Two in a row for Gerrans at TDU
#GoGerro! MMBCC Life Member Simon Gerrans is hopeful of securing his fourth Tour Down Under title after taking his second consecutive win today on stage 4 the 2016 race. See what can happen when you stay upright on your bike!
Great to see Simon collecting his leader's jersey in a cycling cap (also known as a casquette) and not a baseball cap too! (The rules are not to be trifled with.)
Unconfirmed reports from Adelaide suggest a tall man wearing a green 'Team Gerrans' t-shirt has been seen roaming the streets proclaiming to live in Mansfield and claiming some connection to the MMBCC. The public is warned the man is likely delirious and should not be approached.
Cycling Tips has a good write up on stage 4 here. The GreenEDGE Backstage Pass video of stage 3 shows Andy Gerrans this time too.
Local road racing kicks off for 2016
Enthusiasm, new faces and great racing were on the agenda for the first road race after the summer break for the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club.
Alex Green convinced several out-of-town mates to race for the night and Andrew Clark, Dan Purcell, Andrew Letts and Cassie Pentony fronted up for their first taste of racing.
Prophetically, Kat McKean jumped off the front of her group leaving Lou Hopwood and Ian Conrick to battle the heat and hills by themselves. David Bock dug in hard early to catch the fragmenting group of Janine Appleton, Dan Purcell, John Eisner and Rod Manning. Appleton and Purcell worked well to create a gap while Andrew Letts rode off Alex Green and Will MacDonald to quietly mop up the field.
Josh Hopwood, John Ryan, Todd Baxter and Tom MacMunn had a tough assignment at the pointy end and weren't able to catch the main bunch who were methodically working their way through the field. Notably Jarrod Appleton and Dave Moore hung in well with Bruce Halket riding smoothly in a post-surgery return to form. Ross Hopkins did well to cross the gap and record the night’s fastest time.
Kat continued to ride well thanks to her solid post-injury training and had good win with Andrew Letts coming a well deserved second. A bunch sprint saw Darren 'quiet achiever' Bakker place third with Halket, Jarrod Appleton, Hopkins, Brega, Moore, Green and Purcell making up the top ten. Ian Conrick did well to place 11th and Cassie Pentony 16th leaving Clark and Eisner to review their training regime.
Thanks to our volunteers for the night and the Delatite Hotel for their support.
Thanks too to John Eisner for the write-up this week.
Post-race and post-presentations at The Delatite...
VDHS Round 3 at Buller this weekend.
The rain's stopped, the course has been bunted (for fans of The Cycling Podcast... yes, we have Humungous Bunting!) and the club t-shirts have arrived. We're all ready to go!
Thanks in advance to all our club volunteers and good luck to all the racers!
Good luck Kian
Finally, all the best to Kian Lerch-MacKinnnon who's racing the 3rd and 4th round of the National MTB Series this weekend in Western Australia.