Team UniSA-Australia on top after Stage One
Stage 1 -
18 January 2006
by
Rodney Magazinovic
Robert McLachlan and Russell van Hout round the corner exiting the Mawson Lakes precinct at the start of the opening stage. |
Team UniSA-Australia put in a strong performance at the opening stage of the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under yesterday heading the Teams classification with riders well placed in both the King of the Mountain and Sprint classifications.
The 148 km stage started out within sight of UniSA’s Mawson Lakes campus in bright but blustery conditions. By the halfway mark, 29 riders had made a break from the main bunch and over the final 50 km the field continued to spread out, but was unable to be caught by the peloton. Simon Gerrans took out Stage One with the next 28 breakaway riders trickling in over the next 12 minutes and the peloton 23 minutes behind the leader. With the winner of the Jacob’s Creek Tour Down Under now almost likely to come from the top six riders, teams are expected to adjust their strategies to protect their riders placed high up in the standings.
For Team-UniSA Australia it was a case of strong teamwork paying handsome dividends. Five riders were able to make the break yesterday and are all in touch with the leader – Gene Bates who finished fifth (1:39 behind), Chris Jongewaard seventh (3:10 behind), Russell van Hout 12th (4:40 behind) and Sean Sullivan 15th (5:15 behind). The bad luck story of the day went to Robert McLachlan who was part of the breakaway group but had to swap bikes after his broke towards the end of the stage. He still managed to finish 23rd (12 minutes down).
Dominating the two sprints, Van Hout and Bates made it a one-two in the first sprint at Jacob’s Creek with Bates bagging a third on the final sprint of the day at Nurioopta. Van Hout sits second overall in the Sprints classification with Bates fifth. In the King of the Mountain overall standings Bates, McLachlan and van Hout sit third, fourth and fifth respectively.
In the Panasonic Teams Classification, Team UniSA-Australia tops the leaderboard with a 10 minute lead. Team manager Dave Sanders praised the commitment of his team on a day where Team UniSA-Australia riders were clearly the standout performers.
“The guys really put it on the line. We thought the field would split to bits and when it did we had five in the 20 that made the break,” he said.
“We were unlucky to lose Rob out of that equation when his bike broke, but to still have four up there is fantastic. It puts us in a great position to attack the leaders team over the next few days.”
Temperatures in excess of 37 degrees for today’s second stage from Stirling to Hahndorf are expected to favour the Australian riders, many of whom have been able to acclimatise to the heat through the numerous competitions leading up to the Tour.
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