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Day 6 – Stage 11 (Final)

Meyer And "Macca" Steal The Show In Tassie

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

A 19-year-old West Australian rising star and an established 29-year-old NSW veteran took the major spoils on the final day of the Jayco Tour of Tasmania, which completed the 2007 Timbercorp Cup National Cycling series.

Cameron Meyer defended his hold on the leader’s yellow jersey to claim his first multi stage tour win, while Peter McDonald held on grimly to win the series, which included the Tour of Gippsland, Australian Cycling Grand Prix, Tour of the Murray River and Tour of Tasmania – 35 individual races over four Australian states.

Meyer took over the lead after winning Stage 2 last Tuesday, a 90 km trek from Devonport to Sheffield.

In that stage, Cameron and his 18-year-old brother Travis registered a Timbercorp Cup first when they finished first and second respectively in a stage race.

Now they have added another chapter in cycling history by finishing first and second in a major road tour.

Cameron started the final day holding a lead of 1.50 minutes over Travis and ultimately won by 1.36 minutes.

Travis was under threat to hold onto second from leading Tasmanian Bernard Sulzberger and their individual battle in the final stage was enthralling.

Cameron Meyer is a three time world junior track champion but with this win has signaled his outstanding attributes as a road rider.

His attention will now return to the track as he represents Australia at various World Cup events, including the Sydney round in late November.

"This is my first multi stage win and I’m very happy," Cameron said.

"I’ve been in the lead since Stage 2 and its been pretty hard work defending it all week."

Launceston hosted a 34 km criterium to close off the tour and the tussle for overall series honours was also entertaining.

McDonald started with a 9-point lead from Queenslander Grant Irwin, but the task in front of the latter was going to be tough.

Irwin had to win the stage and rely on McDonald missing out on a place in the first 10.

Irwin did his part, he won from Brett Aitken and Leigh Howard, but McDonald also completed his chore by finishing fourth in the stage.

"This is great, I am very relieved," McDonald said.

"This has been a tough tour for me, I had a strained back and the pressure from Grant Irwin and the other riders was hectic all week."

The hard luck story from the series came from Victorian Patrick Shaw.

Shaw has been in the top three for a large part of the series, but was reeled in by Leigh Howard in the final stage when the Geelong 17-year-old gained valuable stage points and a further 22-points for finishing fifth in the tour to sneak past Shaw by just 1-point!

How the day unfolded –

STAGE 11

A party atmosphere at the Launceston Brickfields for the final stage created plenty of excitement and to add to the festivities the starting field were escorted to the line by the Northern Caledonian Pipe Band.

Race tactics soon became obvious with Sulzberger trying to get valuable intermediate sprint points to reel in Travis Meyer in second place on General Classification.

But everywhere that Sulzberger went, Meyer was sure to follow.

It was a similar position with Irwin and McDonald, with the latter tailing the Queenslander for most of the distance.

Another rider making the most of his opportunities was Englishman Kristian House, who started the stage holding a comfortable 41-point lead in the Timbercorp Sprint Championship.

House, who celebrated his 28^th birthday on Saturday, featured in 8 of the 16 intermediate sprints and confirmed his undoubted ability.

An all-up field were jockeying for positions at the bell lap with the leading teams pressing to get their best sprinters into prime positions.

Into the final turn for the last sprint of 150 m, Victorian Joel Pearson – who had been on the podium in three earlier races this tour – crashed out.

Thankfully no other riders came down, but several were caught up the brief mayhem and their chances of stage victory were lost.

That made things slightly easier for Irwin, who won by a full bike length from Aitken, with a similar gap to Howard.

"I’m happy to win the final stage, but a little disappointed I couldn’t catch Peter McDonald in the whole series," Irwin said.

"But "Macca" rode extremely consistently and thoroughly deserved his victory."

Howard’s third placing in the stage confirmed his overall status in the Country Club Criterium Championship, while Englishman Tom Southam added to his Central Coast King of the Mountain title by also winning the George Town Most Aggressive Rider award.

Whilst Sulzberger was disappointed not to have caught Travis Meyer in General Classification, he had some compensation by being the first Tasmanian.

Brief results –

STAGE 11

LAUNCESTON CRITERIUM 34 km

1. Grant Irwin (Qld), 44.37 minutes
2. Brett Aitken (SA), same time
3. Leigh Howard (Vic), same time
4. Peter McDonald (NSW), same time
5. Tom Robinson (Tas), same time
6. Evan Oliphant (Scotland), same time
7. Brad Edmunds (Vic), same time
8. Steven Robb (Vic), same time
9. Travis Meyer (WA), same time
10. Bernard Sulzberger (Tas), same time

FINAL GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Cameron Meyer (WA), 14 hours 11.48 minutes
2. Travis Meyer (WA), +1.37 minutes
3. Bernard Sulzberger (Tas), +1.40 minutes
4. Tom Southam (England), +2.42 minutes
5. Leigh Howard (Vic), +2.45 minutes
6. Steven Robb (Vic), +4.01 minutes
7. Benjamin King (WA), +5.01 minutes
8. Shaun Higgerson (NSW), +5.18 minutes
9. Kristian House (England), +5.20 minutes
10. David Pell (Vic), +5.29 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, 81 points; Devonport, 42 points; Burnie, 27.

Timbercorp Cup National Series: Peter McDonald (NSW), 193 pts; Grant Irwin (Qld), 187; Leigh Howard (Vic), 147; Patrick Shaw (Vic), 146.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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