Drapac Cycling have opened their 2013 National Road Series account at the Tour of Toowoomba, with William Walker taking out the first stage ahead of Ben Grenda (PGN) and Brodie Talbot (RKG).
The Victorian team had, by its standards, a fairly quiet Battle on the Border, however, they dominated the action in the first stage of a five stage race.
Williams leads the general classification, sprint and king of the mountains classifications, as well as being awarded the most aggressive rider and Drapac lead the Teams competition.
Darren Lapthorne spent a good chunk of the day out in a breakaway, picking up bonus points on the way.
Along with Walker, the team also had two other riders in the top ten, Malcolm Rudolph in sixth place and Bernard Sulzberger in seventh.
Yesterday’s stage was 113km ride from Oakley to Highfields, culminating in an up-hill sprint finish.
The race was split after the final KOM, when series leader Jack Haig rode at the front, setting a cracking pace.
“Taking the lead in a tour is always nice, I haven’t been in this position for a while so it’s a good feeling to rally the troops. I think we saw a few chinks in the armour of Huon-Genesys today,” Walker said.
The Tasmanian team, which dominated the first two races of the series, had a quiet day out. Nathan Earle finished ninth and series leader Jack Haig came home in 11th.
“Honestly I wasn’t even planning on doing a sprint today but at the end I found myself in the right place and followed the right move with 100 metres to go,” said Walker.
“Brodie Talbot has quite a bit of horse power which was pretty good because he ended up leading me out.”
Search2Retain’s ever reliable Neil Van Der Ploeg came in fourth and, even with Cameron Bayley sitting in second in the Sprint classification, the team expressed their frustration at the day’s race over twitter, posting:
“Stage 1 #tot13 did not work out for us as planned. About to have team meeting and work out what the hell happened today! Stay tuned…”
Runner up Ben Grenda had another great day in the saddle, building on some good performances last week at the Battle of the Border.
Stage two is a 123km ride from Crows Nest to the Bunya Mountains. Riders will be tested by the climbs on what is sure to be an exciting day’s racing.
Stage Results
Willima Walker (DPC) 2hr52:33
Ben Grenda (PGN) +2
Brodie Talbot (RKG) +2
Neil Van Der Ploeg (STR) +2
Luke Parker (VIS) +2
Malcolm Rudolph (DPC) +2
Bernard Sulberger (DPC) +2
Rhys Gillet (AWS) +2
Nathan Earle (HGP) +2
Jason Spencer (CHM) +2
GC
William Walker (DPC) 2hr52:17
Ben Grenda (PGN) +12
Darren Lapthorne (DPC) +12
Brodie Talbot (RKG) +14
Jack Haig (HGP) +15
Jack Anderson (BFL) +15
Nathan Elliott (TTR) +15
Rhys Gillet (AWS) +16
Adam Semple (SGR) +17
Tom Kaesler (ERD) +17
Sprint
William Walker (DPC) 6
Cameron Bayley (STR) 4
Darren Lapthorne (DPC) 3
KOM
William Walker (DPC) 5
Darren Lapthorne (DPC) 5
Jack Haig (HGP) 5
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