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Fishers IGA Tour Of The Miurray River (Round 3 Of The 2007 Timbercorp National Cycling Series)Irwin….Again & Jamieson Surprises - Stages 6 & 7
By Rod Morris - 3rd September 2007 - Back to News Queensland’s Grant Irwin has drawn to within striking distance of leader Peter McDonald in the Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River after winning yesterday’s sixth stage, while Tasmanian Mark Jamieson won his first major road race on Australian soil.
Six stages remain in the tour, which will finish in Waikerie in South Australia this Sunday and McDonald holds a 6-second lead over Irwin and Victorian David Pell, whilst Patrick Shaw is at a 9-second deficit.
But Day 4 of the eight day tour belonged to Irwin and Jamieson.
Irwin won the Merbein Criterium, which equated to his third win for the week, whilst Jamieson took the afternoon’s 80 km road race from Merbein to Wentworth.
Meanwhile the Timbercorp Cup National Cycling series, which so far has included the Tour of Gippsland, the Australian Cycling Grand Prix and this week’s Tour of the Murray – and will conclude with the Tour of Tasmania in October – has reached an interesting stage.
Peter McDonald has amassed 114 points and leads narrowly by 3-points to Grant Irwin and then a further 13 points to Patrick Shaw.
STAGE 6
Queensland’s in-form sprint sensation Grant Irwin continued his dominance of crtieriums in this year’s tour, winning his third race for the week and fifth in the history of the Timbercorp Cup series.
Irwin won both Stages 3 and 4 on Monday earlier this week and his previous successes on tour include the 2005 Merbein to Wentworth stage in the Tour of the Murray River and the Bairnsdale Criterium, which was the last stage of this year’s Tour of Gippsland, which was the opening leg of the Timbercorp Cup.
The Merbein win draws Irwin to within three points of McDonald in the Timbercorp, but there is still a lot of racing to be completed before the title will be decided in the Tour of Tasmania from October 2-7.
For the large part of the Merbein Criterium, it looked as though the powerful southaustralian.com – National U23 - team would take yet another stage victory.
Mark Jamieson, Peter Dawson, Shaun Higgerson, Sean Finning and Miles Olman were controlling the front of the race, looking to take Nicholas Sanderson to the ultimate.
The lead-out looked perfect and 50 m from home Sanderson had hit the lead, but the cavalry was coming.
The powerful Irwin came down the outside and pinched the win from under Sanderson’s nose.
Scoring a gutsy third was Victorian Gary Meuller, who earlier this week finished second to Irwin in the Kerang Criterium.
Jamieson was rewarded for his performance with the Most Aggressive rider jersey.
Tour leader Peter McDonald did no harm to his overall position, finishing 13th in the criterium and picking up some handy intermediates along the way.
Darcy Rosenlund’s chances of winning the RoadSafe Mildura Sprint Championship took a little dent – as did his body and bike – as the field was readying for the final intermediate sprint.
Rosenlund had drawn to within one point of leader Miles Watson (Vic/NZ) and was in the middle of the bunch when the field heard the whistle to signal the last sprint.
But a mid-field crash saw he and Tasmanian Daniel Furmston both come crashing to terra firma.
Neither rider was badly hurt, although Rosenlund did have to replace his front wheel.
The delay also cost him any chance of winning the sprint and when Watson finished second the margin stretched back out to three points.
Defending Tour of the Murray River champion Robert McLachlan was forced to withdraw over night after a heavy dose of the ‘flu won out.
McLachlan had been battling on gamely, but succumbed after the Euston Criterium.
STAGE 7
Tasmanian Mark Jamieson scored the best road win of his burgeoning career when he broke away from fellow escapees to claim the 80.4 km Merbein (Vic) to Wentworth (NSW) stage.
Jamieson helped form the early break group on the hot and dusty roads south of Mildura before the tour route swung north to cross the Murray River and the border into NSW.
Jamieson is a former world junior track champion in the individual pursuit discipline and it was this trait that helped him to victory.
"I tried to make it a good race and was involved in nearly all the early breaks," Jamieson.
"At about 3 km to go, I thought I could break clear, knowing I am a good pursuit rider and test the others out."
Jamieson, who still lives in Acacia Hills, south of Devonport on Tasmania’s North-West Coast, now rides for the strong southaustralia.com team.
Jamieson had his West Australian teammate Peter Dawson in the breakaway group, along with former New Zealander Miles Watson, who is now living in Victoria, popular Victorian Tim Decker from Bendigo and another ex-New Zealander Brendan Sharratt.
After approximately 50 km with the intermediate sprints being controlled by Watson who is now safely leading the RoadSafe Mildura Sprint Championship, the break group extended their lead margin to more than 1 minute.
Crossing the bridge into NSW, the quintet were riding hard and had a 1.20 minute advantage and it was not long after this that Jamieson made his race-winning move.
"It was about 3 km to go and I thought its now or never," Jamieson said.
"I’ve never won anything major on the road before so this is a genuinely good result for me."
"I’ve also never really contested the complete Timbercorp Cup series before, but its well run and the racing is fierce."
Jamieson was able to sit up and enjoy his stroll to the finish line, with a 17-second time gap to teammate Dawson and Sharratt, who clinched a first ever podium finish.
Jamieson said his team was disappointed not to have a rider in General Classification contention, but were concentrating on stage wins for the remainder of the tour.
Victorian Nicholas Sanderson is the best placed southaustralian.com rider, but at 10.07 minutes behind leader Peter McDonald has no chance of overall victory.
In fact only 11 riders are considered threats for Sunday’s finish at Waikerie in South Australia.
Queensland’s Grant Irwin reduced his deficit to a "gettable" 6-seconds after winning the Merbein Criterium yesterday morning, while David Pell (Vic) is on the same margin.
The tour continues today with a tough 66 km kermesse on the Mildura waterfront at 12.30 p.m.
This race will be preceded by a non-competitive roller derby challenge in the Mildura Mall, starting at 11 a.m.
Brief results –
STAGE 6 – MERBEIN CRITERIUM, 33 KM
1. Grant Irwin (Qld), 42.20 minutes
2. Nicholas Sanderson (Vic), same time
3. Gary Meuller (Vic), same time
4. Leigh Howard (Vic), same time
5. Douglas Repacholi (WA), same time
6. Russell Gill (SA), same time
7. Patrick Shaw (Vic), same time
8. Miles Olman (Qld), same time
9. John Ebeling (NSW), same time
10. Robert Cater (NSW), same time
STAGE 7 – MERBEIN to WENTWORTH, 80.4 KM
1. Mark Jamieson (Tas), 1 hour 45.03 minutes
2. Peter Dawson (WA), +17 seconds
3. Brendon Sharratt (Vic), same time
4. Tim Decker (Vic), same time
5. Miles Watson (Vic/NZ), +19 seconds
6. Patrick Shaw (Vic), +1.33 minutes
7. Matthew Sherwin (Vic), same time
8. David Pell (Vic), same time
9. David Kemp (Qld), same time
10. Steven Robb (Vic), same time
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION (after Stage 7)
1. Peter McDonald (NSW), 9 hours 34.17 minutes
2. David Pell (Vic), +6 seconds
3. Grant Irwin (Qld), same time
4. Patrick Shaw (Vic), +9 seconds
5. Benjamin King (WA), +26 seconds
6. Leigh Howard (Vic), +32 seconds
7. Jack Bobridge (SA), +51 seconds
8. Tom Middleton (SA), same time
9. John Ebeling (NSW), +52 seconds
10. Cameron Hughes (Qld), 1.01 minutes
Road Safe Mildura Sprint Championship: Miles Watson (NSW)
WHK Thomsons Criterium Championship: Grant Irwin (Qld)
MADEC Most Aggressive Rider Award: Mark Jamieson (Tas)
To come –
Stage 8 – Mildura Kermesse, 66 km, Thursday, August 30
Stage 9 – Ouyen Criterium, 36 km, Friday, August 31
Stage 10 – Ouyen – Patchewollock – Ouyen, 86.5 km, Friday, August 31
Stage 11 – Loxton Criterium, 42 km, Saturday, September 1
Stage 12 – Loxton Kermesse, 70 km, Saturday, September 1
Stage 13 – Waikerie Kermesse, 44 km, Sunday, September 2
Timbercorp Cup series (events remaining) -
Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River – August 26 to September 2
Tour of Tasmania – October 2-7
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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