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

Mcdonald Struts His Stuff While Olman Breaks Through - Stages 11 & 12

By Rod Morris - 3rd September 2007 - Back to News

Peter McDonald has one hand firmly on the Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River trophy and is now also a clear leader in the Timbercorp Cup after a successful day in South Australia yesterday.

McDonald (28) won Stage 11, a criterium in Loxton and then scored a top 10 in the afternoon kermes race to extend his overall lead to a comfortable 1.23 minutes with only 44 km of the eight day tour remaining.

From a reluctant entrant who didn’t think he could handle flat and fast tracks of the Murray River tour, McDonald has been the undoubted star after winning the Moama to Barham stage last Sunday afternoon and holding the leader’s jersey ever since.

"My win at Loxton has just about assured me of victory now," McDonald said.

"My teammates have done a fantastic job in defending every attack and we’ll celebrate tomorrow, but there’s still one race left before that happens."

Yesterday afternoon’s penultimate stage, a 70 km kermesse around the Loxton waterfront was arguably the tour’s toughest race with many riders becoming casualties after the constant climbing – a racing discipline they have not been used to this week.

The surprise result in the stage was the performance of Tasmanian Daniel Furmston, who won the Tourism Victoria King of the Mountain Championship…….and just for good measure was also presented with the MADEC Most Aggressive rider award as well.

Former New Zealander Miles Watson is assured of winning the RoadSafe Mildura Sprint Championship, while Grant Irwin (Qld) needs only to finish in the top 10 in the final stage to win the WHK Thomsons Criterium Championship.

How Day 7 unfolded -

STAGE 11

The best win to show cycling supporters that is a deserved leader of the tour was to win a stage and that’s exactly what Peter McDonald did at Loxton.

In the history making first ever Tour of the Murray River stage race in South Australia, McDonald won a tough 42 km criterium around a picturesque circuit.

The 28-year-old Sydneysider extended his overall lead from 25 seconds to Grant Irwin and 33 seconds to Patrick Shaw to a commanding 1.33 minute and 1.41 minute respectively.

"I feel a lot more comfortable now, I can almost start to think that I can win this tour," he said modestly.

With an afternoon kermesse to be raced in Loxton and the grand finale – another kermesse – in Waikerie on Sunday, McDonald only has to stay upright for the closing 114 km to be declared the tour champion.

McDonald originally did not intend to race the Murray River event, which is the third of four legs of the Timbercorp Cup, which he is also leading by 13-points from Irwin.

After winning the criterium race at the recent Australian Cycling Grand Prix at Ballarat, McDonald declared that the Murray River tour would be too flat and fast for him, given his background as a noted climber.

But he was cajoled into racing by tour promoter John Craven and he hasn’t looked back since.

McDonald won the Moama to Barham Stage 2 race last Sunday, which moved him into the coveted leader’s yellow jersey and he has successfully defended it since.

"Its been hard on some days and others its been fairly easy," he said.

"Today was enjoyable, I liked that raced."

The Loxton circuit included a steady climb towards the finish line, with riders forced to ascend 30 times.

"That circuit suited me to a tee," McDonald said.

STAGE 12

Without doubt the Loxton Kermesse proved to be the toughest stage of this week’s tour with the 63 riders strung out over various parts of the 3.5 km circuit.

Riders were asked to tackle an 800 m climb no less than 20 times and many were simply unable to withstand the pressure.

Little known Tasmanian Daniel Furmston was intent on claiming as many points in the Tourism Victoria King of the Mountain Championship as possible and recognized Queensland pair Tony Mann and Miles Olman as his biggest threats.

Olman started the stage one point in front of Furmston in the KOM title and for the early bonuses, honours were shared.

Eventually, a four man break group, including Furmston, Olman, Victorian David Pell and NSW veteran Peter Milostic settled down for their own little show of warfare.

That quarter broke clear of a chasing pack of 16 riders and were able to establish a lead of just under a minute after 50 km of the stage.

Once the race narrowed down, lapped riders were shunted off the course by alert commissaries, ensuring the lead protagonists had a clear run to the sprint lines.

When the last of the intermediate KOM bonus sprints had been completed and Furmston had assured himself of the climbers’ title, he lost contact with the other escapees and not long after that, Pell also lost his grip at the front.

That left Olman and Milostic to stage a match race to the end.

The younger Olman (21) had fresher sprint legs and up the picturesque home straight on the Loxton waterfront enjoyed a 2-second winning margin over Milostic, who is racing in his ninth Tour of the Murray River (nee Tour of Sunraysia).

"This feels tremendous, I didn’t expect to get a stage win, particular one with a hill like that in it," Olman said.

Olman is a former junior world track champion and still regards himself as a track specialist over the discipline of the road.

"My goals are still based on the track instead of the road and I am really only using these tours for basic training, so getting a win is an unexpected bonus," he said.

Olman, a carpenter by trade, is also one of Australia’s best young cycling talents and rides for the southaustralia.com team, which in this tour has now won five of the completed 12 stages.

Outside of Olman’s success yesterday, the team’s other wins have come from Peter Dawson, Mark Jamieson (x2) and Sean Finning, while Nicholas Sanderson has placed three times.

Tour leader Peter McDonald was safe in the bunch, finishing in ninth place behind Olman, 1.16 minutes behind, but lost no time to any of his main challengers in the afternoon.

In fact, McDonald watched all of his opponents with eagle eyes and will carry a lead of 1.23 minutes into the final stage, a 44 km kermesse at Waikerie in South Australia.

Brief results –

STAGE 11 – LOXTON CRITERIUM, 42 KM

1. Peter McDonald (NSW), 1 hour 04.01 minutes

2. Jack Bobridge (SA), same time

3. Sean Finning (Vic), same time

4. Brendon Sharratt (NZ), same time

5. Robert Cater (NSW), +44 seconds

6. Russell Gill (SA), same time

7. Leigh Howard (Vic), same time

8. Miles Watson (Vic/NZ), same time

9. Patrick Shaw (Vic), same time

10. Daniel Braunsteins (Vic), same time

STAGE 12 – LOXTON KERMESSE, 70 KM

1. Miles Olman (Qld), 1 hour 47.09 minutes

2. Peter Milostic (NSW), +2 seconds

3. David Pell (Vic), +20 seconds

4. Jack Bobridge (SA), +1.16 minutes

5. Russell Gill (SA), same time

6. Leigh Howard (Vic), same time

7. Patrick Shaw (Vic), same time

8. David Kemp (Qld), same time

9. Peter McDonald (NSW), same time

10. Grant Irwin (Qld), same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION (after Stage 12)

1. Peter McDonald (NSW), 16 hours 44.48 minutes

2. Jack Bobridge (SA), +1.23 minutes

3. Grant Irwin (Qld), +1.33 minutes

4. Patrick Shaw (Vic), +1.38 minutes

5. Cameron Hughes (Qld), +1.47 minutes

6. Benjamin King (WA), +1.55 minutes

7. David Kemp (Qld), same time

8. Leigh Howard (Vic), +2.08 minutes

9. John Ebeling (NSW), +5.45 minutes

10. David Pell (Vic), +10.28 minutes

Road Safe Mildura Sprint Championship: Miles Watson (Vic/NZ)

WHK Thomsons Criterium Championship: Grant Irwin (Qld)

MADEC Most Aggressive Rider Award: Daniel Furmston (Tas)

Tourism Victoria King of the Mountain Championship: Daniel Furmston (Tas)

To come –

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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