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Tattersall's Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 29-September 3, 2006
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Stage 5 - August 31: Euston Criterium, 52 km
McLachlan takes race and lead in Euston
By Rod Morris
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Robert McLachlan from Canberra has taken over the outright lead in the Subaru Tour of the Murray River and is within striking distance of claiming his third successive Tattersall’s Cup championship. McLachlan (35) won his third stage from five in the Tour of the Murray River as the bunch into the NSW border town of Euston. He outsprinted South Australia’s “Scarlet Pimpernel” Brett Aitken, while for the third successive stage and fourth overall, Shepparton rider Leigh Egan completed the podium trifecta.
McLachlan, Aitken and Egan have been one, two and three – not necessarily in that order – in the criterium stages in Echuca, Kerang and Euston and also in the Kerang to Cohuna road stage.
McLachlan started the third day, three seconds shy of Queensland’s David Kemp, but his fifth consecutive podium placing, elevated him to a six second lead from Kemp.
In an interesting twist to Stage 5, Aitken and Egan were declared joint second after judges couldn’t split them, even after viewing the videotape.
Kemp recorded a top 10 finish, but it wasn’t enough to maintain his hold on yellow.
McLachlan’s win also elevated him to third place in the prestigious Tattersall’s Cup, with six stages of the Tour of the Murray River and the 11 stage Tour of Tasmania still to be raced. McLachlan has amassed 87 points, despite not racing in the recent Australian Cycling Grand Prix and trails Tasmanian Wesley Sulzberger on 136 points and NSW’s Cody Stevenson on 89.
How day three unfolded
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The now regular circuit near the Euston Bowling and Recreation Club, attracted a healthy size crowd for the 75 minute criterium on a 1.1 km route in sizzling heat. Several riders attempted early breaks, but as in the previous day’s stages, they were quickly reeled back in. About half way, nine riders did manage to get away, establishing a lead of 25 seconds. The escapee unit included Wesley Sulzberger, Peter Milostic, Chris Jongewaard, Brett Aitken, Stuart Shaw, Peter Herzig, Tom Middleton, Brad Edmunds and Craig Mackie.
The group were away for about 10 laps before the peloton sensed danger and increased the tempo, gradually clawing them and with three laps to go it was an all-up field. The gun sprinters of the previous stages, McLachlan, Aitken and Egan had riders around them to calculate sprint positions. Zakkari Dempster and Stuart Shaw were the workhorses for McLachlan and they again did it to perfection.
“My teammates worked really well when it counted and I am grateful for the ride,” McLachlan said. “I’ve had a lot of luck this week although I’ve moved into the yellow jersey a little earlier than planned.
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”I’m not sure whether I’ve got enough riders around me to defend it all the way to Mildura on Sunday, but I’ll be giving it my best shot, don’t worry about that,” he added.
McLachlan admitted its rare that the same three riders (he, Aitken and Egan) had dominated stage finishes. “It would probably be nice to see some other riders on the podium, but I’m not about to relinquish my spot,” he said.
McLachlan said the Euston Criterium was “Crazy, dangerous and scary……..but exciting as well. This tour is a long way from over, I’m in there with a chance, but I’m not about to make any predictions.”
Kemp was philosophical about losing yellow. “Like Robbie said, there’s a long way to go and I’ll be trying just as hard as everyone else to get it back,” he said.
Randwick rider, Joshua Marden has been somewhat of a surprise packet in this tour. Not only is in outright third and just seconds adrift of McLachlan, but he is also leading the Road Safe Mildura Safe Sprint Championship, 1-point ahead of Echuca cyclist Brad Edmunds, with Kemp a further 3-points back in third place.
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The Telstra Country Wide Criterium Championship is also an entertaining affair with Sydney gold medal Olympian Brett Aitken, holding a 2-point lead over McLachlan and another point to Egan, who despite being on the podium four times is yet to click it for a win.
The tour continues on Friday, coinciding with the annual Ouyen Vanilla Slice Festival. In the morning a 36 km criterium will be held in Ouyen and later in the day an 86.5 km out and back road course from Ouyen to Patchewollock and Ouyen will test the field of more than 100 riders.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- "You're going home in the back of a 'divy' van"… Medical Officer Bobby Hall is handcuffed and escorted away by Sergeant Jamie Chester for wearing unruly shorts
- Stage five is away in Euston and 52km criterium
- Tour leader David Kemp carried a three second lead into stage five
- Riders lean into a bend on the 1.3km circuit in Euston
- Riders come to a fork in the road on stage five!
- A group of riders got away in the second-half of the stage; Wes Sulzberger leads the group through here
- Ricky Peoples from Victoria corners in Euston
- Riders corner on the fast circuit in Euston where the field had to complete forty laps of a 1.3km circuit
- Scott Peoples (centre) has Johnny Walker to his right - and the Euston Laundromat
- The lead group head under the banner with the chasing peloton in the background
- The peloton in pursuit of the leaders in the concluding laps
- The break is caught and the yellow jersey has some dangerous company beside him
- Robert McLachlan (Red) edges out Leigh Egan (L) and Brett Aitken to take stage five; Egan and Aitken couldn't be split for second place
- Thirty-nine year old Leigh Egan from Victoria has been consistently on the podium this week…along with Robert McLachlan and Brett Aitken
- The stage five podium (L-R): Brett Aitken (equal 2nd), Robert McLachlan (1st), and Leigh Egan (equal 2nd)
- Robert McLachlan is the new Subaru Tour of the Murray River leader after five stages
Results
1 Robert McLachlan 1.11.54 (43.39 km/h) 2 Brett Aitken 2 Leigh Egan 4 Gary Mueller 5 Joshua Marden 6 Johnnie Walker 7 David Kemp 8 Darren Harry 9 Brendan Rowbotham 10 Jacob Sutherland 11 Jeremy Betts 12 Kyle Marwood 13 Patrick Shaw 14 Nicholas Walker 15 Ricky Peoples 16 Craig McCartney 17 Richie Porte 18 Matthew Davis 19 David Hiley 20 Jarrod Harman 21 Wesley Sulzberger 22 Craig Mackie 23 Brendan Hill 24 Casey Munro 25 Damien Turner 26 James Hannam 27 Joe McDonnell 28 Matthew Wood 29 Robert Cater 30 Nicholas Sanderson 31 Stephen Cunningham 32 Tim Hucker 33 Peter McDonald 34 Michael Ford 35 Adam Murchie 36 Joshua Gundry 37 Nick Culvenor 38 Zakkari Dempster 39 Peter Barnett 40 Brendan Brooks 41 Andrew Ward 42 Luke Pledger 43 Matthew Delahunty 44 Chris Steffanoni 45 Peter Milostic 46 David Tozer 47 Fabio Calabria 48 Thomas Baxter 49 Scott Peoples 50 Brad Edmunds 51 Daniel Newnham 52 Timothy Decker 53 James Fitzgerald 54 Matthew Sherwin 55 Brett Franklin 56 Nigel Sullivan 57 Mark O'Brien 58 Adrian Hanson 59 Peter Ladd 60 Cameron Peterson 61 Peter Smith 62 Daniel Furmston 63 Sean Finning 64 Kym Howard 65 Phillip Stokes 66 Bradley Clark 67 Steven Pilson 68 Jack Anderson 69 Chris Jongewaard 70 Matthew Jensen 71 Gilbert Gutowski 72 Cameron Irwin 73 Glen Peterson 74 Tom Middleton 75 Daniel Burtt 76 Jason Hegert 77 Will Wettenhall 78 Will Dickeson 79 Peter Herzig 80 Samuel Rix 81 Christopher Wilding 82 Marcus Wettenhall 83 Stuart Shaw 84 Hamish Mackirdy 1.30 85 Benjamin Juzwin 86 Tremain Permewan 1.48 87 Jamie Kelly 88 Grant Webster 89 Simon Pearson 90 Matthew Kennett 91 Damon De Angelis 3.36 92 Jai Crawford 5.24 93 Simon Van Der Aa 7.12 94 James Robinson 10.48 95 James Kelly 96 Malcolm Hart 12.36 97 William Murray 14.24 Sprints End of Lap 6 1 Zakkari Dempster 3 pts 2 Peter Milostic 2 3 Wesley Sulzberger 1 End of Lap 8 1 Peter McDonald 3 pts 2 Jeremy Betts 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 End of Lap 10 1 Peter McDonald 3 pts 2 Wesley Sulzberger 2 3 David Kemp 1 End of Lap 12 1 Peter McDonald 3 pts 2 Wesley Sulzberger 2 3 Joshua Marden 1 End of Lap 14 1 David Kemp 3 pts 2 Scott Peoples 2 3 Marcus Wettenhall 1 End of Lap 16 1 Joe McDonnell 3 pts 2 Casey Munro 2 3 Adam Murchie 1 End of Lap 18 1 Craig Mackie 3 pts 2 Jason Hegert 2 3 Peter McDonald 1 End of Lap 20 1 Joshua Marden 3 pts 2 Casey Munro 2 3 Marcus Wettenhall 1 End of Lap 22 1 Robert McLachlan 3 pts 2 Casey Munro 2 3 Zakkari Dempster 1 End of Lap 24 1 Wesley Sulzberger 3 pts 2 Craig Mackie 2 3 Peter Herzig 1 End of Lap 26 1 Wesley Sulzberger 3 pts 2 Brad Edmunds 2 3 Chris Jongewaard 1 End of Lap 28 1 Brad Edmunds 3 pts 2 Wesley Sulzberger 2 3 Brett Aitken 1 End of Lap 30 1 Chris Jongewaard 3 pts 2 Brad Edmunds 2 3 Tom Middleton 1 End of Lap 32 1 Brad Edmunds 3 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 2 3 Wesley Sulzberger 1 End of Lap 34 1 Brad Edmunds 3 pts 2 Chris Jongewaard 2 3 Stuart Shaw 1 End of Lap 36 1 Brad Edmunds 3 pts 2 Craig Mackie 2 3 Chris Jongewaard 1 General Classification after stage 5 1 Robert McLachlan 6.40.09 2 David Kemp 0.06 3 Joshua Marden 0.07 4 Casey Munro 0.16 5 Brad Edmunds 0.21 6 Stephen Cunningham 0.43 7 Sean Finning 0.44 8 Brendan Brooks 9 Kym Howard 0.50 10 Peter Ladd 11 Matthew Wood 0.51 12 Adam Murchie 0.56 13 Brett Aitken 1.43 14 Leigh Egan 1.52 15 Wesley Sulzberger 1.58 16 Chris Jongewaard 17 Zakkari Dempster 2.03 18 Peter McDonald 2.04 19 Gary Mueller 2.07 20 Patrick Shaw 21 Joe McDonnell 2.08 22 Scott Peoples 23 Jeremy Betts 2.11 24 Johnnie Walker 2.13 25 Marcus Wettenhall 2.15 26 Peter Barnett 27 Craig McCartney 2.16 28 Samuel Rix 2.17 29 Kyle Marwood 30 Adrian Hanson 2.18 31 Jason Hegert 32 Nicholas Sanderson 33 Stuart Shaw 34 Michael Ford 35 Peter Milostic 36 James Hannam 2.19 37 David Hiley 38 Nicholas Walker 39 Chris Steffanoni 40 Joshua Gundry 41 Daniel Furmston 42 Robert Cater 43 Steven Pilson 2.20 44 Christopher Wilding 45 Andrew Ward 46 David Tozer 47 Nigel Sullivan 48 Peter Smith 49 Matthew Sherwin 50 Brendan Rowbotham 51 Ricky Peoples 52 Daniel Newnham 53 Matthew Jensen 54 Tim Hucker 55 Brendan Hill 56 Jarrod Harman 57 Gilbert Gutowski 58 Matthew Delahunty 59 Matthew Davis 60 Nick Culvenor 61 Jack Anderson 62 Cameron Peterson 63 Timothy Decker 64 Richie Porte 65 Jacob Sutherland 66 Fabio Calabria 67 Will Dickeson 68 Mark O'Brien 69 Craig Mackie 2.26 70 Bradley Clark 2.36 71 Daniel Burtt 72 Phillip Stokes 3.30 73 Luke Pledger 74 Glen Peterson 75 Darren Harry 76 Brett Franklin 77 Thomas Baxter 78 Damien Turner 3.51 79 Grant Webster 4.24 80 Will Wettenhall 4.40 81 Cameron Irwin 82 Matthew Kennett 5.18 83 Simon Pearson 84 James Fitzgerald 5.50 85 Tom Middleton 6.13 86 Tremain Permewan 6.28 87 Jamie Kelly 7.12 88 Jai Crawford 7.44 89 Hamish Mackirdy 7.55 90 Damon De Angelis 8.16 91 Benjamin Juzwin 8.40 92 Peter Herzig 20.24 93 James Robinson 21.32 94 Malcolm Hart 24.30 95 Simon Van Der Aa 28.16 96 James Kelly 32.26 97 William Murray 36.59 Aggressive Rider Awards 1 Wesley Sulzberger $200 2 Zakkari Dempster $100 3 Brad Edmunds $50 4 Peter Barnett $50 Mountain classification 1 Casey Munro 6 pts 2 Brad Edmunds 4 3 Matthew Wood 1 4 Brendan Brooks 1 Sprint classification 1 Joshua Marden 31 pts 2 Brad Edmunds 30 3 David Kemp 27 4 Casey Munro 23 5 Chris Jongewaard 22 6 Wesley Sulzberger 18 7 Zakkari Dempster 17 8 Peter McDonald 16 9 Patrick Shaw 13 10 Joe McDonnell 12 11 Scott Peoples 12 12 Craig Mackie 10 13 Sean Finning 6 14 Johnnie Walker 6 15 Jeremy Betts 5 16 Marcus Wettenhall 5 17 Gary Mueller 5 18 Peter Barnett 5 19 Craig McCartney 4 20 Samuel Rix 3 21 Robert McLachlan 3 22 Kyle Marwood 3 23 Adrian Hanson 2 24 Jason Hegert 2 25 Peter Milostic 2 26 Stuart Shaw 2 27 Michael Ford 2 28 Joshua Gundry 1 29 Nicholas Walker 1 30 Chris Steffanoni 1 31 Adam Murchie 1 32 Nicholas Sanderson 1 33 Brendan Brooks 1 34 Robert Cater 1 35 Brett Aitken 1 36 Peter Herzig 1 37 James Hannam 1 38 David Hiley 1 39 Tom Middleton 1 Criterium classification 1 Brett Aitken 29 pts 2 Robert McLachlan 27 3 Leigh Egan 26 4 David Kemp 15 5 Gary Mueller 14 6 Joshua Marden 13 7 Wesley Sulzberger 12 8 Daniel Furmston 5 9 Johnnie Walker 5 10 Brendan Rowbotham 5 11 Darren Harry 4 12 Robert Cater 4 13 Jeremy Betts 3 14 Nicholas Sanderson 2 15 Jacob Sutherland 1 16 Brad Edmunds 1
