Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Dauphiné Libéré Photo ©: Sirotti |
Tattersall's Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 31-September 4, 2005
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 6 - September 2: Ouyen - Patchewollock - Ouyen, 86.5 km
Clarke rock solid
By Rod Morris in Ouyen
|
Victorian Institute of Sport young gun, Simon Clarke has one hand on the Tattersall's Cup - Tour of the Murray River, despite the fact there are still four stages remaining. Clarke (19) produced two more solid rides today as the tour hit the Ouyen district in North-Western Victoria. Clarke was 10th in the morning criterium and an even more impressive second in the afternoon's out and back stage, which started and finished in Ouyen, but included nearby Patchewollock. Entertaining South Australian Mathew Rex won the stage, but in finishing second, Clarke increased his overall lead by a further eight seconds over Tasmanian Bernard Sulzberger and as the tour hits Robinvale and Euston tomorrow, he will carry a 31-second advantage.
The 91 riders remaining from the original field of 116, were out of the blocks as soon as the gun fired to start the afternoon stage and a six man break away group was soon established. The group included no real threats to the GC leaders, namely Robert McLachlan (10th at 1'37), Brendan Hill (33rd at 3'20), Bradley Payne (41st at 3'54), Matthew Goss (47th at 5'18), Gordon McCauley (66th at 20'51) and Sean Finning (82nd at 37'52).
The tour's leading three riders, Simon Clarke, Bernard Sulzberger and Chris Jongewaard were content to remain in the bunch and let the sextet out the front, stage their own mini-battle. McCauley in particular was concentrating on gaining points for the Sprint Championship, while he was also engaged in a tussle with McLachlan for the King of the Championship, which he ultimately won.
|
At one stage, the escapees had opened up a gap of more than a minute, but it never quite seemed enough. Getting closer to the Ouyen finish line, Hill lost contact with his fellow breakaway riders and then with just 1500 m, they were all cruelly caught by the peloton, paving the way for yet another bunch sprint in this intriguing tour.
The lengthy home straight at Ouyen provided a perfect viewing spot for the many "Vanilla Slice" spectators and they witnessed Matthew Rex fly down the middle of the track to beat Simon Clarke (Tour leader) and Tommy Nankervis (winner of Stage 3). Clarke's main protagonists, Sulzberger and Jongewaard did little damage, finishing sixth and fifth respectively, but ultimately lost a couple of seconds to the yellow jersey holder.
"Everything went perfectly in this stage," Clarke said. "My VIS teammates rode a great race and timed the chase down to the last minute. I wasn't overly concerned with winning the stage and was just as happy sitting back in the peloton and enjoying the sunshine. I am now very confident of holding onto the yellow jersey till we get into Mildura on Sunday afternoon."
|
Stage winner, Mathew Rex echoed Clarke's comment that he was not necessarily chasing victory. "No, not really looking for it, but the opportunity came up when we caught those guys out in front and I still had something left in the legs to find a sprint," he said.
Stages 7 and 8 in the Tour of the Murray River will continue tomorrow with a tough 60 km kermesse in Robinvale and an afternoon criterium over 52 km in Euston in southern NSW. The final two stages will be held in Cardross and Mildura on Sunday.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Clowning around on the Tour of the Murray River
- Now let's just see am I really in the lead?
- Gordon McCauley takes King of the Mountain points early into stage six
- The peloton makes its way towards skinny roads near Ouyen
- The peloton has a decision to make up ahead...
- A breakaway formed not long after the start of stage six
- Now come on boys who wants to work with me?
- The lead group go through an intermediate sprint point on stage six
- The peloton heads towards Patchewollock under blue skies
- Matt Goss from Tasmania in the lead group
- Brendan Hill from Queensland in the leading group of six riders
- The leaders check with a Commissaire regarding a time gap back to the main field
- The gap is reducing getting closer to the finish
- Mathew Rex (2nd from left) outguns Simon Clarke to his right and Tommy Nankervis (L) to take the stage
- No flies on Mathew Rex or is there?
- Hey didn't you just win that bike race?
- The podium (L-R): Tommy Nankervis (3rd), Mathew Rex (1st) and Simon Clarke (2nd)
- Simon Clarke tries on another Tattersall's tour leader's jersey after stage six
Results
1 Mathew Rex 1.59.39 2 Simon Clarke 3 Tommy Nankervis 4 David Salton 5 Chris Jongewaard 6 Bernard Sulzberger 7 Ben Kersten 8 Scott Peoples 9 Stuart Shaw 10 Grant Irwin 11 Russell Van Hout 12 Tim Hucker 13 Andrew Naylor 14 Nash Kent 15 Joe McDonnell 16 Timothy Decker 17 Luke Bettany 18 Aaron Salisbury 19 Robert Cater 20 Stephen Rossendell 21 Brendan O'Connell 22 Heath Keenan 23 Christopher Jenkins 24 Patrick Shaw 25 Luke Pledger 26 Jeremy Davis 27 David Hiley 28 Peter Mueller 29 Matthew Jensen 30 Andrew Graham 31 Stephen Cunningham 32 Simon Pearson 33 Troy Glennan 34 Wesley Sulzberger 35 Damien Turner 36 Jason Hegert 37 Matt Haydock 38 David Tozer 39 Peter Dawson 40 Bradley Norton 41 Simon Walker 42 Peter Herzig 43 Trent Wilson 44 Charles Howlett 45 Daniel Burtt 46 Cameron Bowden 47 James Maebus 48 Cameron Wise 49 Richard Moffatt 50 Brad Glennan 51 Michael Hardy 52 Brendan Brooks 53 Casey Munro 54 Ben Isaksen 55 Josh Smith 56 Peter McDonald 57 David McKenzie 58 Steven Robb 59 Robert McLachlan 60 Trent Stevenson 61 Scott McGrory 62 John Walker 63 Adrian Hanson 64 Robert Lyte 65 Kyle Marwood 66 Scott Jensen 67 Warren Scott 68 Greg Rossiter 69 Robert Booker 70 Samuel Rix 71 Katie Mactier 72 Darren Lapthorne 73 Alexander Smyth 74 Adrian Salter 75 Andrew Roe 76 Nicholas Wood 77 Vaughan Bowman 78 Matthew Delahunty 79 Peter Milostic 80 Brendan Hill 81 George Bunt 82 Steven Pilson 83 Grant Webster 84 Matthew Goss 85 William Murray 86 Bradley Payne 87 Daniel Furmston 0.20 88 Gordon McCauley 0.26 89 Sean Finning 1.22 90 Scott Brown 16.53 DNS Matthew Gilbert Sprints Sprint 1, Mocka 18 - Racetrack(Patche) 1 Gordon McCauley 3 pts 2 Robert McLachlan 2 3 Bradley Payne 1 Sprint 2, Mocka 23 - Cross Barnes St and Patche Pub 1 Robert McLachlan 3 pts 2 Gordon McCauley 2 3 Brendan Hill 1 Climbs Patchewollock Rd - Cat.4, Mocka 6 1 Gordon McCauley 3 pts 2 Robert McLachlan 2 3 Matthew Goss 1 Steele Rd - Cat.4, Mocka 8 1 Robert McLachlan 3 pts 2 Gordon McCauley 2 3 Bradley Payne 1 Old Ouyen Rd - Cat.4, Mocka 12 1 Matthew Goss 3 pts 2 Bradley Payne 2 3 Robert McLachlan 1 Mildura Rural City Sign - Cat.4, Mocka 34 1 Robert McLachlan 3 pts 2 Bradley Payne 2 3 Gordon McCauley 1 Pass Old Ouyen Rd - Cat.4, Mocka 38 1 Gordon McCauley 3 pts 2 Matthew Goss 2 3 Robert McLachlan 1 Road Fork - Cat.4, Mocka 41 1 Gordon McCauley 3 pts 2 Robert McLachlan 2 3 Matthew Goss 1 Arbuckle Rd - Cat.4, Mocka 47 1 Gordon McCauley 3 pts 2 Matthew Goss 2 3 Robert McLachlan 1 General classification after stage 6 1 Simon Clarke 8.25.28 2 Bernard Sulzberger 0.31 3 Chris Jongewaard 0.37 4 Mathew Rex 0.40 5 Stephen Cunningham 0.56 6 Troy Glennan 0.58 7 Joe McDonnell 1.01 8 Luke Bettany 9 Richard Moffatt 1.10 10 Robert McLachlan 1.27 11 Tommy Nankervis 2.02 12 Stuart Shaw 2.06 13 Russell Van Hout 2.20 14 Cameron Wise 2.24 15 Adrian Salter 16 Patrick Shaw 17 Ben Kersten 2.26 18 Peter Milostic 2.27 19 Nash Kent 2.28 20 David Hiley 21 Trent Wilson 22 Aaron Salisbury 2.32 23 Peter Mueller 2.36 24 Bradley Norton 2.38 25 Scott Peoples 2.39 26 Andrew Naylor 2.42 27 Scott McGrory 28 Tim Hucker 2.44 29 Daniel Burtt 30 George Bunt 31 Peter Dawson 3.21 32 Andrew Graham 3.23 33 Brendan Hill 3.27 34 Brendan Brooks 3.28 35 David McKenzie 3.34 36 Peter Herzig 3.38 37 Adrian Hanson 3.39 38 David Tozer 3.40 39 Vaughan Bowman 40 Timothy Decker 41 Bradley Payne 3.56 42 Brendan O'Connell 4.04 43 John Walker 4.06 44 James Maebus 45 Darren Lapthorne 4.10 46 Trent Stevenson 5.05 47 Matthew Goss 5.17 48 Nicholas Wood 6.34 49 Heath Keenan 8.19 50 David Salton 9.15 51 Greg Rossiter 9.34 52 Kyle Marwood 9.57 53 Peter McDonald 11.15 54 Steven Robb 12.26 55 Luke Pledger 13.00 56 Josh Smith 16.37 57 Casey Munro 17.26 58 Matt Haydock 17.40 59 Robert Cater 17.47 60 Daniel Furmston 18.01 61 Steven Pilson 18.18 62 Charles Howlett 18.19 63 Christopher Jenkins 19.29 64 Damien Turner 19.33 65 Gordon McCauley 21.05 66 Jeremy Davis 21.41 67 Scott Brown 22.58 68 Grant Webster 23.00 69 Warren Scott 24.03 70 Alexander Smyth 24.39 71 Michael Hardy 25.54 72 Cameron Bowden 26.29 73 Simon Walker 27.13 74 Scott Jensen 28.36 75 Matthew Jensen 76 Andrew Roe 29.07 77 Samuel Rix 78 Katie Mactier 29.41 79 Grant Irwin 31.03 80 Matthew Delahunty 33.11 81 Brad Glennan 38.31 82 Wesley Sulzberger 38.43 83 Sean Finning 39.22 84 Ben Isaksen 42.10 85 Stephen Rossendell 42.37 86 Robert Booker 44.07 87 Robert Lyte 46.57 88 William Murray 47.19 89 Jason Hegert 48.59 90 Simon Pearson 1.03.43 Road Safe Mildura Sprint Championship 1 Gordon McCauley 39 pts 2 Simon Clarke 29 3 Robert McLachlan 26 4 Chris Jongewaard 22 5 Peter Dawson 17 6 Bernard Sulzberger 13 7 Wesley Sulzberger 13 8 Stuart Shaw 12 9 Troy Glennan 9 10 Patrick Shaw 8 11 Russell Van Hout 8 12 Casey Munro 7 13 Greg Rossiter 6 14 Bradley Norton 6 15 Peter McDonald 5 16 Joe McDonnell 5 17 Mathew Rex 4 18 Darren Lapthorne 3 19 Luke Bettany 3 20 David McKenzie 3 21 Andrew Naylor 2 22 Peter Herzig 2 23 David Salton 2 24 Scott McGrory 2 25 Stephen Rossendell 2 26 Brendan O'Connell 2 27 Kyle Marwood 2 28 Matt Haydock 2 29 Richard Moffatt 2 30 Sean Finning 2 31 Jason Hegert 2 32 Andrew Graham 1 33 Matthew Goss 1 34 Bradley Payne 1 35 Steven Pilson 1 36 Peter Milostic 1 37 Stephen Cunningham 1 38 Brendan Hill 1 39 Peter Mueller 1 Tourism Victoria King Of The Mountain Championship 1 Gordon McCauley 15 pts 2 Robert McLachlan 13 3 Matthew Goss 9 4 Bradley Payne 5 5 Simon Clarke 5 6 Stephen Cunningham 3 7 Chris Jongewaard 2 8 Sean Finning 1 9 Bernard Sulzberger 1 Sunraysia Daily - Criterium Championship 1 Robert McLachlan 2 Tommy Nankervis 3 Simon Clarke 4 Bernard Sulzberger 5 Ben Kersten 6 Mathew Rex 7 Gordon McCauley 8 David McKenzie 9 Stuart Shaw 10 Patrick Shaw 11 Wesley Sulzberger 12 Chris Jongewaard 13 Scott Peoples 14 Peter Dawson 15 Casey Munro 16 Cameron Wise 17 Nash Kent 18 Adrian Salter Subaru Aggressive Rider Awards 1 Gordon McCauley 350 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 200 3 Robert McLachlan 50 4 Matthew Goss 50
