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Tattersall's Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 29-September 3, 2006
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Stage 1 - August 29: Echuca criterium, 30.6 km
Aitken's triumphant return
By Rod Morris
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Gold medal hero from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Brett Aitken completed the first chapter of a successful comeback to competitive racing when he won the opening stage of the Subaru Tour of the Murray RiverTuesday.
Aitken (35) overshadowed a class field of 120 riders in a 30.5 km lightning-fast criterium in Echuca on the banks of the Murray.
Aitken has not ridden seriously for more than two years and is using this week's tour as preparation for the Herald Sun Tour to be raced in October.
Aitken teamed with Scott McGrory to win the Madison title in Sydney six years ago, but still looks fit enough to compete at the highest level.
"I might look that way (fit), but I have done very little training," Aitken said.
"I don't think I'll be much of a threat in the road stages and will really just be concentrating on the criteriums.
The Tour of the Murray River is the third leg of the Tattersall's Cup series, which has so far included the nine stage Tour of Gippsland earlier this month and the inaugural three race Australian Cycling Grand Prix in Ballarat last week.
The trifecta in the Echuca Criterium was a boon for the older brigade of Australian domestic cycling with Aitken, be joined on the podium by fellow 35-year-old Robert McLachlan from Canberra and 39-year-old Shepparton rider Leigh Egan.
Aitken won the Tour of Sunraysia - a forerunner to the Tour of the Murray River - back in 1998 when it was a three day event and both McLachlan and Egan are former winners of the Tattersall's Cup series.
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"This is the greatest domestic series of racing in Australia and really is the breeding ground for the next generation of riders to compete internationally," McLachlan said.
The field of 120 starters set a cracking pace in the opening stage, finishing the 30.5 km in just 41.50 minutes, averaging just over a minute for each of the 36 laps of the 850 m circuit.
"I remembered this circuit from the 2003 Herald Sun Tour, when I won a bunch sprint, so I was comfortable with what has happening out there," Aitken said.
"I must admit though, it was really was a quick race."
Queensland's David Kemp - recent winner of the ACPG road race - claimed opening honours in the RoadSafe Mildura and Qantaslink Sprint Championship and - more importantly - the overall lead in the tour.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- The statue of Australian cycling legend the great Sir Hubert Opperman located at Rochester where the second stage of the tour will finish
- Riders sign on in Echuca for stage one of the Tour of the Murray River
- The Port of Echuca was the setting for a 30.6km criterium to begin the tour
- Former stage winner of the Giro D'Italia David McKenzie is looking after riders from the Victorian Institute of Sport during the five-day tour
- One of the famous Murray River paddle-steamers cruise the river adjacent to the 0.85km circuit
- Pinning on a race number in preparation for the tour
- They're away on stage one of the 2006 Tour of the Murray River
- Riders swing round beneath the Echuca caravan park which swells to capacity during the summer months
- Riders in the one hundred plus field corner into the home straight in Echuca
- On ya bike son…
- The field heads up the home straight towards the finish-line
- The Tour of the Murray River is the third leg of the Tattersall's Cup Cycling Series
- Riders accelerate out of the bottom bend in Echuca
- The field head out of the home straight before a section of another good crowd to support the series
- On a short circuit riders found it difficult to organise a break with a bunch sprint to the line the most likely
- Brett Aitken (far left), needed little preparation to outlast the challengers in the sprint to the line
- Leigh Egan from Victoria finished third to Aitken on stage one of the tour
- Robert McLachlan on the podium again with a second place
- Gold medalist from the 2000 Sydney Olympics Brett Aitken strikes first blood on the tour
- The stage one podium (L-R): Leigh Egan (3rd), Brett Aitken (1st), and Robert McLachlan (2nd); Aitken's teamate Stephen Cunningham is the photographer in the foreground
- David Kemp from Queensland tries on his Road Safe Mildura sprint points championship jersey
- Brett Aitken squeezes into his Telstra Country-Wide criterium leader's jersey
- David Kemp, fresh from his win in the Victorian Open Road Championship and now the leader of the Tour of the Murray River
Results
1 Brett Aitken 41.50 (43.89 Km/Hr) 2 Robert McLachlan 3 Leigh Egan 4 David Kemp 5 Wesley Sulzberger 6 Joshua Marden 7 Robert Cater 8 Jeremy Bates 9 Nicholas Sanderson 10 Brad Edmunds 11 Scott Peoples 12 Fabio Calabria 13 Johnnie Walker 14 Chris Jongewaard 15 Gary Mueller 16 Tom Middleton 17 Ricky Peoples 18 Chris Steffanoni 19 Craig McCartney 20 Daniel Newnham 21 Richie Porte 22 Zakkari Dempster 23 Brendan Hill 24 Peter Milostic 25 Gilbert Gutowski 26 Jacob Sutherland 27 Damien Turner 28 Peter Smith 29 Jai Crawford 30 Samuel Rix 31 Christopher Wilding 32 Kyle Marwood 33 Joe McDonnell 34 Peter Barnett 35 Will Dickeson 36 Stephen Cunningham 37 David Tozer 38 Matthew Wood 39 David Pell 40 Brendan Brooks 41 Grant Webster 42 Casey Munro 43 Peter McDonald 44 Stuart Shaw 45 Mark O'Brien 46 Daniel Furmston 47 Nicholas Walker 48 Marcus Wettenhall 49 Cameron Peterson 50 Jack Anderson 51 Sean Finning 52 Michael Ford 53 Matthew Jensen 54 Matthew Delahunty 55 Matthew Davis 56 Nick Culvenor 57 Craig Mackie 58 Adam Murchie 59 Daniel Burtt 60 Jason Hegert 61 Joshua Gundry 62 Tim Hucker 63 David Hiley 64 Andrew Ward 65 Jarrod Harman 66 Patrick Shaw 67 Peter Ladd 68 James Hannam 69 Kym Howard 70 Brendan Rowbotham 71 Matthew Sherwin 72 Adrian Hanson 73 Nigel Sullivan 74 Bradley Clark 75 Steven Pilson 76 Peter Herzig 77 Timothy Decker 78 Phillip Stokes 1.10 79 Luke Pledger 80 Glen Peterson 81 Matthew Kennett 82 Jamie Kelly 83 Darren Harry 84 Brett Franklin 85 Thomas Baxter 86 Simon Pearson 87 James Robinson 2.20 88 Tremain Permewan 89 Cameron Irwin 90 Damon De Angelis 91 Will Wettenhall 92 William Murray 3.30 93 Hamish Mackirdy 94 James Kelly 95 Benjamin Juzwin 96 Malcolm Hart 97 James Fitzgerald 98 Paul DiStefano 4.40 99 Simon Van Der Aa 7.00 Sprints End of Lap 6 1 Craig McCartney 3 pts 2 David Kemp 2 3 Robert Cater 1 End of Lap 8 1 Joshua Marden 3 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 2 3 Brad Edmunds 1 End of Lap 10 1 Joe McDonnell 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Craig McCartney 1 End of Lap 12 1 Joe McDonnell 3 pts 2 Casey Munro 2 3 Chris Jongewaard 1 End of Lap 14 1 David Kemp 3 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 2 3 Wesley Sulzberger 1 End of Lap 16 1 Jeremy Bates 3 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 2 3 Johnnie Walker 1 End of Lap 18 1 David Kemp 3 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 2 3 Scott Peoples 1 End of Lap 20 1 Scott Peoples 3 pts 2 David Kemp 2 3 Nicholas Walker 1 End of Lap 22 1 David Kemp 3 pts 2 Peter McDonald 2 3 Stuart Shaw 1 End of Lap 24 1 Brad Edmunds 3 pts 2 Joshua Marden 2 3 David Kemp 1 End of Lap 26 1 Brad Edmunds 3 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 2 3 Joshua Marden 1 End of Lap 28 1 Peter McDonald 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Wesley Sulzberger 1 End of Lap 30 1 Zakkari Dempster 3 pts 2 Brad Edmunds 2 3 Gary Mueller 1 End of Lap 32 1 Casey Munro 3 pts 2 Peter Barnett 2 3 Zakkari Dempster 1 General classification after stage 1 1 David Kemp 41.32 2 Chris Jongewaard 0.07 3 Brett Aitken 0.08 4 Brad Edmunds 0.09 5 Robert McLachlan 0.10 6 Joshua Marden 0.11 7 Leigh Egan 0.12 8 Joe McDonnell 9 Casey Munro 0.13 10 Craig McCartney 0.14 11 Patrick Shaw 12 Zakkari Dempster 13 Scott Peoples 14 Wesley Sulzberger 15 Jeremy Bates 0.15 16 Peter Barnett 0.16 17 Nicholas Walker 0.17 18 Johnnie Walker 19 Gary Mueller 20 Stuart Shaw 21 Robert Cater 22 Steven Pilson 0.18 23 Adrian Hanson 24 Matthew Wood 25 Christopher Wilding 26 Marcus Wettenhall 27 Grant Webster 28 Andrew Ward 29 Jason Hegert 30 David Tozer 31 Nigel Sullivan 32 Chris Steffanoni 33 Peter Smith 34 Matthew Sherwin 35 Brendan Rowbotham 36 Samuel Rix 37 Ricky Peoples 38 Daniel Newnham 39 Adam Murchie 40 Tom Middleton 41 Craig Mackie 42 Peter Ladd 43 Matthew Jensen 44 Tim Hucker 45 Kym Howard 46 Brendan Hill 47 Jarrod Harman 48 Gilbert Gutowski 49 Joshua Gundry 50 Daniel Furmston 51 Matthew Delahunty 52 Matthew Davis 53 Nick Culvenor 54 Bradley Clark 55 Daniel Burtt 56 Jack Anderson 57 David Pell 58 Cameron Peterson 59 Damien Turner 60 Timothy Decker 61 James Hannam 62 David Hiley 63 Kyle Marwood 64 Richie Porte 65 Nicholas Sanderson 66 Jai Crawford 67 Stephen Cunningham 68 Peter Herzig 69 Jacob Sutherland 70 Sean Finning 71 Brendan Brooks 72 Fabio Calabria 73 Will Dickeson 74 Michael Ford 75 Mark O'Brien 76 Peter Milostic 77 Phillip Stokes 1.28 78 Luke Pledger 79 Glen Peterson 80 Matthew Kennett 81 Jamie Kelly 82 Darren Harry 83 Brett Franklin 84 Thomas Baxter 85 Simon Pearson 86 Will Wettenhall 2.38 87 James Robinson 88 Tremain Permewan 89 Cameron Irwin 90 Damon De Angelis 91 William Murray 3.48 92 Hamish Mackirdy 93 James Kelly 94 Benjamin Juzwin 95 Malcolm Hart 96 James Fitzgerald 97 Paul DiStefano 4.58 98 Simon Van Der Aa 7.18 Sprint classification 1 David Kemp 14 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 11 3 Brad Edmunds 9 4 Joe McDonnell 6 5 Joshua Marden 6 6 Casey Munro 5 7 Scott Peoples 4 8 Craig McCartney 4 9 Zakkari Dempster 4 10 Patrick Shaw 4 11 Jeremy Bates 3 12 Wesley Sulzberger 2 13 Peter Barnett 2 14 Robert Cater 1 15 Nicholas Walker 1 16 Gary Mueller 1 17 Johnnie Walker 1 18 Stuart Shaw 1 Criterium classification 1 Brett Aitken 10 pts 2 Robert McLachlan 9 3 Leigh Egan 8 4 David Kemp 7 5 Wesley Sulzberger 6 6 Joshua Marden 5 7 Robert Cater 4 8 Jeremy Bates 3 9 Nicholas Sanderson 2 10 Brad Edmunds 1
