Some club success at stage 4 of the Tour of Two Rivers over the weekend with Boss Development Squad rider Katie Taylor finshing first female overall. In B grade men, Brad Drew took home the KOM as part of a 30km solo break and Paddy Quiggin took second in the bunch sprint finish. In typical Riverina style it was a great day of scratch racing, with a bit of everything. Here’s a summary of the day’s racing from club vice captain, Paddy:
“There was a smaller turnout than usual due to the clash with Fitz’s, with about 50 riders fronting up to the start line across the four grades. A grade was particularly showing the impacts, with only five riders starting. The forecast was for 4kph winds but it blew a fair bit harder than this during the race.
Men’s D/Women’s A:
The bunch wasn’t keen on letting much go, so it was a good old-fashioned handicap style race that happened to be during a scratch, complete with pacelining, monster turns and deliberate attacks up the hills to soften up the weaker riders, but no real moves to get away from the bunch. The final pinch before the hilltop finish saw Katie burn her matches to ensure she stayed with the bunch and she actually lead the final selection of six riders into sight, with a few riders popped from the effort. The sprint resulted in second for Vikings rider Eddie O’Farrell with Katie getting outgunned but still coming in well ahead of the other riders.
Men’s C:
As is typical with Men’s C, nothing was ever going to get away. Riders were chasing everything as soon as it was more than 50m off the front, so this lead to the race staying together. Coming over the final hill Jason Mahoney was in excellent position only to have a rider knock his handlebars and unsettle him. Finding himself boxed him in the final stretch, Jason dropped back, launched a very audacious early attack but this was unfortunately not quite enough to catch the front of the bunch completely by surprise. He ended up getting swamped by a few riders who sat in longer, but was very satisfied with 7th from the 12 or so riders who came over the hill together.
Men’s B:
With one rider fronting up in a skinsuit and then going from the gun, it was always going to be an interesting race. With a lot of soft turns and gutter-riding on the leg out towards Marrar, the young rider faded enough to be brought back and I decided after about 12km that it was time to see what would happen if I went. A Morgan St rider and I were away for about 1km, and as we came back to the bunch Brad Drew went flying by, soon to be joined by Lavington rider Ryan (again, in a skinsuit) and an Illawarra rider. After some confusion, a brake grab, some strong words and (I am told) even some Mark Renshaw style headbutting the break fell apart and Brad went off solo. The gap never really got beyond about a minute, with it almost closing at the heavily contested KOM, but it took a lot of work from the Illawarra rider and a Kidsons Cycles rider to bring back Brad, as well as three or four attempts to bridge and even a paceline! Finally a Wagga academy rider bridged to Brad and they remained clear for another 10 minutes, before being brought back into the bunch (and installed on the front, because, you know, it’s not like they’d been in the wind much) after the final turn.
The usual cat and mouse started about 10km out from the finish line, with the Kidsons rider going clear for long enough that I got nervous and closed it down. There were a few other attempts to get away but nothing stuck and eventually Brad got on the front for me and dragged the bunch up to the last climb before the finish, then sat up with his work done. I had done a lot of sitting in and come over the top in about 7th position, before fighting my way onto a better wheel. The sprint is hard to judge, similar to the old lookout hill finish (on Tidbinbilla Rd), and I ended up launching just a touch too early with the Lavington rider on my wheel. In the end he rolled me with enough space to put his hands in the air over the line, and we were about three lengths clear of the next rider.”