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

Mcdonald Declared Murray River Champ - Stage 13

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

Sydney based Peter McDonald claimed his first ever overall victory in the Fishers IGA Tour of the Murray River and will carry an 11 point lead to Tasmania in the Timbercorp Cup National Cycling Series.

McDonald (28) successfully defended the coveted leader’s yellow jersey for seven days in the 756 km tour after moving into the lead in the second stage from Moama to Barham last Sunday.

The expanded Tour of the Murray River took in three states (Victoria, NSW and South Australia) for the first time and finished in the riverland district town of Waikerie yesterday afternoon with a brilliantly successful 44 km kermesse on the edge of the famous river.

The final day’s stage on a tight and technical circuit was spectator friendly and making full use of the opportunity to display his talents, West Australian gold medal Olympian Peter Dawson won handsomely.

In a great burst at the finish, Dawson held off another gold medal Olympian, Brett Aitken with luckless Victorian Nicholas Sanderson third.

It was Sanderson’s fourth minor placing for the tour and it was Dawson’s second stage win.

Whilst Dawson was impressive in his victory, his main focus remains the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he hopes to again part of the Australian pursuit team.

Dawson missed a ride in the final of the 2004 Athens final, but was presented with a gold medal courtesy of his inclusion in the preliminary rounds.

"I have just signed a new contract with an American team and I believe I am racing in the best form of my life, so I’m looking forward to the next few seasons, in particular smashing them on the boards in Beijing next year," he said.

Dawson and his southaustralia.com teammates didn’t control the final stage, but they control their own tactics and orchestrated the right finish, with Dawson appearing to provide the lead out for Sanderson, but then having enough sprint power left in himself to win outright.

Queensland’s Grant Irwin, riding for the newly established Ord Minnett team was offered the perfect opportunity to improve his General Classification rating from third to second after picking up 19 bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints and then a further one second bonus for finishing sixth in the stage.

Irwin leapfrogged South Australian teenager sensation Jack Bobridge for outright second, finishing 1.13 minutes and 1.23 minutes behind McDonald respectively.

How Day 8 unfolded -

STAGE 13

Grant Irwin featured in all but one of the intermediate sprints, winning four of them as his Ord Minnett team drove the peloton rigorously throughout the 44 km kermesse.

Irwin was still in contention for the final sprint, but there were plenty of challengers throwing everything at him.

With Dawson leading out Sanderson, Savings and Loans South Australian rider Brett Aitken was also coming, while the tour’s RoadSafe Mildura Sprint champion Miles Watson was also in the mix, as was last year’s Tour of the Murray River sprint champion, David Kemp.

But Dawson, who won the Euston Criterium earlier this week was superb in the closing stages, while Aitken and Sanderson almost locked handlebars as they crossed the line. Such is their super bike skills, no damage was done.

"This was a great way for the team to finish the tour, we didn’t have a rider in contention on GC, so for the bulk of the tour we concentrated on stage wins and it worked pretty well for us in the end."

The southaustralia.com Australian U23 team won six of the 13 stages, with Dawson and Mark Jamieson claiming two wins each and Sean Finning and Miles Olman also successful.

The team also had Sanderson in four minor placings and Dawson, Olman and Finning also claiming minor stage results.

Jamieson also won the tour’s Most Aggressive Rider award for some outstanding efforts mid-tour prior to him crashing out of the event in Friday’s Ouyen – Patchewollock – Ouyen road stage.

Miles Watson dominated the sprint championship, amassing 106 points to finish 46 points clear of McDonald.

In the Tourism Victoria King of the Mountain Championship, Tasmanian Daniel Furmston scored a 9-point win over Miles Olman and in the WHK Thomsons Criterium Championship, Grant Irwin won by 6-points from Nick Sanderson.

The Timbercorp Cup National Cycling Series is now 24 races old this year and Peter McDonald leads on 171 points.

Next closest to him is Grant Irwin on 160 and then Patrick Shaw on 140.

No other rider has triple figures with the 11 stage Tour of Tasmania to determine final standings from October 2-7.

Brief results –

STAGE 13 – WAIKERIE KERMESSE, 44 KM

1. Peter Dawson (WA), 58.14 minutes

2. Brett Aitken (SA), same time

3. Nicholas Sanderson (Vic), same time

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

5. David Kemp (Qld), same time

6. Grant Irwin (Qld), same time

7. Leigh Howard (Vic), same time

8. Jason Hegert (NSW), same time

9. Russell Gill (SA), same time

10. Gary Mueller (Vic), same time

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION (Final)

1. Peter McDonald (NSW), 17 hours 43.04 minutes

2. Grant Irwin (Qld), +1.13 minute

3. Jack Bobridge (SA), +1.23 minutes

4. Patrick Shaw (Vic), +1.33 minutes

5. Cameron Hughes (Qld), +1.47 minutes

6. David Kemp (Qld), +1.53 minutes

7. Benjamin King (WA), +1.54 minutes

8. Leigh Howard (Vic), +2.03 minutes

9. Tom Middleton (SA), +4.42minutes

10. John Ebeling (NSW), +5.02 minutes

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

WHK Thomsons Criterium Championship: Grant Irwin (Qld)

MADEC Most Aggressive Rider Award: Mark Jamieson (Tas)

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

Timbercorp Cup series (events remaining) -

Tour of Tasmania – October 2-7

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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