Press Release: Gale force winds of up to 65 kilometre an hour made the decision to cancel the Women’s Road Race in the 2009 Victorian Open Road Championship an easy choice today.
However, as the wind dropped the men were told to kit up for the final day of racing in the GMHBA Tour of Geelong, only to be told 15 minutes later that the race had been cancelled due to extreme weather conditions.
Event Organiser, John Craven, from Caribou Publications made the difficult call, “I am very disappointed that we have had to call off the race, the first 4 days of the Tour have been wonderful and we have seen outstanding results from the teams, in particular Fly V Australia who ran a superior race across the board, for everyone involved rider safety is paramount”, Craven announced to the teams and riders.
Results remained unchanged after yesterdays criterium held at Eastern Park in Geelong, Queenlander Darren Rolfe (Fly V Australia) taking first place in the GMHBA Tour of Geelong with a total time of 08:20:00:43, 2 minutes ahead of fellow team mate David Kemp, and 2:16 ahead of Tasmanian William Clarke (Praties).
Fly V Australia cleaned up in the jersey stakes, Jonathan Cantwell taking home the Sprint Jersey, 7 points ahead of Charles Howlett (Cycle City), Howlett not walking away empty handed, he was awarded the Most Aggressive Rider Championship honour.
Tour winner Darren Rolfe (Fly V Australia) claimed the King of The Mountain Classifications, sweeping the poker dot jersey from Malcolm Rudolph’s (Budget Forklifts) grasp by 2 points.
1 point enabled Jonathan Cantwell to bag the Criterium Jesey yesterday ahead of Dale Scarfe (Mace-Mcdonagh Blake), and Kyle Marwood (Praties) a little further behind in 3rd position.
In a week marred with broken bones and extreme weather conditions but held in some of Victoria’s most spectacular scenic locations, Fly V Australia remained the dominant team, walking away from the Tour 1:24 clear of Praties and 4:40 clear of Budget Forklifts.
“We have a great team, we have big ambitions and without these races we wouldn’t have anything to do in Australia, every race gets us closer to our ambitions”, David Kemp (Fly V Australia) told spectators at today’s presentations.
Kemp’s Tour 2nd place sees him gain enough points to overtake Leigh Howard in the overall Scody Cup placing’s.
It is hoped the final day of the 2009 Victorian Open Road Championships, the men’s and women’s elite road race will be held on October 25th, following the Melbourne to Warrnambool road race.
The next event in the Scody Cup is the Elgas Tour of the Murray, starting in Echuca on Sunday, August 30, and finish in Mildura on Sunday, September 6.
The 940km tour will also visit Rochester, Moama, Barham, Swan Hill, Lake Boga, Manangatang, Tooleybuc, Robinvale, Euston, Ouyen, Patchewollock, Merbein and Wentworth.
