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Tattersall's Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 29-September 3, 2006
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Stage 8 - September 2: Merbein criterium, 33 km
Aitken notches up another
By Rod Morris in Merbein
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After being spat out the back of the Stage 7 road race the day before and losing almost 7 minutes, South Australian star Brett Aitken staged his own personal revival to win his third race of the tour. Aitken (35), winner of the gold medal in the Madison title at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, proved age is no barrier by blitzing an all class field in the 33 km criterium in Merbein, west of Mildura.
Like his previous wins this week at Echuca and Kerang, Aitken was rarely spotted throughout the early laps, but timed his final sprint to perfection and for the fifth time in eight races throughout this tour, he was part of the same winning trifecta.
Luckless Leigh Egan of Shepparton finished second for the third time, whilst Robert McLachlan took third place, but more importantly wrested the overall lead away from overnight champ, David Kemp (Qld).
"I have tried everything to get over Brett Aitken this weekend and nothing's worked," Egan said. "I have tried to outsprint him from behind, tried from in front and he's just too quick. About the only thing I haven't tried is putting him into someone's front yard," he joked.
McLachlan said concentrating on the intermediate sprints took its toll on him having a red hot go at the final sprint. "I was having a go during the race and didn't have a lot left for the end, but I'm not disappointed," he said.
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Aitken said he was surprised at his success through the tour. "Basically I'm using this event as practice for the Herald Sun Tour and next year's Tour Down Under. I'm going okay in the criteriums, but the road stages are knocking me about a fair bit."
The intrigue in general classification is taking more twists than an Agatha Christie novel. Queensland's David Kemp and McLachlan have been like two pit bulls at each other's throats all week and the presenters are getting giddy with the continual swapping of the leader's prized yellow jersey. Kemp started the day two seconds ahead of McLachlan, but after 11 intermediate sprints, the Canberrian had edged back to a one second lead. In the final sprint, McLachlan picked up a further six seconds bonus for finishing third, while Kemp missed any further bonuses by finishing ninth.
One down side to the final lap of the criterium was a six rider crash, with Victorian Adam Murchie transferred to nearby Mildura Hospital with a suspected broken wrist. All other fallen riders emerged unscathed.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Riders lean into a bend during the 33km criterium on stage eight in Merbein
- Welcome to Merbein and stage eight of the 2006 Subaru Tour of the Murray River
- Riders speed by a local supermarket but there was no time for grocery shopping on stage eight
- The peloton head down the home straight in Merbein where they had to cover 30 laps of a 1.1km circuit
- Michael Ford from Victoria drives the peloton during the final laps of stage eight
- James Hannam from South Australia powers the peloton with one lap to go
- Brett Aitken from South Australia takes out stage eight of the Subaru Tour of the Murray River
- The stage eight podium (L-R): Leigh Egan (2nd), Brett Aitken (1st), and Robert McLachlan (3rd)
- David Kemp has a twelve point buffer in the Road Safe Mildura Sprint Points Championship after eight stages
Results
1 Brett Aitken 44.51 (44.15 km/h) 2 Leigh Egan 3 Robert McLachlan 4 Jeremy Betts 5 Joshua Marden 6 Robert Cater 7 Wesley Sulzberger 8 Brendan Rowbotham 9 David Kemp 10 Johnnie Walker 11 Brad Edmunds 12 Peter Smith 13 Tim Hucker 14 Damien Turner 15 Jason Hegert 16 Nick Culvenor 17 Marcus Wettenhall 18 Matthew Wood 19 Jarrod Harman 20 Craig Mackie 21 Timothy Decker 22 Tom Middleton 23 Christopher Wilding 24 Nicholas Walker 25 Nicholas Sanderson 26 Chris Jongewaard 27 Luke Pledger 28 Brendan Brooks 29 Richie Porte 30 Peter McDonald 31 Joshua Gundry 32 Casey Munro 33 James Hannam 34 Thomas Baxter 35 Joe McDonnell 36 Zakkari Dempster 37 Jai Crawford 38 Fabio Calabria 39 Will Dickeson 40 Stuart Shaw 41 Cameron Peterson 42 Kyle Marwood 43 Adam Murchie 44 Brendan Hill 45 Darren Harry 46 Hamish Mackirdy 47 Daniel Newnham 48 Cameron Irwin 49 Michael Ford 0.09 50 Kym Howard 51 Daniel Furmston 52 Peter Ladd 53 Andrew Ward 54 Matthew Delahunty 55 Stephen Cunningham 56 Brett Franklin 57 David Hiley 58 Glen Peterson 59 Adrian Hanson 60 Chris Steffanoni 61 Patrick Shaw 0.17 62 Bradley Clark 63 Gilbert Gutowski 0.18 64 Jack Anderson 0.20 65 Jacob Sutherland 66 Ricky Peoples 67 Peter Barnett 68 Mark O'Brien 69 Jamie Kelly 70 Matthew Jensen 71 Sean Finning 72 Phillip Stokes 73 Matthew Davis 74 Scott Peoples 75 Simon Pearson 76 Daniel Burtt 77 Gary Mueller 78 Benjamin Juzwin 0.26 79 Matthew Sherwin 80 Simon Van Der Aa 81 James Fitzgerald 82 Craig McCartney 83 Grant Webster 84 David Tozer 85 Will Wettenhall 86 Matthew Kennett 87 Nigel Sullivan 88 Tremain Permewan 0.32 89 James Kelly 0.50 90 Damon De Angelis 1.19 91 Peter Herzig 1.25 92 Steven Pilson 1.35 93 William Murray 3.00 94 James Robinson 95 Peter Milostic 4.30 Sprints Sprint 1 - End of Lap 6 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 Peter Barnett 2 3 Marcus Wettenhall 1 Sprint 2 - End of Lap 8 1 Chris Jongewaard 3 pts 2 Brendan Hill 2 3 Patrick Shaw Sprint 3 - End of Lap 10 1 Chris Jongewaard 3 pts 2 Brendan Hill 2 3 Adam Murchie 1 Sprint 4 - End of Lap 12 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 Marcus Wettenhall 2 3 Brendan Hill 1 Sprint 5 - End of Lap 14 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 Peter Barnett 2 3 Scott Peoples 1 Sprint 6 - End of Lap 16 1 Chris Jongewaard 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Brendan Hill 1 Sprint 7 - End of Lap 18 1 Daniel Furmston 3 pts 2 Marcus Wettenhall 2 3 Peter Barnett 1 Sprint 8 - End of Lap 20 1 Robert McLachlan 3 pts 2 Stuart Shaw 2 3 David Kemp 1 Sprint 9 - End of Lap 22 1 Joe McDonnell 3 pts 2 Casey Munro 2 3 Chris Jongewaard 1 Sprint 10 - End of Lap 24 1 Robert McLachlan 3 pts 2 David Kemp 2 3 Ricky Peoples 1 Sprint 11 - End of Lap 26 1 Casey Munro 3 pts 2 Ricky Peoples 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 General Classification after stage 8 1 Robert McLachlan 10.10.42 2 David Kemp 0.07 3 Casey Munro 0.54 4 Joshua Marden 1.27 5 Brad Edmunds 1.31 6 Chris Jongewaard 1.59 7 Wesley Sulzberger 2.01 8 Sean Finning 2.54 9 Johnnie Walker 3.02 10 Zakkari Dempster 3.10 11 Jason Hegert 3.15 12 Peter McDonald 3.37 13 Stuart Shaw 3.46 14 Joe McDonnell 3.47 15 Nicholas Sanderson 16 Robert Cater 3.49 17 Nicholas Walker 3.52 18 Kyle Marwood 4.03 19 Ricky Peoples 4.06 20 Brendan Brooks 4.13 21 James Hannam 4.19 22 Stephen Cunningham 4.21 23 Peter Ladd 4.28 24 Daniel Burtt 4.38 25 Leigh Egan 5.13 26 Patrick Shaw 5.36 27 Brendan Hill 5.43 28 Brendan Rowbotham 5.49 29 Timothy Decker 30 Craig Mackie 5.55 31 Scott Peoples 5.56 32 Peter Barnett 5.58 33 Gilbert Gutowski 6.07 34 Jacob Sutherland 6.09 35 Mark O'Brien 36 Craig McCartney 6.11 37 Kym Howard 6.24 38 Tim Hucker 6.49 39 Darren Harry 6.55 40 Daniel Newnham 7.12 41 Marcus Wettenhall 7.35 42 Fabio Calabria 7.41 43 Joshua Gundry 7.44 44 Nick Culvenor 7.45 45 Richie Porte 46 Gary Mueller 7.46 47 Michael Ford 7.52 48 David Hiley 7.53 49 Chris Steffanoni 50 Andrew Ward 7.54 51 Jack Anderson 8.00 52 Luke Pledger 8.55 53 Thomas Baxter 54 Christopher Wilding 9.08 55 Jeremy Betts 9.13 56 Adrian Hanson 9.15 57 Brett Aitken 9.28 58 Will Wettenhall 9.58 59 Jai Crawford 11.13 60 Cameron Irwin 11.28 61 Tom Middleton 11.38 62 Brett Franklin 11.57 63 Matthew Davis 12.32 64 Matthew Jensen 12.40 65 Peter Milostic 12.41 66 David Tozer 12.56 67 Bradley Clark 13.03 68 Hamish Mackirdy 13.13 69 Phillip Stokes 13.56 70 Jamie Kelly 14.20 71 Glen Peterson 17.45 72 Daniel Furmston 19.21 73 Will Dickeson 19.25 74 Jarrod Harman 19.28 75 Adam Murchie 20.37 76 Peter Smith 22.02 77 Matthew Delahunty 22.11 78 Nigel Sullivan 22.28 79 Cameron Peterson 23.25 80 Steven Pilson 23.37 81 Simon Pearson 24.09 82 Matthew Kennett 24.15 83 Matthew Sherwin 25.09 84 Grant Webster 29.04 85 Tremain Permewan 29.51 86 Peter Herzig 33.22 87 Benjamin Juzwin 35.03 88 Matthew Wood 36.21 89 Damon De Angelis 36.39 90 Damien Turner 40.44 91 James Fitzgerald 43.09 92 Simon Van Der Aa 59.32 93 William Murray 1.01.04 94 James Robinson 1.08.01 95 James Kelly 1.18.24 Sprints classification 1 David Kemp 51 pts 2 Joshua Marden 39 3 Chris Jongewaard 36 4 Wesley Sulzberger 35 5 Casey Munro 32 6 Brad Edmunds 30 7 Patrick Shaw 26 8 Robert McLachlan 24 9 Zakkari Dempster 17 10 Peter McDonald 16 11 Joe McDonnell 15 12 Scott Peoples 13 13 Peter Barnett 11 14 Craig Mackie 10 15 Marcus Wettenhall 10 16 Sean Finning 7 17 Johnnie Walker 6 18 Stuart Shaw 6 19 Brendan Hill 6 20 Jeremy Betts 5 21 Gary Mueller 5 22 Craig McCartney 4 23 Will Dickeson 3 24 Daniel Furmston 3 25 Kyle Marwood 3 26 Robert Cater 3 27 Ricky Peoples 3 28 Jason Hegert 2 29 Peter Milostic 2 30 Adrian Hanson 2 31 Adam Murchie 2 32 Michael Ford 2 33 Nicholas Walker 1 34 Chris Steffanoni 1 35 Tom Middleton 1 36 Nicholas Sanderson 1 37 Brendan Brooks 1 38 Brett Aitken 1 39 Peter Herzig 1 40 James Hannam 1 41 David Hiley 1 42 Joshua Gundry 1 Mountains classification 1 Casey Munro 2 Chris Jongewaard 16 pts 3 Robert McLachlan 6 4 Brad Edmunds 5 5 Joshua Marden 3 6 David Kemp 2 7 Matthew Wood 1 8 Stuart Shaw 1 9 Brendan Brooks 1 10 Zakkari Dempster 1 11 Wesley Sulzberger 1 Criterium Championship 1 Robert McLachlan 42 pts 2 Brett Aitken 39 3 Leigh Egan 35 4 Wesley Sulzberger 26 5 David Kemp 25 6 Gary Mueller 20 7 Joshua Marden 19 8 Jeremy Betts 15 9 Robert Cater 9 10 Chris Jongewaard 9 11 Brendan Rowbotham 8 12 Johnnie Walker 6 13 Daniel Furmston 5 14 Sean Finning 4 15 Darren Harry 4 16 Nicholas Sanderson 4 17 Casey Munro 3 18 Brad Edmunds 1 19 Jacob Sutherland 1 20 Ricky Peoples 1 Most aggressive rider 1 Wesley Sulzberger 4 pts 2 David Kemp 3 3 Chris Jongewaard 2 4 Zakkari Dempster 2 5 Brad Edmunds 2 6 Peter Barnett 2 7 Robert McLachlan 1
