Sweet As.

Geelong Tour August 12,13 & 14

Stage 1& 2

The Victorian regional centre of Geelong is hosting round round 4 of the 2011 National Road Series.

The first stage was an individual Time Trial in the undulating terrain around Gnarwarre. The 28 klm test saw some amazing performances from riders as they fought both the conditions and the terrain. When the clock had stopped on the last rider, official were able to finalize the results, which with a large field and multiple riders on the course was a great effort on their part!

Bundaberg Sugar Team ended up with 3 riders ( Zoe, Loren and our guest rider Nicole Whitburn) all in the top 12!! A great start to a multi stage event where we need to have riders near the head of the field for the road stages. The winner is a TT specialist who won with a mighty effort to smash the field wide open.

Saturdays Stage 2 saw the girls roll off the start line for a 95klm hill fest with 8 Queen of the Mountains (QOM) sprints during the stage just to keep things interesting!

On the first of the two laps a small break opened up at 25klm which had Zoe, Sue Forsyth and Grace Sulzberger from the Tasmanian Institute of Sport. Their lead built well to be over 40 seconds, but the the rampaging bunch chased them down...too much of a danger group for the teams not represented to let go too far.

The next 70 kilometers saw Zoe dominate the QOM sprints, winning 5, second in 2 and third in one! This dominant display showed her talent and also kept the pressure off her team mates for the finale. With road captain Trish Palmer setting strategy, the girls worked like a well oiled machine.

The final 5klm saw the peloton reach super high speeds with the last climb followed by a tricky decent which split a lot of the field off the front group.

After the final turn, the finishing straight is nearly one kilometer long, so good tactics, bike handling for the crucial turn and most of all strong legs are what wins these races. At the turn Loren swept around some of the other lead group riders, jumped to the left with a small elite group that were set to battle for the final honors.. From 3rd wheel Loren released her sprint with the line in sight... VICTORY!..

Photo Courtsy of Cycling news

Loren showed a clean set of heels to the other riders leaving them in her wake.

What a race, what a result.

Bundaberg Sugar Team finishes Stage 2 with Loren Rowney winning the stage and Zoe Watters crowned as Queen of the Mountains.

Sunday is a 40 klm Criterium around Geelong, with the whole team focused on our quest to both win the stage and also claim those all important NRS Teams points.

Photo Courtsy of Cycling news