Team UniSA-Australia takes the lead in Stage One
17 January 2007
by
Geraldine Hinter
Team UniSA-Australia cyclist Karl Menzies put in an outstanding
performance in the first stage of the 2007 Tour Down Under today, taking the winner’s ochre jersey after a last minute bid to defeat
a breakaway group of five cyclists.
The 166.5 km race, from Mawson Lakes to Tanunda, started with riders sprinting past the UniSA campus in warm but dry conditions.
Former UniSA Team cyclist Luke Roberts, now with Team CSC, won the first race in the Sprint classification, with another former UniSA Team cyclist Gene Bates, now with Team South Australia.com/AIS, a close second, but the tide turned in the second Sprint race, with the two first place getters changing positions, while the King of the Mountain was an all international cyclists event.
The race saw an early attack by Brett Aitken from Team UniSA-Australia followed by 18 breakaway riders including UniSA’s own Karl Menzies increasing their lead to 13.5 minutes over the peleton at the first pass through Tanunda. But as the cyclists sprinted through Barossa Valley townships, ten cyclists formed a separate breakaway group, with five cyclists powering ahead to the finish line a massive 16 minutes in front of the peleton.
In accepting the winning jersey, 29 year-old Menzies paid special tribute to the support and strong teamwork of his fellow UniSA-Australia riders. Considered to be a relatively late starter in the world of road cycling, having only started seven years ago, Menzies, who comes from Tasmania, successfully raced in the USA for the past two years, winning some six major cycling events before making his debut in the Tour Town Under.
For Team Manager Dave Sanders, early concerns were allayed when it became clear that of the five cyclists in the breakaway group, Menzies was the strongest.
“Now the team will be hard at work throughout the week defending the lead,” Sanders said.