Welcome to Australia, and this isn’t the weather you’d expect this time a year here. It’s cold, windy, and there might fall some rain during this race. But that shouldn’t stop the riders from making a nice race to watch! 151 riders from the Continental tour start here, hoping to impress their managers and the world of cycling. The bookmakers all agree that Serebriakov, Drapac and Matthews are the favourites to win this race.
After 3 kilometres, it’s Paiani who is the first attacker of the day. He’s followed by Edmondson, Bogataj, Mahyo and De Winde
1 kilometre later, Sirironnachai tries to bridge the gap to the other attackers.
7 kilometres later he joins them, and the lead is a full minute, so it looks like these 6 will form the breakaway of today.
The peloton isn’t worried, the 6 are working well together, and this has caused the lead to grow to 3:57 after just 23 kilometres of racing.
The radio reporter just made a really funny comment, saying: ‘’There is considerable daylight back to the peloton!’’ I wonder what race he’s watching as I can’t see any daylight here. Eddie Stobart, Risa – Ergon, Carlsberg and Tomtom are leading the chase. The peloton is 5:15 behind now.
Bad luck for Vasilyev, as he suffers a puncture. He has no trouble re-joining the peloton though, as the pace isn’t too high yet. In the meantime the gap has peaked at 6:30, but the earlier mentioned teams have taken full control, and the lead is reduced to 5:58 with 130 kilometres left to race.
100 kilometres done, another 100 to go. The lead is down to 4:36, mainly thanks to the work of Risa – Ergon.
77 kilometres left to run, and it finally looks like we actually might see the sun today. The 6 still lead by 3:30, and in the peloton it’s still the same teams leading the chase.
The break is in sight with 35 kilometres to go, so we should be in for a mass sprint!
Sutherland has other ideas, and attempts to attack from the peloton.
At this same time a lot of riders are being left behind. This group includes Cooper, Westling, Hochmann, Bandiera, Eefting, Meenhorst, Awang and Salleh!
Just under 20 kilometres to go, and Sutherland has closed the gap to 36 seconds, with the pack a mere 20 seconds behind him.
More riders are dropped, and some fast men can’t keep up with the peloton. In this group we can see Hawkins, Brus, Herrera, Haedo, Caethoven, Richeze, Cano, Dupont, Poulhiès, Chavanel, Haedo, Haddou, Schinker and Uugunbayar.
With 9 kilometres remaining the 6 still have a 36 second advantage, with Sutherland losing ground trailing on 20 seconds.
And Sirironnachai goes with 6 kilometres left! No one responds to his acceleration!
4 kilometres to go, and this looks more like a battlefield than a cycling race now. The former breakaway has shattered into pieces. And Sirironnachai has a 16 second lead on the other escapees, Mayho is dropped from there, 11 seconds behind. Sutherland is 14 behind Mayho, and the peloton is another 14 seconds back. Complete madness!
And just when you think it’s as crazy as it could possibly get, Roulston attacks!
Our leader enters the final 2 kilometres now, and behind him it’s a complete mess, with riders all over the place.
Meanwhile, the pack is trying to organise a sprint, emphasizing trying…:
Rasmussen
Renshaw
Wurf
Stolz
Vanderaerden
Ostergaard
Rosseler
Petrie-Armstrong
Vingerling
Drapac
Fonseca
Serebriakov
And Vanderaerden and Vingerling both start sprinting as Sirironnachai begins his final kilometre!
Drapac, Fonseca and Serebriakov are going fast now, steaming past a lot of riders, including Sutherland.
Just a few metres to go for the leader now! De Winde and Paiani are close now!
But Sirironnachai holds on for an impressive win! He’s too tired to even think of celebrating! Will this man be this year’s Dadi Suryadi? I guess only time will tell…
At this stage Serebriakov and Drapac are moving really fast, but they can only sprint for a top 10.
De Winde finishes second, just beating Paiani.
Edmondson and Bogataj are fouth and fifth.
Mayho just manages to beat Roulston for sixth.
Drapac gets in eight, and a finish-photo shows us Serebriakov is ninth, beating Vanderaerden, who completes the top 10.
