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Wilson claims stage, lead at Herald Sun Tour
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An impressive show of strength brought Matthew Wilson (Unibet.com) opening-day honors and the race lead to boot in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.
As the seven-day stage race began for real Monday in Bendigo, the 2004 Australian road champion launched a bid for victory with 5km remaining.
"Coming into town, Baden [Cooke] was telling me he wasn't feeling really good and that I should go for it myself,” Wilson said. “It was so windy so that guys were getting blown off the road; there was a lot of confusion and I just sort of slipped away there... and then, well, I guess the gods were shining on me. It was just a great feeling.”
Equally delighted was his teammate Cooke, who finished third behind David Pell (Savings & Loans). Despite making the crucial break of 11 today, which established itself after some 70km, the green-jersey champion from the centenary Tour de France said he was feeling "pretty average" in the final 50km, and will now be at the disposal of his bosom buddy throughout the rest of the week.
"Coming in, I felt that bad, I would've signed up for third [place] if they said that's what I'd get," said Cooke with a wry grin. "So I'm just glad to get a few more time bonuses. That's the longest ride I've done in about three weeks because I've had the flu. I felt good at the start and had plenty of horsepower, but that soon ran out - that last 50, I was just empty. I think I gassed it a bit too hard there for a while, so I paid for it in the end."
In light of those who accompanied him in today's escape, Wilson's narrow lead should come in handy in the days to follow - Trent Lowe (Jayco Australian National Team); Dominique Perras (Bicycle Superstore Canada National Team), second in 2005; Steve Morabito (Astana); and the youngest member of the break, 21-year-old Simon Clarke (SouthAustralia.com-AIS).
"There's some pretty good climbers in the front, but we'll see what happens," said Wilson. "I'm climbing pretty well - I think Falls Creek will be the crucial stage from here on in. The time trial's pretty short, so I think it will be already decided by then, but you never know in this race."
Bring to a boil, then simmer
As the mercury sat on 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 Fahrenheit) at the 10:30 a.m. start, one could sense the temperature inside the peloton was already much hotter. History shows that the opening stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour often decides the race, and judging by the faces on the start-line in Bendigo, there weren't many keen to miss out.
Only a handful of kilometers had passed when 15 men broke clear, establishing a maximum advantage of 1:47 at the base of the first mountain prime. In the move were Savings & Loans teammates Pell and Craig McCartney; Perras; Thomas Frei (Astana); Tom Zirbel, Edward King, Scott Zwizanski (Bissell-SRAM); Bernard Sulzberger (DFL-Cyclingnews); Tom Southam (Drapac Porsche); Chris Jory (FRF Couriers-NSWIS); Timothy Gudsell (Michelton Wines NZ National Team); Yukiya Arashiro (Nippo-Meitan La Trobe City); Shaun Higgerson (SouthAustralia.com-AIS); Jimmy Casper (Unibet.com); and Malaya Van Ruitenbeek (Netherlands National Team).
While Jory and Casper were the first to be dropped, Bissell-SRAM's King certainly lived up to his name, taking both KOMs at 20.3km and 30.3km. Then, in a cruel twist of fate, he came to grief on a descent and literally flew off the edge of a cliff.
Race doctor Andrew Garman later described it as a "very lucky escape,” although King may not be feeling that way yet. He was rushed to hospital, battered and bruised, but with no broken bones.
Behind them, a select group soon formed that included a number of race favorites, who ripped past all bar two from the early move — namely Pell and Perras. After 60km, 11 were left out front: Lowe, Pell, Perras, Eric Wohlberg (Bicycle Superstore Canada National Team), Julien Mazet, Steve Morabito (both Astana), Cameron Wurf (Bissell-SRAM), Clarke, Cooke, Wilson and Joost Van Leijen (Netherlands National Team).
"I expected the first hour of the race today would be the tour and that's exactly what happened; the two hard climbs at the beginning and a lot of wind made the race,” said Wilson.
“We were kind of sitting on about two minutes the whole day and the break wasn't working very well - a lot of guys were sitting on and shirking their turns a little bit. But when it came down to about a minute, we really started to work really well together and brought it back out."
Notably, six teams had missed this highly threatening move - Wisenhof, Drapac-Porsche, Nippo-Meitan La Trobe City and DFL-Cyclingnews, Mitchelton Winery NZ National Team and FRF Couriers-NSWIS. But with eight teams reasonably content with proceedings, the elastic snapped 30km from the finish in Nagambie, the lead blowing out to just over 12 minutes by the day's end.
Unibet.com, Astana and Bicycle Superstore were three teams with two men represented, though the former were clearly the strongest. With Cooke having only recently regained his form after a bout of flu, he gave free rein to Wilson, who took flight 5km from home. Assisted by a tailwind, he dumped his chain into its biggest gear and held off his companions to claim the stage.
Race note
Moments after he crossed the line, Wilson made a statement of another sort: "If there's any directors out there, I need a job." Wilson said it half-jokingly, but unfortunately for him, that's where his career stands at present.
The road ahead
As the peloton's journey continues east, Tuesday's leg from Mitchelton Winery to Mansfield shouldn't pose any serious threat to Wilson's yellow jersey — Monday's tired legs will no doubt be felt for much of Tuesday. Two categorized climbs have been placed midway along the 145.6km route, and by all accounts, the stage should end in a bunch gallop.
