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Fishers IGA Tour Of The Miurray River - (Round 3 Of The 2007 Timbercorp National Cycling Series)

Olympian shows undoubted class - Stage 5

By Rod Morris - 28th August 2007 - Back to News

West Australian Peter Dawson, one of two gold medal Olympians in the Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River field, unleashed his awesome sprinting power to win yesterday’s fifth stage, a 52 km criterium in the seaside NSW township of Euston.

Dawson kept himself in a tidy position in an 11-man breakaway before opening the throttle on the last lap to hold out NSW rider Robbie Cater and Queensland’s Darcy Rosenlund.

The overall tour lead stayed in the hands of Sydney’s Peter McDonald, with young Victorian Patrick Shaw jumping into second position after an impressive ride in the criterium, where he picked up several intermediate time bonuses.

Prior to the start of Stage 5, tour organizers revised the previous day’s announcement that David Pell was the tour leader and confirmed that McDonald in fact held the honour courtesy of a countback which included a stage win on Sunday from Moama to Barham.

McDonald now leads Shaw by 4 seconds with Pell a further 2 seconds back in third place.

STAGE 5

Victorian Peter Smith and Tasmanian Jarrod Harman were the first to set the pattern of the 52 km criterium in Euston, establishing a small break.

Very soon, nine other riders came across from the main bunch and for the next 48 km, that group shared sprinting honours and worked their way out to a 48 second lead.

Aside of Smith and Harman, the escapee unit included Patrick Shaw, Darcy Rosenlund, Tom Middleton (SA), Brendan Sharratt (Vic), Jack Bobridge (SA), Benjamin King (WA), Gavin Nicholls (Qld), Robbie Cater and of course, Peter Dawson.

Shaw, Rosenlund and King controlled most of the intermediate sprints and at the end of the day, Miles Watson’s lead in the RoadSafe Mildura Sprint Championship had been whittled to just one point from Rosenlund with Shaw within striking distance at 4-points back.

But the real interest was on the stage and GC honours.

Shaw had moved up the GC leaderboard because of the sprint bonuses and if he could win the stage or finish in the first three he might just snatch the overall lead from McDonald.

But the pack was bearing down fast on the tiring break group and at the bell lap the margin had been slashed to just 3-seconds.

Dawson however was able to find something within and in a blistering sprint won from Cater and fellow break group rider Rosenlund.

"That feels good, but I knew the bunch was coming fast," Dawson said.

Dawson was a member of the Australian pursuit team which won gold at the Athens 2004 Olympics. Whilst he missed a ride in the final, he did compete in the preliminary rounds and all team members were recognized with gold medals.

He was also a member of the winning 2002 Commonwealth Games pursuit team.

He has spent a large part of the year racing in America in road and track events and only recently signed a new contract with the California based Rock Racing team.

The contract won’t impede on his obligations with the Australian Olympic squad and could in fact enhance his chances of getting to Beijing.

"Riding with a pro team could open a few extra doors for me," he said.

His time overseas was littered with good results, particularly in the hugely popular Superweek in America, where he won two races and finished 11^th overall.

In the Tour of the Murray River, Dawson is 17^th on GC, 10.09 minutes behind McDonald.

Only 10 riders are now within a minute of the leader, but with more than 400 km and eight stages still to be raced, the tour is far from all over.

The tour continues on Wednesday with a morning criterium in Merbein over 33 km and then an afternoon road race from Merbein to Wentworth over 80.4 km.

Brief results –

STAGE 5 – EUSTON CRITERIUM, 52 KM

1. Peter Dawson (WA), 1 hour 11.31 minutes

2. Robert Cater (NSW), same time

3. Darcy Rosenlund (Qld), same time

4. Jarrod Harman (Tas), same time

5. Patrick Shaw (Vic), same time

6. Peter McDonald (NSW), +2 seconds

7. Peter Smith (Vic), same time

8. Brendon Sharratt (Vic), same time

9. Miles Watson (NZ), same time

10. Tom Middleton (SA), same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION (after Stage 5)

1. Peter McDonald (NSW), 7 hours 6.27 minutes

2. Patrick Shaw (Vic), +4 seconds

3. David Pell (Vic), +6 seconds

4. Grant Irwin (Qld), +13 seconds

5. Benjamin King (WA), +20 seconds

6. Robert McLachlan (ACT), 32 seconds

7. Leigh Howard (Vic), +33 seconds

8. Tom Middleton (SA), 45 seconds

9. Jack Bobridge (SA), same time

10. John Ebeling (NSW), +50 seconds

Road Safe Mildura Sprint Championship: Miles Watson (NSW)

WHK Thomsons Criterium Championship: Grant Irwin (Qld)

MADEC Most Aggressive Rider Award: Peter Smith (Vic)

To come –

Stage 6 – Merbein Criterium, 33 km, Wednesday, August 29

Stage 7 – Merbein to Wentworth, 80.4 km, Wednesday, August 29

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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