Evan Corry 37 Jacob Lea 38 Jason Hegert 39 Chris Jory 40 Daniel Braunsteins 41 Brendan Schultz 42 Lachlan Stewart 43 Ben Mather 44 Jarrod Harman 45 Douglas Repacholi 46 Nathan Wise 9.39 47 Matt King 48 Russell Gill 49 Will Dickeson 50 Daniel Furmston 51 Peter Milostic 52 Glen Peterson 12.59 53 Matthew Sherwin 54 Thomas Baxter 55 Craig Robertson 56 Will Wettenhall 57 David Tozer 58 Samuel Rix 59 Malcolm Rudolph 60 Vaughan Bowman 61 Matt Sillars 62 Nigel Sullivan 63 Peter Smith 64 Shaun Higgerson 65 Jeremy Hills 20.31 66 Simon Brown 67 Brett Aitken 20.33 68 Grant Webster 26.22 69 Brendan Jones 70 Gary Mueller 71 Sean Finning 27.49 Sprints Archards 1 Miles Watson 3 pts 2 Benjamin King 2 3 Tony Mann 1 Murrabit 1 Miles Watson 3 pts 2 David Pell 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Royal Hot 1 Grant Irwin 3 pts 2 David Pell 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Gannawa 1 David Pell 3 pts 2 Miles Watson 2 3 Robert Cater 1 Most aggressive rider 1 Peter McDonald 2 pts General classification after stage 4 1 Peter McDonald 5.53.55 2 David Pell 3 Grant Irwin 0.07 4 Patrick Shaw 0.21 5 Robert McLachlan 0.24 6 Leigh Howard 0.32 7 John Ebeling 0.44 8 Benjamin King 0.45 9 Tom Middleton 10 Jack Bobridge 0.48 11 Cameron Hughes 0.49 12 David Kemp 0.53 13 Miles Watson 9.01 14 Brad Edmunds 9.22 15 Darcy Rosenlund 9.40 16 Tony Mann 9.47 17 Nicholas Sanderson 9.55 18 Peter Dawson 10.23 19 Mark Jamieson 10.33 20 Gavin Nicholls 11.28 21 Robert Cater 15.43 22 Michael Stallard 15.55 23 Steven Robb 15.58 24 Timothy Decker 15.59 25 Gilbert Gutowski 16.05 26 Daniel McCulloch 16.17 27 Hayden Josefski 16.20 28 Miles Olman 17.08 29 Jarrod Harman 19.47 30 Re Meneaud-Young 20.50 31 Russell Gill 25.28 32 Ben Mather 25.31 33 Douglas Repacholi 34 Will Dickeson 25.32 35 Travis Frisby 25.33 36 Jacob Lea 37 Brendan Schultz 38 Chris Steffanoni 39 Evan Corry 40 Chris Jory 41 Matt King 25.37 42 Peter Milostic 43 Lachlan Stewart 26.04 44 Jamie Crass 26.09 45 Daniel Furmston 26.58 46 David Tozer 28.57 47 Craig Robertson 48 Matt Sillars 49 Shaun Higgerson 29.14 50 Brett Aitken 30.59 51 Luke Aggett 31.18 52 Will Wettenhall 32.22 53 Glen Peterson 34.42 54 Samuel Rix 37.15 55 Daniel Braunsteins 39.30 56 Jason Hegert 40.24 57 Nathan Wise 41.45 58 Gary Mueller 42.10 59 Matthew Sherwin 42.49 60 Brendan Jones 43.20 61 Sean Finning 43.31 62 Nigel Sullivan 43.59 63 Brendon Sharratt 44.19 64 Vaughan Bowman 44.33 65 Peter Smith 44.38 66 Malcolm Rudolph 46.47 67 Thomas Baxter 48.39 68 Stephen Price 50.00 69 Simon Brown 54.35 70 Grant Webster 1.03.00 71 Jeremy Hills 1.03.16 Sprints classification 1 Miles Watson 38 pts 2 David Pell 26 3 Patrick Shaw 19 4 Sean Finning 16 5 Peter McDonald 15 6 Peter Dawson 13 7 Brad Edmunds 10 8 Grant Irwin 9 9 Brendon Sharratt 8 10 Darcy Rosenlund 6 11 Robert Cater 6 12 Tony Mann 4 13 Gilbert Gutowski 4 14 Leigh Howard 4 15 Michael Stallard 4 16 David Kemp 3 17 Benjamin King 3 18 Jack Bobridge 2 19 Vaughan Bowman 2 20 John Ebeling 1 21 Miles Olman 1 22 Brendan Jones 1 23 Mark Jamieson 1 24 Gavin Nicholls 1 25 Cameron Hughes 1 Criterium championships classification 1 Grant Irwin 19 pts 2 Brett Aitken 13 3 Robert McLachlan 13 4 Nicholas Sanderson 12 5 Gary Mueller 9 6 Russell Gill 7 7 Leigh Howard 7 8 Douglas Repacholi 6 9 Patrick Shaw 6 10 Robert Cater 5 11 Darcy Rosenlund 4 12 Peter Dawson 3 13 John Ebeling 2 14 Tom Middleton 2 15 Will Dickeson 1 16 Matthew Sherwin 1 Most aggressive rider classification 1 David Pell 2 pts 2 Sean Finning 2 3 Peter McDonald 2 4 Robert McLachlan 2
