Tour of Bright (Victorian Road Series' final event)

2013 will mark the 20th edition of the Tour of Bright, and what a year it will be! The Alpine Cycling Club will be going to extra lengths to commemorate the occasion.

Stage 1/The finish line is located at the top of Tawonga Gap. This stage has created a great atmosphere at the finish line, as everyone watches people arriving.

Stage 2/ The Individual Time Trial is where the rider tests themselves against the clock on an out and back course to Porepunkah.

Stage 3/ The route to Mt.Hotham is one of the most picturesque and challenging for any cyclist. A total of 55kms, the final 30 kms are all uphill, on an ascent to rival those seen in the French Alps.

The "Grand Finale" of the VRS and also one of the last events in Australia's cycling scene 2013! VRS-leader Cameron Wurf will fight hard to defend his lead, while our blogger Rhys Gillett (African Wildlife) will try to score big time.. but we can expect some big names of the NRS as well: Jack Haig (last year's 4th here), Matt Clark (defending champion) and more!

Tawonga Gap - a great view for stage one's summit!

Hotham Heights' Alpine Resort and stage three's finish!

Blogging rider(s)/

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Miguel98 wrote:
I always tought that Austrlia had no mountains. I was proven wrong.

Tour of Bright (Stage 1, Hilly, 90km)

The Tour of Bright kicks off with a tough stage, finishing on Tawonga Gap: a 6km climb, featuring 7% slopes in average.

So it's a first chance to create crucial gaps! Top-favorites will be riders like Haig (Huon), Evans (Budget), Gillett (African) or Lapthorne (Drapac), as defending Bright-champion Clark (Charter Mason) couldn't participate due to an injury he suffered in training.


We're already in the final 5km and the ascent to Tawonga Gap! The peloton had no problems to catch the breakaway before the climb.

Clements (Huon) is the first favorite to attack the bunch, he's followed by

Elliott (Target) and
Gillett (African Wildlife)!

Both Elliott and Gillett still fight for the Victorian Road Series-title or podium at least!


The trio gets company by Williams (Budget), who closes up to the first attackers with now 3km to go!

13" behind a duo of Lapthorne and Sheppard (search2) is trying to hang on, while another group of 7 (Haig, Pollock) is already 45" in arrears.


Williams accelerates another km later and it looks like the other three struggle to follow!

Gillett already seems to suffer from this steep climb, but he's still the last of the trio trying to keep Williams' pace!


Only 500metres remaining and Williams established a 50"-gap in the meantime! No one seems to be able to catch up.

The new chasing group with 5 riders tries a final attack:

Lapthorne
Elliott
Sheppard
Clements
Gillett

with the latter losing ground now. Looks like he put too much effort in his attempt to follow Williams!


Marc Williams (Budget) takes out the opening stage! No one could hang on, his "diesel" was simply outstanding today!


55" later, Darren Lapthorne (Drapac) sprints for 2nd place.

Another 10" behind, group Sheppard, Elliott, Clements and also our blogger Gillett crosses the line.

Evans (Budget), top-favorite for the mountain-stage, lost 1'55" as 8th. VRS-leader Wurf (Austal) 2'45" as 10th. Biggest surprise: Haig (Huon) could only finish as 11th, losing 2'55". Same goes for Britten (search2).

Miguel98 wrote:
I always tought that Austrlia had no mountains. I was proven wrong.

Strydz wrote:

Being from Melbourne I can certainly assure you we have mountains I know the Tour du Bright quite well and am in the ballot to race in D grade this year (hopefully a few drop out so I get a start).

tsmoha: Good story you have going here buddy, keep it up!

Tour of Bright (Stage 2, ITT, 15km)

Second day here in Bright and it's a rather short and easy timetrial. We've seen quite some bigger gaps yesterday, but any seconds gained can be valuable in the end!

Jordan Kerby (Jayco), top-favorite for this ITT, proved his strength by setting an early best time: 21'17".


Jack Haig (Huon) couldn't hang on with the best in yesterday's opener. Will he be able to fight back for at least a Top-5?

He makes a first step: new 2nd - ahead of VRS-leader Wurf (Austal) - with only 7" behind Kerby!


Our blogger Rhys Gillett (African Wildlife) is of course worth a closer look! He did quite well yesterday, finishing with the first bigger group of top-favorites.

He loses 35" on Kerby in the ITT, but is just within range of his closer rivals for a Top-3/5/10!


Race-leader Marc Williams (Budget) is known as a decent timetrialist and as GC's 2nd Lapthorne struggled today, he has no problems to defend his lead:

+ 17" as 6th today. He continues to prove his good shape!


The stage-win goes to Kerby. No real surprise, but he won't care about that!

As for the GC we've seen only minor changes: Williams still ahead of Lapthorne, who's now already 1'26" behind though!

Elliott, Clements and Gillett complete the provisional Top-5, all within 1'31" and 1'33" in arrears. Same goes for Sheppard as 6th.

The best climber - Karl Evans (Budget) - is already 2'20" behind as 7th. But will he even try to attack his teammate's yellow in tomorrow's concluding mountain-stage?

Tour of Bright (Stage 3, Mountain, 55km)

Final stage of the Tour of Bright - and it's simply short but tough! 55km in total, with about 30km ascending roads up the Mt Hotham!

Race-leader Williams (Budget) may not rely on his quite comfortable lead. Anything can happen in a mountain like this..


To keep the report short, let's focus on the final 10km of racing!

Two riders - Walker (Drapac) and Donohoe (search2) - attacked at the bottom of the climb for a breakaway attempt. 9km before finish, Walker is still in solo-lead by 55" on the bunch.

The field is already gone into pieces. 21 riders remain in the peloton, where Budget is doing the pace for their race-leader Williams..


..or maybe someone else? Evans (Budget) and Lapthorne (Drapac) attack the peloton a few moments later, overtaking escapee Donohoe.

So is Budget going for their best climber Evans today? He's 2'20" behind Williams in the GC. Or is it a tactical move only?


Evans definitely puts some pressure on both Williams and GC's 2nd Lapthorne:

he drops Lapthorne easily and soloes away! Solo-escapee Walker is also caught in the meantime.


Less than 2km remaining and we see Williams in a group with GC's 4th Clements (Huon) and Hamilton (Jayco). He's already 1'39" behind Evans right now.. will he even lose his yellow to his teammate?

E1/ Evans

E2/ Lapthorne at 0.28

E3/ Britten at 0.56

E4/ Sheppard at 1.18

E5/ Williams, Hamilton, Clements, Melville at 1.39

E6/ Gillett, Elliott, Donohoe, Walker at 1.56

So for the GC, it seems to be a fight between Evans, Lapthorne, Sheppard and Williams.. while Gillett, Elliott or also Haig (+ 2.50) can't compete with the very best.


Evans keeps fighting on this tough climb! Lapthorne ain't too far behind, but it's only a km to go..


And yes, just like in the opening stage, it's Team Budget with a solo-win: Karl Evans (winner of the Tour of Gippsland in the NRS) takes out the queen-stage!

Lapthorne 2nd with 25" in arrears..


But where's race-leader Williams?

Well, he could narrow the gap to the search2-duo Sheppard/Britten! With another final attack, he tries to hold on to his race-lead..


He does! What a fight by Williams, who even could re-gain some seconds on teammate Evans in the final 2-3km!

He crosses the line as 5th, losing 1'18" on Evans and less than a minute on GC'S 2nd Lapthorne.

That's enough to defend his lead! Marc Williams wins the Tour of Bright 2013, ahead of Lapthorne (+ 0.27) and Evans (+ 0.52).

Sheppard, Elliott and Clements finish a few seconds behind, while our blogger Gillett ends up as 7th! The 2nd in the Victorian Road Series did quite well behind those names, but will it be enough to grab the wanted VRS-title? We'll find out later.

CAMERON WURF CLAIMS VICTORIAN ROAD SERIES TITLE

Cameron Wurf (Austal-Subway) defended his lead in the final event of the VRS - the Tour of Bright! Despite facing some heavy competition in well known NRS-riders like Lapthorne (Drapac), Evans/Williams (Budget) or also Haig (Huon), Wurf managed to score valuable 11 points thanks to his podium-finish in the timetrial.

Rhys Gillett (African Wildlife), who was aiming for the VRS-title as well, missed his chance to grab the title, finishing 7th in GC: "It would have been great to take it, but the startlist in Bright was quite heavy. I'm not too disappointed about finishing on the VRS-podium though!"

Wurf, who did not find a professional team to sign him this year and who just rode a few races in Australia, proved his skills and may now aim for a "better" contract in 2014. His most important win in the VRS was the GC-win in the Tour of the South West earlier this year: "It's a nice achievement and I really enjoyed those races on home soil. I'll search for Pro-Team first, but who knows, maybe I'll end up riding the whole NRS next year!"

Rk	Name	Team	Total
1	Cameron Wurf	Austal - Subway	66
2	Darren Lapthorne	Drapac	54
3	Rhys Gillett	African Wild	52
4	Karl Evans	Budget Forklifts	51
5	Marc Williams	Budget Forklifts	50
6	Nathan Elliott	Target Trek	49
7	Eric Sheppard	search2retain	46
8	Riley Maule	Data#3	35
	Michael Troy	GPM Data#3	35
	Nicholas Squillari	African Wildlife	35
11	Nathan Earle	Genesys	30
12	Henry Morley	Satalyst Giant	27
13	Richard Moffatt	Melbourne	22
14	Alex Clements	Genesys	21
15	Nicholas D'Ambrosio	Target Trek	19

It has been a thrilling year in Australia's National Road Series and we've seen cycling at it's best! The 14 events have seen 10 different winners and some very close decisions: "We could have asked for more, really. This year has been another step forward for the NRS", said Sean Muir, Cycling Australia’s National Manager – Sport.


Neil Van der Ploeg taking out a stage in Herald Sun Tour!

The season kicked off in Tasmania, with the Mersey Valley Tour making for a great start into the year. Adam Semple (Satalyst) grabbed the GC-win thanks to a late solo-attack on final day. Nathan Earle (Huon), winner of the Mt Baw Baw classic (Victorian Road Series) a few days before, looked like the certain winner. Eventually, he wouldn't score a single GC-victory in 2013!


O'Brien has won three stage-races this year..

Mark O'Brien (Budget) did better in terms of victories: he managed to win 3 races (Toowomba, North West and Tasmania Tours) in total - one less than in 2012, but except of Neil Van der Ploeg (National Capital and Launceston to New Norfolk) the only rider to claim more than one race-win this year!


Defending champion Davison was in the mix again..

So O'Brien obviously was amongst those, who challenged for the NRS-title 2013! Semple, strong early in the season, couldn't really hold on to his early shape (still staying in the mix for the title though), so other names like Earle, young gun Jack Haig (Huon) and also defending champion Luke Davison (Drapac) joined the mix as well.

The latter did not dominate like he did in 2012, but thanks to winning the Tour of the Murray River, Davison again was amongst the very best riders in Australia this season: "I will be back for more! Even though, I fear the new points system in 2014 (same points for every event, no more categories) won't suit the sprinters very much!"


Van der Ploeg and his solo-win in New Norfolk!

A stunning late-season run by Neil Van der Ploeg, including his two mentioned wins plus several Top-10 finishes, eventually sealed the deal: O'Brien remained the last real contender but failed to narrow the comfortable gap Van der Ploeg had established before.

So again no title for last year's 3rd O'Brien, who at least made the NRS-podium as 2nd again. He and Van der Ploeg were joined by top-talent Jack Haig, who jumped onto the 3rd place by 2 points ahead of Davison: thanks to his prestigious win of the Grafton to Inverell Classic!