Today’s 2nd stage of the 2013 Caterpillar Tour of Tasmania took a slightly smaller peloton along the 120km journey west from New Norfolk to Strathgordon. Yesterday’s TTT saw the cream rise to the top yet even with the extended 25% cut off time, six riders were cut due to such a quick pace set by Genesys. The talk of twitter last night was Cycling Australia’s 3 minute policy that saw almost three quarters of the field sitting in equal 20th position, a few unhappy comments but with the talent Genesys possess, if anyone is able to pull back 3 minutes they certainly deserve their position in GC.
The morning was warmer than expected and a few of us were considering making the 10km descent from Heimat Chalet down to the start line. As the gun blew and we crossed the start line a strong cross head wind reeked havoc with a few early crashes on each side of the road from either a touch of wheels or not concentrating properly. A group of eight took the opportunity to leap off the front quickly building a lead that stretched out to 7 and a half minutes at one point which was quickly brought back by Genesys to a more manageable 4 and a half minutes. The kilometres ticked by and all of a sudden we had left the first KOM behind with a little bit of suffering, hoping to recover before the second KOM of the day. Despite pushing hard some of us stayed in the bunch and a few of us didn’t. Everything came back together just before the 25km to go mark. At 10km to go we could see the last of the hard climbs for the day and then taking us into an undulating run to the finish line however as the top of the climb was crested, the remainder of the break was caught, all except for Alex Edmonson. Edmonson powered onto the descent solo, despite being caught he was able to hold off the field to take the win.
A strong win be Alex today, all of the guys here in Veneziano certainly cooked themselves to get good position, with Justin Gassner sitting in the top 10-15 riders all day long, Lachlan Ambrose spending his day milling around the bunch and finishing with bunch time, I struggled up the final berg at 10km to go and finished around two minutes behind the winners, Andrew Clarkson put in strong turns after being dropped to get a small group of 10 riders back in to the peloton after the 2nd KOM, Luca Giacomin rode strong all day but just came unstuck with 10km to go as well as young fella Matt Gassner, 17, who in his first NRS tour has certainly jumped in the deep end head first, is currently holding his own and showing some impressive climbing strength for someone so young.
Yet again another massive thank you to all of our sponsors, especially Veneziano Coffee Roasters, Blefari Cafe & Cucina and First Pour Boutique Cafe. And another thank you to John Gassner for driving the team bus as well as Sam for driving the team convoy car as well as post race massages. Two days of hurt done, it can’t get much worse.
The morning was warmer than expected and a few of us were considering making the 10km descent from Heimat Chalet down to the start line. As the gun blew and we crossed the start line a strong cross head wind reeked havoc with a few early crashes on each side of the road from either a touch of wheels or not concentrating properly. A group of eight took the opportunity to leap off the front quickly building a lead that stretched out to 7 and a half minutes at one point which was quickly brought back by Genesys to a more manageable 4 and a half minutes. The kilometres ticked by and all of a sudden we had left the first KOM behind with a little bit of suffering, hoping to recover before the second KOM of the day. Despite pushing hard some of us stayed in the bunch and a few of us didn’t. Everything came back together just before the 25km to go mark. At 10km to go we could see the last of the hard climbs for the day and then taking us into an undulating run to the finish line however as the top of the climb was crested, the remainder of the break was caught, all except for Alex Edmonson. Edmonson powered onto the descent solo, despite being caught he was able to hold off the field to take the win.
A strong win be Alex today, all of the guys here in Veneziano certainly cooked themselves to get good position, with Justin Gassner sitting in the top 10-15 riders all day long, Lachlan Ambrose spending his day milling around the bunch and finishing with bunch time, I struggled up the final berg at 10km to go and finished around two minutes behind the winners, Andrew Clarkson put in strong turns after being dropped to get a small group of 10 riders back in to the peloton after the 2nd KOM, Luca Giacomin rode strong all day but just came unstuck with 10km to go as well as young fella Matt Gassner, 17, who in his first NRS tour has certainly jumped in the deep end head first, is currently holding his own and showing some impressive climbing strength for someone so young.
Yet again another massive thank you to all of our sponsors, especially Veneziano Coffee Roasters, Blefari Cafe & Cucina and First Pour Boutique Cafe. And another thank you to John Gassner for driving the team bus as well as Sam for driving the team convoy car as well as post race massages. Two days of hurt done, it can’t get much worse.
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