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Timbercorp Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 26-September 2, 2007
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Stage 6 - August 29: Merbein criterium, 33 km
Irwin continues crit domination
By Rod Morris in Merbein
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Queensland's in-form sprint sensation Grant Irwin continued his dominance of criteriums in this year's tour, winning his third race for the week and fifth in the history of the Timbercorp Cup series.
Irwin won both Stages 3 and 4 on Monday earlier this week and his previous successes on tour include the 2005 Merbein to Wentworth stage in the Tour of the Murray River and the Bairnsdale Criterium, which was the last stage of this year's Tour of Gippsland, which was the opening leg of the Timbercorp Cup.
The Merbein win draws Irwin to within three points of McDonald in the Timbercorp, but there is still a lot of racing to be completed before the title will be decided in the Tour of Tasmania from October 2-7. For the large part of the Merbein Criterium, it looked as though the powerful southaustralian.com – National U23 - team would take yet another stage victory.
Mark Jamieson, Peter Dawson, Shaun Higgerson, Sean Finning and Miles Olman were controlling the front of the race, looking to take Nicholas Sanderson to the ultimate. The lead-out looked perfect and 50 metres from home Sanderson had hit the lead, but the cavalry was coming. The powerful Irwin came down the outside and pinched the win from under Sanderson's nose.
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Scoring a gutsy third was Victorian Gary Mueller, who earlier this week finished second to Irwin in the Kerang Criterium. Jamieson was rewarded for his performance with the Most Aggressive rider jersey. Tour leader Peter McDonald did no harm to his overall position, finishing 13th in the criterium and picking up some handy intermediates along the way.
Darcy Rosenlund's chances of winning the RoadSafe Mildura Sprint Championship took a little dent – as did his body and bike – as the field was readying for the final intermediate sprint. Rosenlund had drawn to within one point of leader Miles Watson (Vic/NZ) and was in the middle of the bunch when the field heard the whistle to signal the last sprint. But a mid-field crash saw he and Tasmanian Daniel Furmston both come crashing to terra firma. Neither rider was badly hurt, although Rosenlund did have to replace his front wheel.
The delay also cost him any chance of winning the sprint and when Watson finished second the margin stretched back out to three points. Defending Tour of the Murray River champion Robert McLachlan was forced to withdraw over night after a heavy dose of the ‘flu won out. McLachlan had been battling on gamely, but succumbed after the Euston Criterium.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Or your green jersey… Mildura RoadSafe Sprint Points leader Miles Watson (Specialized)
- Tour leader Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF) tastes some of Merbein's finest mushrooms prior to stage six
- Riders corner in Merbein during the 33km stage six criterium
- Peter Milostic (Penrith Panthers CC) out of the saddle in the back straight
- Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF) in the Fishers IGA Tour leader's yellow jersey on stage six
- Brendan Schultz (WHK Thomsons, 29) in the peloton during stage six in Merbein
- Reuben Meneaud-Young (SAIS) and Lachlan Stewart (75, Jayco/VIS) feel the heat and go for the bidons in Merbein on stage six
- Matt Sillars (Specialized) from New Zealand works his Fondriest down the back straight
- The sprint to the finish of stage six with Grant Irwin (orange) and Nic Sanderson to his left fighting it out
- And it's Irwin again! Grant Irwin (Ord Minnett/Triple Play) wins another stage of the Tour
- Gary Mueller (Richmond Cyclery) made it onto the podium again on stage six
- The stage six podium (L-R): Nic Sanderson 2nd (SouthAustralia.com/AIS), Grant Irwin 1st (Ord Minnett/Triple Play), and Gary Mueller 3rd (Richmond Cyclery)
- New Zealander Miles Watson (Specialized) remains in the green jersey as leader of the Mildura RoadSafe Sprint Points competition
- The Tour leader Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF) has his photo taken by employees of the Tour's major sponsor, Fishers IGA in Merbein
Results
1 Grant Irwin 42.20 (46.772 km/h) 2 Nicholas Sanderson 3 Gary Mueller 4 Leigh Howard 5 Douglas Repacholi 6 Russell Gill 7 Patrick Shaw 8 Miles Olman 9 John Ebeling 10 Robert Cater 11 Brett Aitken 12 Matthew Sherwin 13 Peter McDonald 14 David Pell 15 Benjamin King 16 Jack Bobridge 17 Miles Watson 18 Steven Robb 19 Michael Stallard 20 Jamie Crass 21 Daniel Braunsteins 22 Tom Middleton 23 Peter Smith 24 Stephen Price 25 Brendan Schultz 26 Gilbert Gutowski 27 Cameron Hughes 28 Daniel McCulloch 29 Chris Jory 30 Jarrod Harman 31 Timothy Decker 32 Will Dickeson 33 Jeremy Hills 34 David Tozer 35 David Kemp 36 Chris Steffanoni 37 Hayden Josefski 38 Samuel Rix 39 Gavin Nicholls 40 Thomas Baxter 41 Jason Hegert 42 Brad Edmunds 43 Tony Mann 44 Craig Robertson 45 Will Wettenhall 46 Glen Peterson 47 Darcy Rosenlund 48 Luke Aggett 0.11 49 Nigel Sullivan 0.12 50 Travis Frisby 51 Grant Webster 52 Jacob Lea 53 Evan Corry 54 Matt Sillars 55 Nathan Wise 56 Lachlan Stewart 57 Simon Brown 58 Peter Dawson 59 Malcolm Rudolph 60 Brendan Jones 61 Vaughan Bowman 62 Sean Finning 63 Mark Jamieson 0.18 64 Matt King 0.22 65 Ben Mather 66 Peter Milostic 0.27 67 Brendon Sharratt 0.47 68 Shaun Higgerson 1.28 69 Daniel Furmston 1.30 70 Re Meneaud-Young DNS Robert McLachlan Sprints Lap 6 1 Miles Watson 3 pts 2 John Ebeling 2 3 Gilbert Gutowski 1 Lap 8 1 Leigh Howard 3 pts 2 Miles Watson 2 3 Grant Irwin 1 Lap 10 1 Robert Cater 3 pts 2 Matthew Sherwin 2 3 Darcy Rosenlund 1 Lap 12 1 Malcolm Rudolph 3 pts 2 Peter McDonald 2 3 Matt Sillars 1 Lap 14 1 Nathan Wise 3 pts 2 Sean Finning 2 3 Miles Watson 1 Lap 16 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 Lachlan Stewart 2 3 Peter Dawson 1 Lap 18 1 Mark Jamieson 3 pts 2 Grant Irwin 2 3 Peter McDonald 1 Lap 20 1 David Pell 3 pts 2 Mark Jamieson 2 3 Peter McDonald 1 Lap 22 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 John Ebeling 2 3 Will Dickeson 1 Lap 24 1 David Pell 3 pts 2 Peter McDonald 2 3 Miles Watson 1 Lap 26 1 Nathan Wise 3 pts 2 Miles Watson 2 3 David Tozer 1 Criterium championships 1 Grant Irwin 10 pts 2 Nicholas Sanderson 9 3 Gary Mueller 8 4 Leigh Howard 7 5 Douglas Repacholi 6 6 Russell Gill 5 7 Patrick Shaw 4 8 Miles Olman 3 9 John Ebeling 2 10 Robert Cater 1 Most aggressive rider 8 Mark Jamieson 2 pts General classification after stage 6 1 Peter McDonald 7.47.41 2 Grant Irwin 0.06 3 David Pell 4 Patrick Shaw 0.10 5 Benjamin King 0.26 6 Leigh Howard 0.32 7 Tom Middleton 0.51 8 Jack Bobridge 9 John Ebeling 0.52 10 Cameron Hughes 1.01 11 David Kemp 1.07 12 Miles Watson 8.59 13 Darcy Rosenlund 9.01 14 Brad Edmunds 9.34 15 Nicholas Sanderson 10.07 16 Peter Dawson 10.26 17 Mark Jamieson 11.06 18 Tony Mann 11.16 19 Gavin Nicholls 11.59 20 Robert Cater 15.30 21 Michael Stallard 16.15 22 Timothy Decker 16.19 23 Steven Robb 16.30 24 Gilbert Gutowski 16.36 25 Hayden Josefski 16.40 26 Daniel McCulloch 17.00 27 Miles Olman 17.28 28 Jarrod Harman 19.48 29 Russell Gill 25.47 30 Douglas Repacholi 25.53 31 Re Meneaud-Young 26.01 32 Chris Steffanoni 26.05 33 Chris Jory 34 Ben Mather 26.09 35 Travis Frisby 26.17 36 Jacob Lea 37 Evan Corry 38 Will Dickeson 26.18 39 Jamie Crass 26.21 40 Brendan Schultz 26.33 41 Matt King 26.35 42 Peter Milostic 26.54 43 Lachlan Stewart 27.01 44 Daniel Furmston 29.00 45 David Tozer 29.28 46 Matt Sillars 29.40 47 Shaun Higgerson 31.29 48 Brett Aitken 31.51 49 Craig Robertson 32.38 50 Samuel Rix 37.45 51 Glen Peterson 38.23 52 Luke Aggett 38.46 53 Daniel Braunsteins 40.02 54 Jason Hegert 41.21 55 Nathan Wise 42.23 56 Matthew Sherwin 42.59 57 Gary Mueller 43.06 58 Sean Finning 44.41 59 Peter Smith 44.45 60 Nigel Sullivan 44.47 61 Brendon Sharratt 45.06 62 Thomas Baxter 49.11 63 Will Wettenhall 49.39 64 Stephen Price 50.32 65 Malcolm Rudolph 50.37 66 Simon Brown 56.40 67 Brendan Jones 1.00.49 68 Vaughan Bowman 1.02.02 69 Grant Webster 1.03.44 70 Jeremy Hills 1.06.57 Sprints classification 1 Miles Watson 47 pts 2 Darcy Rosenlund 44 3 Patrick Shaw 33 4 David Pell 32 5 Benjamin King 29 6 Peter McDonald 21 7 Sean Finning 18 8 Peter Dawson 17 9 Robert Cater 16 10 Brendon Sharratt 15 11 Grant Irwin 12 12 Brad Edmunds 10 13 Jack Bobridge 8 14 Leigh Howard 7 15 Mark Jamieson 6 16 Nathan Wise 6 17 John Ebeling 5 18 Gilbert Gutowski 5 19 Michael Stallard 4 20 Tony Mann 4 21 David Kemp 3 22 Malcolm Rudolph 3 23 Gavin Nicholls 2 24 Lachlan Stewart 2 25 Vaughan Bowman 2 26 Matthew Sherwin 2 27 Will Dickeson 1 28 Cameron Hughes 1 29 Tom Middleton 1 30 Miles Olman 1 31 David Tozer 1 32 Brendan Jones 1 33 Matt Sillars 1 Criterium championships classification 1 Grant Irwin 29 pts 2 Nicholas Sanderson 21 3 Gary Mueller 17 4 Patrick Shaw 16 5 Robert Cater 15 6 Leigh Howard 14 7 Peter Dawson 13 8 Brett Aitken 13 9 Russell Gill 12 10 Douglas Repacholi 12 11 Darcy Rosenlund 12 12 Jarrod Harman 7 13 Peter McDonald 5 14 Peter Smith 4 15 John Ebeling 4 16 Miles Olman 3 17 Tom Middleton 3 18 Brendon Sharratt 3 19 Miles Watson 2 20 Will Dickeson 1 21 Matthew Sherwin 1 Most aggressive rider classification 1 David Pell 2 pts 2 Peter Smith 2 3 Mark Jamieson 2 4 Sean Finning 2 5 Peter McDonald 2 6 Robert McLachlan 2
