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C’Est La Vie From Northern Territory Teenager

The nursery breeding ground the Timbercorp National Cycling Series has grown into over the last 11 years continued on the opening day of the Tour of Gippsland when two teenagers emerged as road race winners.

By Rod Morris - 2nd August 2007 - Back to News

Starting in the Victorian seaside shanty town of Mallacoota, the Tour of Gippsland is the first of four main events which make up the national series, once known as the Tattersall’s Cup.

Queensland born Northern Territorian, Matt King is the newest riding star on Australia’s horizon after winning the afternoon’s second stage and moving into the coveted yellow leader’s jersey.

King (18) was born in Tooowoomba, but lived for 16 years in Katherine, before moving to Darwin two years ago.

A former triathlete, King is not linked to any particular team, although he is traveling with the well credentialled southaustralia.com in this week’s Gippsland tour, which continues through till Sunday, finishing with a criterium in Bairsndale.

How Day One unfolded –

The tour started yesterday in glorious sunshine with a criterium in Mallacoota, won by Brisbane 18-year-old Darcy Rosenlund, riding for the newly formed Ord Minnett cycling team.

Rosenlund and triple world junior track champion Cameron Meyer set the pace for the majority of the criterium before being joined Sydney’s Peter McDonald for the last 10 laps.

With a consistent gap of 25 seconds, Rosenlund, Meyer and McDonald were able to settle down for a good old fashioned game of cat and mouse.

Who’s was going to produce the best sprint?

McDonald is a self-confessed "plodder" when it comes to sprinting and so tried to breakaway from the other pair, but was reeled in.

Meyer had spent a lot of his bickies chasing intermediate sprint points and Rosenlund took full advantage over the last 1 km.

A former triathlete, swimmer and cross country runner, Rosenlund is in his first full season as a road rider and has an aim to break into the Australian Under 23 team.

A performance like this one won’t hurt one bit.

But despite his stage one win, the overall lead was snatched by Meyer, who last year won the world junior time trial, individual pursuit and teams pursuit championship………..and is no slouch on the road either!

STAGE 2

An 11 km circuit – to be ridden eight times – faced the field in the afternoon’s Mallacoota road race stage and the surprises continued to emerge.

A number of small – and unsuccessful – breaks were thrown early before a slightly larger group of nine riders hit out and got a 3 minute margin on the peloton.

Meyer, Rosenlund and McDonald all missed the break and it was the little known King who was making everyone stand up and take notice.

As the gap between the attackers and the chasers grew, King was busy picking up points and valuable time bonuses in the intermediate sprints and king of the mountain climbs as it soon became evident Meyer would relinquish the yellow top to the Darwin based King.

King is another ex-triathlete concentrating on road cycling and he is quickly gaining some good results.

In June, he won the time trial in Germany’s Tour of Rundfhart, was 10^th in last year’s World Junior Time Trial and finished second in a multi-stage tour in Germany.

Coached by John Piper, King openly expresses admiration for fellow NT rider Cadel Evans, particularly after the latter’s tremendous Tour de France result last Sunday.

King’s win jumped him from 51^st in General Classification to the outright lead, 34 seconds ahead of Sydney’s Chris Jory, while reigning Australian Time Trial champion, Zak Dempster is a further 3 seconds back in third place.

Meyer lost more than five minutes in the afternoon stage and fell from first to 14^th, while Rosenlund also lost considerable ground, dropping to 15^th.

The Tour continues today with a criterium in Orbost in the morning and a 113 km race from Orbost to Lakes Entrance in the afternoon.

Day one results –

STAGE 1 – MALLACOOTA CRITERIUM, 42 KM

1. Darcy Rosenlund (Qld), 1 hour, 00.07 minutes

2. Cameron Meyer (WA), same time

3. Peter McDonald (NSW), same time

4. Grant Irwin (Qld), +5 seconds

5. Nicholas Sanderson (Vic), same time

6. Zak Dempster (Vic), same time

7. Robbie Cater (NSW), same time

8. Patrick Shaw (Vic), same time

9. Sid Taberlay (Tas), same time

10. Marcus Wettenhall (Vic), same time

STAGE 2 – MALLACOOTA, 93.4 KM

1. Matt King (NT), 2 hours 15.59 minutes

2. Zak Dempster (Vic), +13 seconds

3. Chris Jory (NSW), same time

4. Chris Pryor (Qld), +25 seconds

5. Jack Anderson (Qld), same time

6. Ben Mather (Tas), same time

7. Peter Herzig (NSW), +1.39 minutes

8. Sean Finning (Vic), +4.10 minutes

9. Brad Edmunds (Vic), same time

10. Hayden Josefski (Qld), same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Matt King (NT), 3 hours 15.24 minutes

2. Chris Jory (NSW), +34 seconds

3. Zak Dempster (Vic), +37 seconds

4. Chris Pryor (Qld), +54 seconds

5. Jack Anderson (Qld), +1.04 minutes

6. Ben Mather (Tas), +1.10 minutes

7. Peter Herzig (NSW), +2.16 minutes

8. Brad Edmunds (Vic), +4.48 minutes

9. Hayden Josefski (Qld), +4.56 minutes

10. Sean Finning (Vic), +same time

Championship categories –

Victoria The Place to Be Sprint King: Cameron Meyer (WA)

Tourism Victoria King of the Mountains: Matt King (NT)

East Gippsland Shire Council Criterium: Darcy Rosenlund (Qld)

The Big Garage Bairnsdale Most Aggressive: Matt King (NT)

To come –

Today (Thursday)

Stage 3: Orbost Criterium, 42 km, 11 a.m. start

Stage 4: Orbost to Lakes Entrance, 113.7 km, 1.30 p..m. start

Further Information -

03 5224 2466 John Craven Director- Caribou Publications

Madeleine Brialey Co-ordinator – Caribou Publications

0428 151 204 Mike Quist East Gippsland Shire Council

0407 684 765 Matt Trewin Timbercorp

0401-760-912 Rod Morris Media Liaison

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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