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National Road Cycling Championships - NE
Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, QLD, September 9-15, 2002
Results Event program and results
Road Race - U23 Men
Hannamania
By Anthony Tan, Cyclingnews correspondent in Yandina
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In somewhat of a contrast to the women's race, the under 23 men's championship was 13 laps of pure aggression, with opportunist climber James Hannam stealing the show over his more favoured counterparts.
Teammates David Betts, Jonathan Cantwell (Lifecycle CC) and Bruce McIntosh (Carnegie Caulfield CC) were no sooner out of the neutral zone before launching an attack on the main climb of the day on the very first lap. And while the break consisted of some notable strongmen, the peloton were unshaken, content to leave the trio hanging out in the open for some time longer.
By lap 4 of 13, the break had forged a lead of 2.10 over the main pack that began to create some unease within the peloton. And by lap 7, the trio's lead started to dwindle, more due to blowing chunks rather than the field upping the tempo. And within the space of two laps, almost 70 kilometres of hard work had all but dissolved with the peloton now in sight.
With three to go, the action began in earnest: Ben Johnson (Sunshine Coast CC) launched a vicious counterattack on the climb that left the front group scrambling in his wake. Johnson managed to hold off the field for just over a lap, building a slender lead of just over one minute before being joined by a chasing group of four riders that contained Brendan Cato (Illawarra CC) and James Hannam (Norwood CC).
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The break contained all the necessary horsepower to take it right to the line, but the cross-headwind along the main drag back to the finish was totally unforgiving to opportunist attacks, and with just one lap remaining the field regrouped once again.
Just when the field thought a bunch gallop was a surety, James Hannam (Norwood CC) launched off the front on the 14 percent climb, burying himself into the mostly block headwind for the next six kilometres.
With just three kilometres remaining and the peloton breathing down Hannam's neck, the Victorian's lead was a tenuous 10 seconds. It looked as though the sprinters had timed their effort to perfection, but it was Hannam who had - clinching the biggest win of his cycling career by no more than an tyre-width from a fast-finishing David Betts (Lifecycle CC).
Post-race comments
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James Hannam (Norwood CC), 1st:
"I wasn't too worried about the early break of three, even though David Betts (Lifecycle CC) has been going very strong. But when Ben [Johnson] went with four to go, no-one followed - but I think it was more that no-one could follow; he was really, really strong today.
"But it was just too hard to stay away in that last 5k - with that headwind blowing it was just too hard to be out there by yourself. You might be able to do it once, but it four to go, it's just too hard.
"When myself, Brendan Cato (Illawarra CC) and five others go across to him, I thought we had a good break, but it just didn't happen. I knew I was going pretty well up the climb, so I just waited for that on the last lap.
Brendan Cato (Illawarra CC), [place]:
"I was a bit worried about the first break, because whenever you have two AIS riders in a break of three, it's always going to be hard to pull them back. I think it was more our luck that they cracked than us pulling them back.
"The course was hard - everytime you try and push it up the climb, you'd get a break of five riders or so, but then coming back into the headwind, it'd all come back together - that made it a little bit demoralising. We needed a climb in the final few k's for our break to be successful.
"I gave it everything on the final time up the climb, but James [Hannam] just got away and to his credit he held us off, so congrats to him."
Photography
Photos by Tom Balks
- The early break that went on the very first lap - David Betts, Jonathan Cantwell (Lifecycle CC) and Bruce McIntosh (Carnegie Caulfield CC)
- The Energizer kid - David Betts (Lifecycle CC) not only managed to recover from a 70k break, he won the field sprint for second, missing out on the win by a tyre's width
- The first 350 metre climb was hard, but no way near as difficult as the 14% brute that followed
- Don't look round! James Hannam (Norwood CC) timed his effort to absolute perfection. If it was any closer, he'd have lost the race
Results
1 James Hannam (SA) Norwood CC 3.27.33 2 David Betts (QLD) Lifecycle CC 3 Jonathan Davis (NSW) St George CC 4 Cody Stevenson (NSW) Penrith Panthers CC 5 Luke Bettany (SA) Noarlunga South Coast CC 6 Joel Pearson (VIC) Warragul 7 Aaron Dalton (NSW) Caravello 8 Brendan Cato (NSW) Illawarra CC 9 Nash Kent (NSW) Hinchinbrook CC 10 Bernard Sulzberger (TAS) West Tamar CC 11 Ben Johnson (QLD) Sunshine Coast CC 12 Gonzalo Tagliabue (NSW) Hinchinbrook CC 13 Nathan Jones (WA) Southern Districts CC 14 Troy Glennan (NSW) St George CC 15 Jason Patterson (QLD) Townsville CC 3.07 16 Scott Dixon (NSW) Dubbo CC 4.13 17 Robert Lyte (QLD) Murwillumbah 5.32 18 Gilbert Gutowski (QLD) Broncos CC 25.11 19 Peter Jones (NSW) Illawarra CC DNF Marcus Hayman (ACT) Canberra CC DNF Fernando Duran (NSW) Hinchinbrook CC DNF Brett Hall (NSW) Kooragang Open Cycling DNF Simon Holcombe (NSW) Parramatta CC DNF Duncan Kidd (NSW) Hunter District CC DNF Nicholas Lawson (NSW) St George CC DNF Philip Burns (QLD) Broncos CC DNF Jonathan Campbell (QLD) Lifecycle CC DNF Jonathan Cantwell (QLD) Lifecycle CC DNF Carl Donaldson (QLD) Lifecycle CC DNF Aaron Kemps (QLD) Coral Isle Cyclicts DNF Daniel Newnham (QLD) Gold Coast Goldstars CC DNF Darren Nightingale (QLD) Lifecycle CC DNF Stephen Rossendell (TAS) Hobart Wheelers/ Dirt Devils DNF Lee Godfrey (VIC) Geelong West CC DNF Rod Mason (VIC) Carnegie Caulfield CC DNF Bruce Mcintosh (VIC) Carnegie Caulfield CC DNF Tommy Nankervis (VIC) Carnegie Caulfield Cycling DNF Richard Steele (WA) Northen Districts CC DNF Daniel Bennett (QLD) Gold Coast Goldstars DNF Robert Hodgson (NSW) Northern Sydney CC
