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Day 4 – Stages 7 & 8

Young & Old Win Stages – Teenager Maintains Grip On Tour

By Rod Morris - 8th October 2007 - Back to News

West Australian teenager Cameron Meyer took one step closer to claiming overall victory in the Jayco Tour of Tasmania, whilst the Timbercorp Cup National Cycling Series was thrown wide open again in an exciting fourth day in Westbury.

Meyer will carry a lead of 2.17 minutes into weekend battle with three races remaining before the tour is decided at the Launceston Brickfields on Sunday, whilst yesterday’s stage winners came from a vastly different age spectrum.

The morning criterium in Westbury went to Victorian 17-year-old Leigh Howard, while South Australian Brett Aitken won the afternoon’s out and back road race in the same township.

It was Howard’s third win of this week’s tour, while for Aitken it was ninth victory in the history of this national series and his fourth Tour of Tasmania stage win since success at Hobart’s Salamanca Place in 1998.

Meyer’s overnight lead was extended above 2 minutes courtesy of his younger brother Travis suffering a puncture in the afternoon race and losing valuable time.

One of the bigger stories to come out of the day was the standings in the Timbercorp Cup with Queensland’s Grant Irwin edging to within 4-points of leader Peter McDonald and now having a realistic chance of overall victory.

How the day unfolded –

STAGE 7

The domination of Geelong sensation Leigh Howard continued in the Westbury Criterium when the 17-year-old world track champion, won his third stage of the tour.

Howard was able to find the right gap in a fast finishing pack in the final sprint to edge out the luckless Joel Pearson, while Queenslander Jonathon Cantwell showed his best form of the week to claim third place.

Pearson has now had two third placings and a second in the three criteriums held this week, but has to be content with second on a countback to Howard in the Country Club Criterium Championship.

Pearson also scored a minor placing in the afternoon road stage and is getting exceedingly frustrated that he cannot crack it for a win.

The 11 intermediate sprints in the criterium were spread around although Englishman Kristian House was impressive winning three and placing in three others.

Victorian Sean Finning also claimed three intermediate sprints, but it looks like House is headed for overall victory in that category.

With the tempo lifting in the final laps there were many attacks, but all countered very quickly.

Tour leader Cameron Meyer was in there with a chance but was certainly trying to keep himself safe for bigger spoils later in the week.

South Australia’s gold medal Olympian Brett Aitken gave a glimpse of what was to come later in the day with a gutsy fourth placing, with victory denied him by the fact he ran out of road with Howard, Pearson and Cantwell blocking his path.

Howard was quick to heap praise on his teammates, adding "Without their help, I wouldn’t be standing up on the podium today," he said.

STAGE 8

Compared to what the tour has experienced earlier this week, Stage 8 – or at least the first 55 km was a fairly mundane affair.

Trent Stevenson (Vic), Malcolm Rudolph (Qld) and Andrew Ward (Vic) made an attacking move 20 km into the race but were not chased down by the pack because of their low standings on the General Classification.

The trio shared all four intermediate sprints and the first of the hill climbs before the peloton got serious.

Stevenson, Rudolph and Ward were eventually caught with 20 km remaining and were soon gobbled up and spent the rest of race hanging onto the back of the pack.

In the long finish straight, it was apparent the best sprinter with the freshest legs and the wisest head was going to prevail.

And arguably, Brett Aitken can be considered one of the best sprinters in Australia, whether it be on the road or on the track.

In a frenetic finish, Aitken held on to beat Queensland’s Grant Irwin, with Joel Pearson scoring his fourth minor placing for the week.

It was Aitken’s fourth Tour of Tasmania stage victory after previous successes in the 1998 Salamanca Criterium, Swansea to St Helens in 2002 and Burnie to Latrobe in 2002.

It was also his ninth Tattersall’s/Timbercorp Cup stage victory, making him the second most successful behind Robert McLachlan.

"I felt good out there and my legs seem fairly fresh," Aitken said.

"I’m not going to win the tour, but if I can pick up a few stage wins then I’ll be happy."

Tour leader Cameron Meyer was 31^st in the stage but did no damage as he cruised across the finish line with the main bunch and lost no time to any of his nearest challengers.

He will move into the weekend with a lead of 2.17 minutes.

Brief results –

STAGE 7

WESTBURY CRITERIUM, 42 km

1. Leigh Howard (Vic), 58.27 minutes
2. Joel Pearson (Vic), same time
3. Jonathon Cantwell (Qld), same time
4. Brett Aitken (SA), same time
5. Miles Watson (NZ), same time
6. Sid Taberlay (Tas), same time
7. Bernard Sulzberger (Tas), same time
8. Charles Howlett (Tas), same time
9. Nicholas Sanderson (Vic), same time
10. Tom Robinson (Tas), same time

STAGE 8

WESTBURY to WESTBURY, 78.7 km

1. Brett Aitken (SA), 1 hour 52.26 minutes
2. Grant Irwin (Qld), same time
3. Joel Pearson (Vic), same time
4. Richard England (Vic), same time
5. Jonathon Cantwell (Qld), same time
6. Leigh Howard (Vic), same time
7. Nicholas Sanderson (Vic), same time
8. Sid Taberlay (Tas), same time
9. Miles Olman (Qld), same time
10. Patrick Shaw (Vic), same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION (after Stage 8)

1. Cameron Meyer (WA), 10 hours 35.20 minutes
2. Travis Meyer (WA), +2.17 minutes
3. Bernard Sulzberger (Tas), +2.19 minutes
4. Leigh Howard (Vic), +2.40 minutes
5. Tom Southam (England), +2.48 minutes
6. Steven Robb (Vic), +3.51 minutes
7. Shaun Higgerson (NSW), +4.22 minutes
8. Benjamin King (WA), +4.48 minutes
9. Kristian House (England), +5.00 minutes
10. Tim Roe (SA), +5.05 minutes

Championship categories -

Timbercorp Sprint Championship: Kristian House (England)

Central Coast King of the Mountain Championship: Tom Southam (England)

Country Club Criterium Championship: Leigh Howard (Vic)

George Town Most Aggressive Rider: Tom Southam (England)

Gunns Ltd Leading Tasmanian: Bernard Sulzberger

Municipal Cup Challenge: Launceston, 56 points; Devonport, 33 points; Burnie, 16.

Timbercorp Cup National Series: Peter McDonald (NSW), 178 pts; Grant Irwin (Qld), 174; Patrick Shaw (Vic), 143.

To come –

Saturday: Stage 9: Launceston to Grindelwald, 49.9 km, 11 a.m. till 12.10 p.m.

Stage 10: Grindelwald to George Town, 69.1 km, 2 p.m. till 3.40 p.m.

Sunday: Stage 11: Launceston Criterium, 34 km, 11.30 a.m. till 12.20 p.m.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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