Press Release: 1000 metre World Junior Track Champion Tom Palmer (City of Greater Geelong) held off Victorian Gary Mueller (Total Rush) to win stage 5 of the GMHBA Tour of Geelong and 2009 Victorian Open Road Championships. Joel Pearson (Savings & Loans) placed third, although neither Mueller nor Pearson are still in the tour.
It was an edgy start for the 110 men in the field, delayed by half an hour as ambulance drivers attended to the injured riders from the women’s criterium.
Jonathon Cantwell, who placed 6th in yesterday’s elite individual time trials, pushed out hard in the opening stages of the criterium, wining the 1st, 2nd and 14th sprint legs, he now holds the Sprint Jersey, 7 points ahead of Charles Howlett (Cycle City) – but with 12 sprint legs tomorrow he will need to stay diligent.
Today Cantwell’s claimed the much sort after Criterium Jersey, 1 point ahead of Dale Scarfe (Mace-McDonagh Blake).
“I ran out of legs just before the end but our main concern was to keep the yellow jersey, hopefully we can keep it tomorrow”, Cantwell told the crowd today.
Resolved to holding on to the leaders jersey, Queenslander Darren Rolfe (Fly V Australia) remained tucked with in the peloton, although he still leads fellow rider David Kemp (Fly V Australia) by two minutes in the general classifications.
“I’m feeling good and I’m starting to get used to wearing the yellow jersey, I rolled through the motion today and stayed out the way and let the other boys go for the sprint jersey”, Rolfe said.
Yesterday’s stage winner, William Clarke (Praties) remains the next closest in general classifications trailing Rolfe by 2:16.
David Kemp (Fly V Australia) is edging closer to Leigh Howard in the overall placing’s for the Scody Cup. Kemp needs to hold onto his second placing and finish the race tomorrow to secure the top position.
General Classiication after Stage 5
1 ROLFE, Darren Fly V Australia 08:20:00.43
2 KEMP, David Fly V Australia +02:00.02
3 CLARKE, William Praties +02:16.73
4 GRENDA, Ben Praties +02:37.21
5 CANTWELL, Jonathan Fly V Australia +02:46.65
6 RUDOLPH, Malcolm Budget Forklifts +02:51.81
7 LANG, Richard Titans – Race +03:04.13
8 NEWELL, Dylan Praties +03:17.73
9 ENGLAND, Michael Budget Forklifts +03:44.91
10 JENNINGS, Cameron Budget Forklifts +03:54.24
