Last stage of the 3DT brought us back to Kyneton show grounds which had an element of Groundhog Day - what a banger of a movie! Cold again, and a nightmare fog straight out of Pet Cemetery saw the stage delayed an hour and cut short a lap. I was holding onto the GC lead by a mere 8 seconds- and with KOM and Line time bonuses up for grabs it was due to be an aggressive 60km. We also had young Riley Terrens (16 years and first season in seniors) in third place GC, who we wanted to get up to 2nd place.
5 km in our first lap was brought back under control. Word is that it was due to an A grade socialite being so excited by his new under the counter spray on tan he recently picked up he lost his line, and took out a couple of Bike Gallery riders
(Ed: Note this is a viscous and unsubstantiated rumour. JUST THE WAY WE LIKE IT).
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| Young Riley saving his cookies for the last ascent. |
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| GC Contenders keeping near the front and an eye on each other. |
Gas back on and first KOM went down with the Coburg boys not putting in the expected attack. Soon after a group of five smacked it off for a break with Jez going with. They all worked well splitting the KOM points and also putting in a minute on the bunch.
Young "Aero Slingsby" was in the group with a team mate, which was raising some concern in the Coburg camp as he was a threat for Macaulay's podium spot. After some discussion between the teams, with Jez up the road hoping to soak up time bonuses it was left to Coburg to monitor the time gap. Katsonis and Roberts moved to the front and did some excellent chasing holding the gap to about a minute.
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| Macauley rode excellently - never far from the front. |
After Jez had successfully soaked up some of the time bonuses available, the time had come to bring them back with Mitch, Duggan and Fonz pulling big turns on tired legs, Spiro hanging out the back in case of any mechanicals.
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| Immaculate as ever. |
The Coburg boys came to town and put in some efforts to aid bringing the escapees back with 10km to go. We had controlled the race all weekend, and it didn't let up, with Mitch and Steve smashing it through the final rollers into the last and decisive climb. I ended up riding with Macaulay (second in GC) and his teammate Lilley (Forth) at the start of the climb. Lachie B made a leap early on which started the chain reaction- it was all go up the last pinch and the drag down the to the line. Terrens had put in a stellar tour and was keen to add to it, proving to be the best of the day taking a solid leap for first, Guy Green pulling second and I rolled through for 3rd whilst Duggan took a breath to practice his wheelies up the KOM.
Terrens was awarded with a time bonus moving him into a well earned 2nd in GC and a warning to future A graders that this boy can ride strong and smart. I was stoked to pull off the GC overall, much due to all the work that the boys had put in throughout the weekend. They all rode smart and fair all weekend, seeing Mitch, Jez and the Fonz leading the group down into Metcalf on Sunday was my highlight and made it clear why I liked racing with the SC crew.
Racing bikes is sick!!!
As a side note - there was a bit of a kerfuffle at the end of Stage 4 about how close the tour finished between the top GC riders. Duggan stepped in and elaborated on how it would have been totally different if he hadn't got a punny.
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| "I'm sorry guys. I would have won by about 5 minutes if I hadn't got that punny. It won't happen again" |
