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Johnson steals victory in Herald Sun Tour

By Michael Stevens, Herald-Sun
Published: Oct. 27, 2003

American Tim Johnson on Sunday completed a fairytale ending to the VicRoads Herald Sun Tour when he came from behind to overwhelm leader Luke Roberts and claim the $10,000 winner's check.

Trailing by 39 seconds before the tour's final stage on the torturous Australian Open course at Buninyong, Johnson, 26, surged from the peloton to join breakaway riders Scott Moninger and Scott Guyton with four of the eight laps remaining of the 10.2km circuit.

The trio then defied the bunch to bring them back, although South Australian Roberts made a couple of fruitless attempts to bridge the gap.

At the finish, the three breakaways still had a 46-second advantage, and Roberts, who knew his fate through the team's two-way radio, was a forlorn figure as he crossed the line with the bunch, led home by Barcelona Olympian Robert McLachlan.

Yesterday's final 33-second winning margin was the closest tour finish since 1995, when another American, Andy Bishop, overwhelmed compatriot Scott Mercier on a wet and slippery Albert Park criterium circuit to claim the yellow jersey.

The likeable Johnson, riding for Active for Life, was still coming to grips with his victory more than an hour after the finish, witnessed by close to 10,000 people.

He said thoughts of overall victory were the furthest from his mind after having raced in the world championships and arriving badly jet-lagged.

"We were starting at a disadvantage, really, because we raced 260km on the Sunday before we flew here," said Johnson, who hails from Middleton, near Boston.

"We flew the next day from Canada, so the first five days we literally weren't sleeping at night. We weren't on any sort of schedule and I felt like my legs were in mud. The overall wasn't even in consideration, stages weren't even in consideration until I started to feel better. The first few stages Eric Wohlberg held the torch for the team because he was the only one riding with any sort of strength."

But Johnson showed he was no slouch when he won the tour's only mountain-top finish at Mt William on Thursday, a feat probably overshadowed by Roberts taking over the yellow jersey on the same day.

Then Johnson and teammate Hector Morales made a one-act affair of Saturday's criterium stage in Echuca, and the prospect of an upset victory became a real consideration for the third-year professional, who now finds himself out of a contract after the folding of his trade team, Saturn.

Johnson said he had tested Roberts early in yesterday's stage before making the winning decision to jump across to Moninger (Ballarat eureka) and Guyton (Jayco) when that pair held a 15-second advantage on the bunch.

"The first couple of laps I tested Luke Roberts' team to see if they would chase me, and he and (second-placed) Simon Gerrans (Malaysia Airlines) did chase me, but it took them a little bit to catch back on and I noticed that his (Roberts') team was starting to fall apart," he said. "That was understandable because they'd been defending the jersey for days.

"When I jumped across I buried myself, and I begged the two Scotts to bury themselves, too, and I was able to hold on. I took my turn like I was two people because I knew that was my only chance of winning the overall."

And there was no pre-stage plan hatched for the two Americans to team together, Johnson said.

"It's kind of a give and take that happens between people's careers and throughout races," he said.

"Scott (Moninger) won the stage two days ago basically through the confusion of those of us who were high on GC because when he jumped away, none of us really had a reason to chase him.

"And today he knew he wasn't going to win the overall by three minutes, so he was going for a high placing on the stage, and I thank him for that because, without him and Guyton, I wouldn't have been able to get the gap."

Confusion reigned before the stage when police demanded all intersections be manned, which delayed the start by 10 minutes.

And at the finish there was more confusion when Gerrans was awarded third place overall, only for this to be amended to Guyton being placed third. - (c) 2003 Herald and Weekly Times Limited