New Zealand’s Joseph Cooper, of Huon Genesys, has won the inaugural Tour de Perth by 51 seconds over Neil Van Der Ploeg (Search2Retain) in what has been an exciting four days of racing.
The final stage of the first race in the National Road Series (NRS) took place just outside of Perth’s city centre with an119km ride around Perry Lakes and Bold Park.
The racing on Stage 3 was exhilarating with attack after attack and Stage 4 was no different.
If riders exhausted from Saturday’s day of attrition thought Sunday would be an easier day in the saddle, they were quite mistaken.
The pace was once again, blistering.
Within the first three laps there were seven attacks.
Stephen Hall (Bianchi-Lotto), Blair Windsor (Budget Forklifts), Pat Shaw (Huon Genesys), Edward Bissaker (Bianchi-Lotto) and Brett Gillespie also of Bianchi, got a 9 second lead within the first 10 km. They were quickly brought back to the fold, however, that didn’t stop a move from Budget Forklifts and another move by yesterday’s stage winner, Nathan Earle (Huon Genesys).
The first sprint points of the day went to Stephen Hall.
The peloton then reformed and on lap 3 Brett Gillespie thought he’d get in on the action again. A big group then formed off the front with two Huon Genesys riders, Anthony Giacoppo and Aaron Donnelly.
The peloton quickly reformed before another break got away. Michael Cupitt (Budget Forklifts), Sam Rutherford (GPM Data), Bradeley Hall (Satalyst Giant) and Michael Phelan (Parramatta) got off to a 7 second lead. Edward Bissaker, Nathan Earle, and Shaun McCarthy (Budget Forklifts) rode over to join them and an 18 second gap formed.
The action on lap 3 continued with Dan Bonello (Parramatta) and Julian Hamill (GPM Data) puncturing.
By the start of lap 5 the peloton was back together.
As they did yesterday, Huon Genesys were well represented in these attacks and successfully brought the race back under their control.
Stephen Hall also took out the third intermediate sprint. At around this time, Van Der Ploeg, the sprint jersey wearer had a mechanical and was brought back into the bunch by his teammates.
There were plenty of attacks in the first half of the race but nothing was able to stick.
The pace started to slow down midway through the race but with five laps to go another breakaway formed.
Jacob Kauffman of Budget Forklifts took out the penultimate intermediate sprint, ensuring teammate Sam Horgan of the green jersey.
Sam Rutherford, Jack Anderson (Budget), Aaron Donnelly and Henry Morley (Satalyst Giant) managed to create a 35 second lead. The final three laps consisted of some punchy climbs and the breakaway went into this section of the race with a 20 second lead.
With two laps to go there was no longer a lead group and the peloton was split.
Huon Genesys was well positioned going into the final lap with five riders. The team has dominated the four stages of the Tour de Perth.
In the final lap the bunch thinned out to 15 riders. Search2Retain’s Neil Van Der Ploeg, Cameron Bayley and Eric Sheppard along with Henry Morley, Peter English (Satalyst Giant), Scott Law (GPM Data) and Jack Anderson were all making a good run for the finish line.
The finish was tense and close with GPM Data’s Scott Law crossing the line first ahead of Neil Van Der Ploeg and Alex Smyth of Satalyst Giant.
Nathan Earle took out the overall KOM classification, winning all of the KOM points on the stage.
Stage 4 Results
1.Scott Law (GPM) 2h31:21
2.Neil Van Der Ploeg (STR) +0
3.Alex Smyth (SGR) +0
4.Anthony Giacoppo (HGP) +0
5.Nick Graham-Dawson +0
6.Sam Nelson (SKO) +0
7.Blair Windsor (BFL) +0
8.Shaun McCarthy (BFL) +0
9.Sam Horgan (BFL) +0
10.Rhys Gillet (AWS) +0
General Classification
1.Joseph Cooper (HGP) 7h58:04
2.Neil Van Der Ploeg (STR) +51
3.Jack Haig (HGP) +59
4.Jack Anderson +1:12
5.Sam Horgan (BFL) +1:21
6.Anthony Giacoppo (HGP) +1:22
7.Nathan Earle (HGP) +1:27
8.Harry Carpenter (ERD) +1:27
9.Aaron Donnelly (HGP) +1:56
10.Nathan Elliott (TTR) +2:06
Sprint Classification
1.Sam Horgan (BFL) 13
2.Neil Van Der Ploeg (STR) 11
3.Stephen Hall (BFL) 10
KOM
1.Nathan Earle (HGP) 36
2.Marc Williams (BFL) 11
3Eric Sheppard (STR) 10
Huon Genesys won the Teams Classification ahead of Budget Forklifts and Satalyst Giant.
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