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National Road Cycling Championships - NE
Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, QLD, September 9-15, 2002
Results Event program and results
Criterium - U23 Men
Double trouble with double Jonos
By Anthony Tan, Cylingnews correspondent in Mooloolaba
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On a fast and furious circuit that rewarded only the most skilful of crit specialists, the under 23 men's criterium was going to be a smorgasboard of fast-twitch fibre action.
In the first ten minutes, there was no shortage of aggression as the peloton pushed their machines to their limits around the bottom harpin bend. One or two riders were sliding out on almost every lap, travellin' on the gravel before adjusting their lean into the off-camber corner.
First to make a move was Lee Godfrey (Geelong West CC), who was later joined by five other riders. Godfrey pressed hard, but it was still early days - the bunch unrelenting in their pursuit, spearheaded by NSWIS-FDJeux.com Brendan Cato (Illawarra).
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Then the classic counter happened: Jonathan Davis launched out of the blocks on the slight uphill coming into the top corner, and with some tired looking legs back in the pack, Davis immediately assumed a ten second gap on the field.
With just under 15 minutes remaining, Davis was going to have trouble staying out on his own. His call for assistance was soon answered in the form of fellow AIS teammate Jonathan Cantwell; Cantwell bridged across with just over ten minutes to go, and not surpisingly, the pair worked hand in hand to forge their lead over the peloton.
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Speaking of the peloton, the field behind the dynamic duo was rapidly disappating. The frustrated riders who missed the move from Davis attempted to get across, but rarely in unison. Cantwell's clubmate and in-form rider David Betts (Lifecycle CC) was the closest, but the pair up front weren't waiting for no man, and Betts dropped back to the peloton in the remaining five minutes.
With no cat-and-mouse tactics coming into play, it was clear Cantwell and Davis had made a pact to sort out the sprint right until the very end. And when the bell was rung, this is what predictably happened.
In the final straight, Jono Davis showed off his awesome sprinting prowess, easily outgunning Jonathan Cantwell and clocking up a terrific championship win in style.
Post race comments
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Jonathan Davis (St George CC), 1st:
"Our plan with Dave Sanders [AIS Coach] this morning was to keep attacking and try and ride off from the front. Lee [Godfrey] put in a great attack and I was lucky enough to be up there to counter it and stay away.
"It's always a move of ours [AIS U23] that as soon as a break is established, counter the move and try and get a few more riders across to it; I was just lucky enough to have our second best crit rider in Jonathan Cantwell to come across and jump in with me. I was feeling reasonable but I was really looking for a bit of help - especially from someone like Jono [Cantwell] to keep us out there.
"I wasn't too worried about the sprint. I knew that one of us would get it if we stayed away and that's the most important thing. I really just gave it everything.
Jonathan Cantwell (Lifecycle), 2nd:
"I knew the early break wouldn't go, because everyone was really jumping out of the corners, so I knew it wouldn't go - the course was too fast, and I knew the counterattacks were the ones that would make the move.
"The bottom corner was absolutely crazy; if you laid the brakes on too much, you were just going to slip over.
"Jono [Davis] had the move planned before the start of the race - we're AIS teammates, and I knew what he was going to do and I was going to go with him. I knew that was the right move to go with. There was a crash behind us and we managed to get a gap straight away and maintained it for the rest of the race.
"Jono asked for the win - he was the won that made the move, and he's laid it on the line for me in other races, so I was happy to give Jono the win. I'm very happy with our performance; we had a fantastic ride."
Photography
Photos by Tom Balks
- Jonathan Davis (St George CC) uses his adept bike handling skills to carve up the corners
- Jonathan Davis (St George CC) was the main protagonist in launching the key move of the day, and he and Jonathan Cantwell drove it all the way to the line
- Halfway through the race, Troy Glennan (St George Cycling Club) was wondering why his brakes didn't work; it didn't take too long to find out why
- Brendan Cato (Illawarra CC) tried his best to bring back the break containing Davis and Cantwell, but just couldn't match the horsepower of the pair out in front
- In the closing stages of the race, the peloton had resigned themselves to it being a race for third place
- Lee Godfrey (Geelong West CC) had enough strength remaining to take out the bunch sprint for third place
- Jonathan Davis (St George CC) was a deserving winner on the day. He thought so too
Results
1 Jonathan Davis (NSW) St George Cycling Club 32.43 2 Jonathan Cantwell (Qld) Lifecycle Cycling Club 3 Lee Godfrey (Vic) Geelong West CC 4 Bernard Sulzberger (Tas) West Tamar CC 5 Joel Pearson (Vic) Warragul 6 David Betts (Qld) Lifecycle Cycling Club 7 Brendan Cato (NSW) Illawarra 8 Gonzalo Tagliabue (NSW) Hinchinbrook Cycling Club 9 Daniel Newnham (Qld) Gold Coast Goldstars CC 10 Luke Bettany (SA) Noarlunga South Coast 11 James Hannam (SA) Norwood Cycling Club 12 Nash Kent (NSW) Hinchinbrook Cycling Club DNF Marcus Hayman (ACT) Canberra Cycling Club DNF Scott Dixon (NSW) Dubbo Cycling Club DNF Fernando Duran (NSW) Hinchinbrook Cycling Club DNF Troy Glennan (NSW) St George Cycling Club DNF Simon Holcombe (NSW) Parramatta Cycling Club DNF Philip Burns (Qld) Broncos CC DNF Jonathan Campbell (Qld) Lifecycle Cycling Club DNF Carl Donaldson (Qld) Lifecycle Cycling Club DNF Ben Johnson (Qld) Sunshine Coast Cycling DNF Aaron Kemps (Qld) Coral Isle Cyclicts DNF Leigh Palmer (Qld) Astra CC DNF Rod Mason (Vic) Carnegie Caulfield Cycling DNF Tommy Nankervis (Vic) Carnegie Caulfield Cycling DNF Nathan Jones (WA) Southern Districts CC DNF Richard Steele (WA) Northen Districts CC DNF Cody Stevenson (NSW) Penrith Panthers CC DNS Brett Hall (NSW) Kooragang Open Cycling DNS Duncan Kidd (NSW) Hunter District Cycling DNS Gilbert Gutowski (Qld) Broncos CC DNS Jason Patterson (Qld) Townsville CC DNS Bruce McIntosh (Vic) Carnegie Caulfield Cycling
