Reckon Ewan is looking stronger every year - If only he could ride on cobbles - Anyway we’ll see the first sprinter’s showdown in the Tour of the UAE in the last week of February in which all most of the leading sprinters will be present - In an interesting development, Viviani is riding the Giro and the Vuelta - QS main focus will be Mas for GC.
Ewan wins the last stage in Willy, Brenton Jones second, Heinrich Haussler third. Marco Haller takes the overall after his 4th.
Petta Mullens wins the women’s race and Valentina Scandolara overall.
Ewan has a pretty good support crew for the TDU
It will be a good battle between Ewan, Viviani and Sagan for the sprints.
Australian Road Nat’s Criterium results
| 1. | 93 | Brenton JONES | 1h01:13 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2. | 27 | Tristan WARD | +0 | |||
| 3. | 75 | Jay MCCARTHY | +0 | |||
| 4. | 64 | Cameron IVORY | +0 | |||
| 5. | 50 | Theodore YATES | +0 | |||
| 6. | 10 | Robert STANNARD | +0 | |||
| 7. | 99 | Ben HILL | +0 | |||
| 8. | 104 | Shannon JOHNSON | +0 | |||
| 9. | 116 | Mathew ROSS | +0 | |||
| 10. | 11 | Chris HAMILTON | +0 | |||
| 11. | 33 | Sam WELSFORD | +0 | |||
| 12. | 12 | Jai HINDLEY | +0 | |||
| 13. | 159 | Todd SATCHELL | +6 | |||
| 14. | 101 | Nick SPRATT | +6 | |||
| 15. | 26 | Neil VAN DER PLOEG | +6 | |||
| 16. | 49 | Liam WHITE | +6 | |||
| 17. | 16 | Lachlan MORTON | +6 | |||
| 18. | 41 | Russell GILL | +6 | |||
| 19. | 143 | Daniel BUCKNALL | +6 | |||
| 20. | 119 | Jonathan CLARKE | +6 |
And the Women’s result
| 1. | 60 | Rebecca WIASAK | 1h11:50 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2. | 7 | Sarah ROY | +1 | |||
| 3. | 63 | Ruby ROSEMAN-GANNON* | +1 | |||
| 4. | 30 | Matilda RAYNOLDS | +1 | |||
| 5. | 44 | Lauretta HANSON | +1 | |||
| 6. | 55 | Natalie REDMOND | +1 | |||
| 7. | 25 | Ashlee ANKUDINOFF | +1 | |||
| 8. | 50 | Tiffany CROMWELL | +1 | |||
| 9. | 36 | Georgia WHITEHOUSE | +1 | |||
| 10. | 35 | Emily WATTS* | +1 |
Ewan is going all out for the RR - Expect him to be aggressive later in the race and he is my favorite - Apparently Ewan is riding the Giro/TDF - This will be interesting because he does struggle to hold his ‘peak’ for a long period of time - Thought the TDF/Vuelta would be a better option as the tougher sprint finishes suit his characteristics.
The alleged story regarding Porte and the Vuelta - The story goes that Porte never missed the teams presentation because he was ill - Apparently he dug his heels in and didn’t wish to ride the race - he had to be coerced to ride the race.
One year later Gigante (still 18, turns 19 in October), first year in U23 race, smashes whole field (including 6 strong Michelton Scott world level team) to win Open Oz Road Race title, plus U23 title.
In between she collected 99.95 score in Year 12.
Outstanding effort.
She was also awarded the Elite Women’s title.
Spratt 2nd and Roy 3rd.
Gillow was 2nd for a long way and was overtaken in the finishing straight by the two MS riders.
Will be interesting to see Gigante’s race program/study for the rest of 2019 - Maybe some under 23 racing in Europe and even some rides for Mitchelton Scott - She will be with the team full-time in 2020 - BELGIAN press comparing Gigante to Evanopoel.
MS are currently well placed in the men’s race, especially if Hayman continues to drive the second group.
she said in an interview going to us with the attaquer squad to ride in her holidays from uni.
She will end up in Europe for part of the second half of the year to ride the World under 23’s - Cycling Australia will see to this.
Massive failure by Cam Meyer - Race set up beautifully by MS - Just had to ride the last 2kms leading out Harper as he will beat him in a sprint BUT insteads fools around allowing Freiberg to come back from 18 seconds - Reckon Matt White will strangle Meyer - It’s a pity the National Jerseys will be hidden fairly much for 12 months.
Meyer didn’t have the balls to go for it at the 2km mark.
Either that or he was completely spent.
Even if he was spent he just rides tempo for the last 2km and he’s quicker than Harper in the sprint - Even in the women’s race, MS got their tactics wrong - Should have been Kennedy in the break and then Roy, Elvin and Holden to pace Spratt for a late attack - Anyway the MS women should win the ITT but the men will go out empty handed.
Mitchelton Scott team for the TDU
Impey
Hayman
Hepburn
Durbridge
Meyer
L.Hamilton
Edmondson
It will be all in for Impey with a chance that Meyer could sneak a stage - Also worth noting that it’s unusual to take a second year pro in Hamilton to the TDU which augurs well for the future It’s a good field with Ewan/Viviani/Sagan for the sprints - GC should feature Porte/Woods/Poels/McCarthy/Haas/S.Bennett etc,etc - My two outsiders for GC are LaTour and Pogacar.