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Tour of the Southern Grampians - NE
Australia, March 27-28, 2004
Main Page Results Previous Stage
Stage 3 - March 28: Coleraine, 111km
A Grade
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Sunday morning presented riders with 111 kilometres, two Category 1 climbs (15kms and 90kms) and stronger winds compared to the almost still conditions of the day before. The temperature was also a factor (Approximately 31 degrees) even with the 9.00 am start.
It appeared that Walker had a strong hold on the G.C. prize, he lead Andy Graham by nine seconds and also had shown that he was the strongest rider in the field. The only question was if his team was strong enough to combat the Uno clothing squad's tactics.
It wasn't long before Andy Graham's tactics became clear, his team mate Damian Forster placed himself in the first successful break of the day along with Andrew Ward, Chris Fry (De Grandi Cycles) and Peter Pape. It was now up to the boys from CBD cycles to make the next move. And move they did, Johnnie Walker, Will's younger brother, made a bold move to get across to the leaders, this secured a rider from both of the leaders teams in the break. It also allowed the leaders to concentrate on causing a selection in the difficult cross winds, after about five kilometres of riding in the gutter, Walker, Graham and the impressive Colin Thornton managed to get away. Chris Bradford (CBD Cycles), George Vallins (Uno clothing) and Craig McCartney (De Grandi Cycles) did most of the hard yards to help the escapees.
The trio must have reached far into their reserves to get across to the leaders, once this had happened the race was all but over for any riders not in the break.
The lead group would have welcomed the change of direction as they pasted through Balmoral, the stiff cross-head winds became an assisting breeze all the way to the finish, except for the detour over the second K.O.M. at the 90-kilometre mark. Before the climb the leaders had to contend with a number of attacks. The decisive selection included Graham, Fry and of course Walker.
In what was a true justification of the young superstars eventual victory, Walker again disappeared up the climb and this time was able to maintain the lead to record his second stage win and consolidate his overall victory. Although he had considerable help from his loyal team mates, at vital times, it is arguable that his strength, particularly on the climbs, would have secured him victory regardless.
Andy Graham was able to hold onto 2nd overall in what would have been a moral boosting effort after many weeks of training. He to would be thankful for the efforts given by team mates. Peter Pape collected third in G.C. whilst Colin Thornton managed to grab fourth. These efforts were exceptional considering that they rode with little or no support.
In a "watch this space" effort, Johnnie Walker captured 5th place. My suggestions to the Walker family would be to start the extensions on the "Pool-Room" as they're a going to be countless trophies heading that way in the near future!
B Grade
The last stage of 111km started on Sunday morning with a bunch of weary starters. The new yellow jersey holder Mackenzie was kept busy trying to minimise the time gaps on a breakaway by Tom McDonough and Claxton until the 1st KOM at the 14km mark. Claxton and McDonough took the KOM points followed by Hanson. Mackenzie attacked off the KOM and bridged to the breakaway with the break staying clear until the last 50km. Before long an aggressive Knowles started to flex his strength to place pressure on the bunch. After repeated attacks Knowles, he got away but was caught just before the last KOM. This evidently used much of his reserves, and fortunately the yellow jersey had found allies in Mann and Taylor who helped him catch the leader on the road (Knowles) who was riding strongly. Mann, Taylor and Mackenzie finally dropped Knowles over the last climb and finish in that order.
All in all the tour was set in a challenging location, and was excellently managed. This will be one race for all cyclists to put in their diaries for next year as the word spreads of it success. The officials, sponsors, corner marshal's etc should be congratulated on a job well done.
C Grade
The Adelaide riders were in for a tough day as the Victorian riders were out to attack at every opportunity. The first 10km was fairly slow with riders easing themselves back into it after a punishing day on Saturday. There were a few breaks but they did not last to long. As with the other stages, all hell broke loose at the first KOM with riders dropping off because of the extreme pace set by the climbers.
After the climb most riders got back to the peleton as the Victorian riders sat back and let the Adelaide riders work. The next part of the race saw the Victorian riders attacking off the front one at a time with the SA riders having to chase to protect their Yellow Jersey. Finally there was a good break by John Marcan (Sunbury). John stayed away for about 20km into a head wind and managed to get a fairly good lead. The plan for the Vic riders was to just sit on the SA riders and let them chase and then attack again and again.
John was finally caught just before Balmoral with 15 riders still in the bunch. The left turn at Balmoral meant that we had a tail wind for most of the 50K back to Coleraine. Again there were a few breaks with little success, until James Garriock (St-Kilda) made an attack off the front. He was soon joined by Kym Howard (Adelaide) and they managed to stay away until the last KOM where we had them in sight again. The final climb of 1.3K and a gradient of 7% sorted out the last 15 riders with the peleton breaking up and most riders finishing alone or in small groups. The scariest part of the ride was the descent after the KOM. The road was narrow with strong cross winds and speeds of up to 90km/h on a rough road made going very hairy. The last 10K was very fast with a strong tail wind until the right turn back into town. In the sprint Kym Howard held out James Garriock 2nd and Josh Smith 3rd. Congratulations to the Adelaide riders for managing to work together and hold off the Vic attacks. The final GC was well deserved by Kym Howard who was trying to protect his team mates Yellow Jersey but ended up winning himself. A special mention should go to Robert Gaggini (Adelaide) who did most of the work for his team mates.
D Grade
Ariel Grana (Coburg), Mark Kendt (Carnegie) and Colin Angus did not start stage three leaving only 14 riders in the field. The peloton was content to roll along until the first KOM at 14.2km which consisted of a vicious 1km long climb. Bartlett was the first to feel the pressure and drop off with Richards and Probert tailing after the lead group. By the top Calloway, Reynolds, Hamilton and Walker where again away with the Sunbury boys, Griffith and Barnes in pursuit. Janelle Evans was 30 seconds up and Richards and looked like making contact with the second bunch. Some hard turns by Probert and Richards saw the duo catch Evans and shortly after Griffiths who found the constant acceleration of working turns too hard in the second bunch. After turning around at the 31km mark the leading quartet had a comfortable lead on the Sunbury quartet. The Probert, Griffiths, Evans and Richards bunch was happy to sit up and ride to the finish dodging the odd snake along the way.
The leading bunch was content to roll to the finish with only Hamilton willing to attack the yellow jersey. Hamilton began his attacks at the 43 km mark and kept them up for the next 10km's. Walker won the final KOM and his only concern was the restricted gears on the fast descent down the first KOM of the day, which saw riders hits speeds of 80km and hour. With the bunch failing to react to this Walker was able to salute his club mates who had pulled out of A Grade and comfortably hold onto the yellow jersey.
Photography
Images by Paul Logan/Coburg Cycling Club
- D grade bunch enjoying the scenery on Stage 3
- Bartlett on another lonely ride off the back of D grade
- Yellow jersey goes for another KOM in D grade
- Hamilton and Walker try to get back on after descent
- D grade break nearing the finish
- D grade place getters pose for the camera
- Bartlett happy to finish the Tour
- Encouragement for the final climb of the Tour
- A spectator eagerly awaits the bunch on the climb
- C grade leaders near the summit
- C grade yellow jersey struggles to hold on
- B grade rolls out for the final stage
- Looking towards the final climb after a long escape
- Hopkinson just about to be caught on the final climb
- McDonough cheered on by another McDonough
- Ward looking very determined on the first KOM of the day
- MGZT rider feels the bunch coming
- A grade chasing on the first climb on Stage 3
- Walker crests the final climb on the way to victory
- One of the many corner marshals on duty
- Richards happy to be nearing the finish
- Will Walker victorious in the inaugural Southern Grampians Tour
Results
Final general classification A Grade 1 Will Walker 5.35.50 2 Andy Graham 2.37 3 Peter Pape 2.57 4 Colin Thornton 3.02 5 Johnnie Walker 5.59 6 Chris Fry 6.19 7 Michael Tolhurst 8.02 8 George Vallins 11.51 9 David Tozer 11.59 10 Brian McNamara 12.00 11 Andrew Ward 16.02 12 Craig McCartney 17.09 13 Nathan Wise 17.36 14 Casey Munro 18.32 15 Ryan Moody 19.56 16 Dylan Newell 27.08 17 Paul Richards 29.15 18 Jake Sutherland 39.19 19 Pete Knight 49.04 Mountains classification 1 Will Walker 21 pts 2 Chris Fry 16 3 Michael Tolhurst 16 4 George Vallins 10 5 Chris Bradford 6 6 Andy Graham 3 7 Peter Pape 2 8 David Tozer 2 9 Andrew Ward 2 10 Casey Munro 1 B Grade 1 John MacKenzie 6.11.03 2 Ed Knowles 1.32 3 Glen Taylor 1.51 4 Robert Mann 2.25 5 Adrian Hanson 6.11 6 John Claxton 8.24 7 Richard Knight 9.03 8 Jordan Sutherland 12.43 9 Paul Brooker 14.07 10 Matt Pope 16.50 11 Christine Foster 19.35 12 Matt Rice 22.55 13 Karen Hopkinson 24.26 14 Tom McDonough 34.02 15 Michael Sneyd 51.26 Mountains classification 1 John MacKenzie 33 pts 2 Glen Taylor 12 3 John Claxton 10 4 Adrian Hanson 7 5 Jordan Sutherland 7 6 Ed Knowles 6 7 Tom McDonough 6 8 Robert Mann 2 9 Richard Knight 1 C Grade 1 Kym Howard 5.33.23 2 Josh Smith 0.10 3 Robert Gaggini 0.18 4 James Garriock 0.25 5 Daniel Smith 1.47 6 Paul Davine 2.14 7 John Marcan 2.43 8 Chris Steffanoni 3.58 9 Matthew Opperman 4.22 10 William Huntington 4.27 11 Michael Burke 10.52 12 Fraser Short 13.24 13 Craig Vandervalk 18.09 14 Stephen Mutch 18.47 15 Russell Collins 18.49 16 Malcolm Tirrabisi 24.36 17 Tim Clarke 27.55 18 Alex Brewer 32.50 19 PJ Cushen 39.11 20 Malcolm Clayton 56.18 Mountains classification 1 Josh Smith 33 pts 2 Kym Howard 12 3 Daniel Smith 10 4 James Garriock 7 5 Robert Gaggini 7 D Grade 1 Nick Walker 4.22.17 2 Dan Evans 0.10 3 Ross Hamilton 2.01 4 Dean Calloway 2.22 5 Rick Reynolds 5.35 6 Chris Hitchen 19.13 7 John Lehner 8 Martin Barnes 21.43 9 John Nassialis 21.56 10 Glen Griffiths 25.11 11 Kylie Richards 32.24 12 Tom Probert 35.01 13 Janelle Evans 41.15 14 Howard Bartlett 1.07.47 Mountains classification 1 Nick Walker 31 pts 2 Ross Hamilton 22 3 Rick Reynolds 7 4 Dan Evans 3
