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Timbercorp Cup Tour of the Murray River - NE
Australia, August 26-September 2, 2007
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Stage 5 - August 28: Euston criterium, 52 km
Dawson powers to victory while overall lead changes before the race
By Rod Morris in Euston (NSW)
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West Australian Peter Dawson, one of two gold medal Olympians in the Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River field, unleashed his awesome sprinting power to win yesterday's fifth stage, a 52-kilometre criterium in the seaside NSW township of Euston. Dawson kept himself in a tidy position in an 11-man breakaway before opening the throttle on the last lap to hold out NSW rider Robbie Cater and Queensland's Darcy Rosenlund.
The overall tour lead stayed in the hands of Sydney's Peter McDonald, with young Victorian Patrick Shaw jumping into second position after an impressive ride in the criterium, where he picked up several intermediate time bonuses. Prior to the start of Stage 5, tour organizers revised the previous day's announcement that David Pell was the tour leader and confirmed that McDonald in fact held the honour courtesy of a countback which included a stage win on Sunday from Moama to Barham. McDonald now leads Shaw by 4 seconds with Pell a further 2 seconds back in third place.
How it unfolded
Victorian Peter Smith and Tasmanian Jarrod Harman were the first to set the pattern of the 52-kilometre criterium in Euston, establishing a small break. Very soon, nine other riders came across from the main bunch and for the next 48 kilometres, that group shared sprinting honours and worked their way out to a 48 second lead.
Aside of Smith and Harman, the escapee unit included Patrick Shaw, Darcy Rosenlund, Tom Middleton (SA), Brendan Sharratt (Vic), Jack Bobridge (SA), Benjamin King (WA), Gavin Nicholls (Qld), Robbie Cater and of course, Peter Dawson. Shaw, Rosenlund and King controlled most of the intermediate sprints and at the end of the day, Miles Watson's lead in the RoadSafe Mildura Sprint Championship had been whittled to just one point from Rosenlund with Shaw within striking distance at 4-points back. But the real interest was on the stage and GC honours.
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Shaw had moved up the GC leaderboard because of the sprint bonuses and if he could win the stage or finish in the first three he might just snatch the overall lead from McDonald. But the pack was bearing down fast on the tiring break group and at the bell lap the margin had been slashed to just 3 seconds. Dawson however was able to find something within and in a blistering sprint won from Cater and fellow break group rider Rosenlund. "That feels good, but I knew the bunch was coming fast," Dawson said.
Dawson was a member of the Australian pursuit team which won gold at the Athens 2004 Olympics. Whilst he missed a ride in the final, he did compete in the preliminary rounds and all team members were recognized with gold medals. He was also a member of the winning 2002 Commonwealth Games pursuit team. He has spent a large part of the year racing in America in road and track events and only recently signed a new contract with the California based Rock Racing team.
The contract won't impede on his obligations with the Australian Olympic squad and could in fact enhance his chances of getting to Beijing. "Riding with a pro team could open a few extra doors for me," he said. His time overseas was littered with good results, particularly in the hugely popular Superweek in America, where he won two races and finished 11th overall.
In the Tour of the Murray River, Dawson is 17th on GC, 10'09" minutes behind McDonald. Only 10 riders are now within a minute of the leader, but with more than 400 kilometres and eight stages still to be raced, the tour is far from all over. The tour continues on Wednesday with a morning criterium in Merbein over 33 kilometres and then an afternoon road race from Merbein to Wentworth over 80.4 kilometres.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- Can someone tell me where the bottle-shop is? (L-R): Former riders Rick Martin, John O'Sullivan and Dave Sanders outside the Euston Laundromat
- Fishers IGA Tour leader, Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF), on the startline for the stage five criterium in Euston
- Savings & Loans team members (L-R) Will Dickeson, Brett Aitken and David Pell in action during stage five
- Cameron Hughes (Ord Minnett/Triple Play) grimaces on the front of the chasing peloton during stage five
- Gary Mueller (L) of Richmond Cyclery fell on stage four of the Tour but was back in action for the criterium in Euston
- Chris Jory has NSWIS/FRF teammate Jason Hegert on his wheel during the 52km criterium in Euston
- Robert 'Bear' McLachlan (Drapac Porsche) back in the chasing peloton
- The leading group make their way along the home straight and had opened up a sizeable gap on the peloton
- The boys from Ord Minnett/Triple Play on the front of the chasing peloton and closing in on the leaders
- Peter Dawson (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) spreads his wings and takes out stage five of the Tour
- Peter Dawson (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) and his lead group held off the closing pack to enable Dawson to grab the stage win in Euston
- The stage five podium (L-R): Robert Cater 2nd (NSWIS/FRF), Peter Dawson 1st (SouthAustralia.com/AIS) and Darcy Rosenlund 3rd (Ord Minnett/Triple Play)
- Grant Irwin (Ord Minnett/Triple Play) zips up his WHK Thomsons Criterium leader's jersey
- Peter McDonald (NSWIS/FRF) remains Tour leader after stage five and relaxes beside the Murray River in Euston
- Peter Smith (Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club/SHM) won the MADEC Most Aggressive rider of the stage jersey and now calms down by the tranquil Murray River
Results
1 Peter Dawson 1.11.31 (43.626 km/h) 2 Robert Cater 3 Darcy Rosenlund 4 Jarrod Harman 5 Patrick Shaw 6 Peter McDonald 0.02 7 Peter Smith 8 Brendon Sharratt 9 Miles Watson 10 Tom Middleton 11 Leigh Howard 12 Benjamin King 13 Jack Bobridge 0.04 14 Brad Edmunds 0.07 15 Cameron Hughes 16 David Pell 17 Matthew Sherwin 18 John Ebeling 19 Jamie Crass 20 Grant Irwin 21 Robert McLachlan 0.09 22 David Kemp 23 Ben Mather 0.11 24 Russell Gill 0.15 25 Michael Stallard 26 Hayden Josefski 27 Timothy Decker 28 Nicholas Sanderson 29 Mark Jamieson 30 Miles Olman 31 Douglas Repacholi 0.19 32 Samuel Rix 0.25 33 Thomas Baxter 0.27 34 Travis Frisby 35 Steven Robb 36 Gilbert Gutowski 37 Stephen Price 38 Daniel Braunsteins 39 David Tozer 40 Grant Webster 41 Chris Jory 42 Gavin Nicholls 43 Jacob Lea 44 Chris Steffanoni 45 Matt Sillars 46 Evan Corry 47 Nathan Wise 48 Daniel Furmston 49 Nigel Sullivan 0.31 50 Matt King 51 Daniel McCulloch 0.38 52 Will Dickeson 0.42 53 Shaun Higgerson 54 Lachlan Stewart 55 Peter Milostic 0.45 56 Brett Aitken 0.47 57 Jason Hegert 0.52 58 Sean Finning 0.55 59 Brendan Schultz 60 Gary Mueller 0.57 61 Tony Mann 1.24 62 Simon Brown 1.48 63 Craig Robertson 3.36 64 Jeremy Hills 65 Glen Peterson 66 Re Meneaud-Young 67 Malcolm Rudolph 68 Luke Aggett 7.12 DNF Will Wettenhall DNF Brendan Jones DNF Vaughan Bowman Sprints Lap 6 1 Jack Bobridge 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Robert Cater 1 Lap 8 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Benjamin King 1 Lap 10 1 Jack Bobridge 3 pts 2 Darcy Rosenlund 2 3 Tom Middleton 1 Lap 12 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 Benjamin King 2 3 Gavin Nicholls 1 Lap 14 1 Patrick Shaw 3 pts 2 Brendon Sharratt 2 3 Darcy Rosenlund 1 Lap 16 1 Robert Cater 3 pts 2 Patrick Shaw 2 3 Benjamin King 1 Lap 18 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 Brendon Sharratt 2 3 Benjamin King 1 Lap 20 1 Benjamin King 3 pts 2 Robert Cater 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Lap 22 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 Benjamin King 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Lap 24 1 Benjamin King 3 pts 2 Peter Dawson 2 3 Darcy Rosenlund 1 Lap 26 1 Benjamin King 3 pts 2 Darcy Rosenlund 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Lap 28 1 Benjamin King 3 pts 2 Darcy Rosenlund 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Lap 30 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 Benjamin King 2 3 Peter Dawson 1 Lap 32 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 Benjamin King 2 3 Patrick Shaw 1 Lap 34 1 Darcy Rosenlund 3 pts 2 Benjamin King 2 3 Robert Cater 1 Lap 36 1 Brendon Sharratt 3 pts 2 Darcy Rosenlund 2 3 Benjamin King 1 Criterium championships 1 Peter Dawson 10 pts 2 Robert Cater 9 3 Darcy Rosenlund 8 4 Jarrod Harman 7 5 Patrick Shaw 6 6 Peter McDonald 5 7 Peter Smith 4 8 Brendon Sharratt 3 9 Miles Watson 2 10 Tom Middleton 1 Most aggressive rider 1 Peter Smith 2 pts General classification after stage 5 1 Peter McDonald 7.05.27 2 Patrick Shaw 0.04 3 David Pell 0.06 4 Grant Irwin 0.13 5 Benjamin King 0.20 6 Robert McLachlan 0.32 7 Leigh Howard 0.33 8 Tom Middleton 0.45 9 Jack Bobridge 10 John Ebeling 0.50 11 Cameron Hughes 0.55 12 David Kemp 1.01 13 Darcy Rosenlund 9.02 14 Miles Watson 15 Brad Edmunds 9.28 16 Nicholas Sanderson 10.09 17 Peter Dawson 18 Mark Jamieson 10.47 19 Tony Mann 11.10 20 Gavin Nicholls 11.53 21 Robert Cater 15.27 22 Michael Stallard 16.09 23 Timothy Decker 16.13 24 Steven Robb 16.24 25 Gilbert Gutowski 16.31 26 Hayden Josefski 16.34 27 Daniel McCulloch 16.54 28 Miles Olman 17.22 29 Jarrod Harman 19.42 30 Re Meneaud-Young 24.25 31 Ben Mather 25.41 32 Russell Gill 25.42 33 Douglas Repacholi 25.49 34 Travis Frisby 25.59 35 Jacob Lea 36 Chris Steffanoni 37 Evan Corry 38 Chris Jory 39 Matt King 26.07 40 Will Dickeson 26.13 41 Jamie Crass 26.15 42 Peter Milostic 26.21 43 Brendan Schultz 26.27 44 Lachlan Stewart 26.45 45 Daniel Furmston 27.24 46 David Tozer 29.23 47 Matt Sillars 48 Shaun Higgerson 29.55 49 Brett Aitken 31.45 50 Craig Robertson 32.32 51 Samuel Rix 37.39 52 Glen Peterson 38.17 53 Luke Aggett 38.29 54 Daniel Braunsteins 39.56 55 Jason Hegert 41.15 56 Nathan Wise 42.11 57 Matthew Sherwin 42.55 58 Gary Mueller 43.06 59 Brendon Sharratt 44.13 60 Sean Finning 44.25 61 Nigel Sullivan 44.29 62 Peter Smith 44.39 63 Thomas Baxter 49.05 64 Malcolm Rudolph 50.22 65 Stephen Price 50.26 66 Simon Brown 56.22 67 Grant Webster 1.03.26 68 Jeremy Hills 1.06.51 Sprints classification 1 Miles Watson 38 pts 2 Darcy Rosenlund 37 3 Patrick Shaw 33 4 Benjamin King 29 5 David Pell 26 6 Peter Dawson 16 7 Sean Finning 16 8 Peter McDonald 15 9 Brendon Sharratt 15 10 Robert Cater 13 11 Brad Edmunds 10 12 Grant Irwin 9 13 Jack Bobridge 8 14 Michael Stallard 4 15 Tony Mann 4 16 Gilbert Gutowski 4 17 Leigh Howard 4 18 David Kemp 3 19 Gavin Nicholls 2 20 Cameron Hughes 1 21 Miles Olman 1 22 Tom Middleton 1 23 Mark Jamieson 1 24 John Ebeling 1 Criterium championships classification 1 Grant Irwin 19 pts 2 Robert Cater 14 3 Brett Aitken 13 4 Peter Dawson 13 5 Robert McLachlan 13 6 Patrick Shaw 12 7 Darcy Rosenlund 12 8 Nicholas Sanderson 12 9 Gary Mueller 9 10 Jarrod Harman 7 11 Russell Gill 7 12 Leigh Howard 7 13 Douglas Repacholi 6 14 Peter McDonald 5 15 Peter Smith 4 16 Tom Middleton 3 17 Brendon Sharratt 3 18 John Ebeling 2 19 Miles Watson 2 20 Will Dickeson 1 21 Matthew Sherwin 1 Most aggressive rider classification 1 David Pell 2 pts 2 Peter Smith 2 3 Sean Finning 2 4 Peter McDonald 2 5 Robert McLachlan 2
