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Australian National MTB Championships - CN
Mt Beauty, Australia, January 14-15, 2006
Main Page Results Overall standings Previous Race
Race 9 - January 15: Open Men Short Track, 20 Mins + 3 Laps
New national title goes to Adelaide
By Mikkeli Godfree in Mt Beauty
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As if it was any surprise, Chris Jongewaard took the hole-shot and basically just did his stuff - riding away from a hungry, fast and aggressive men's field. Apart from having Avanti teammate Sid Taberlay for company for a few lap, Jongewaard spent the race on his own, showing blistering form and incredible speed on the short track.
From there on it was basically just a race for the minor placings, but what a race it would be...
Dylan Cooper (Scott - Shimano - Conceptitis) took up the chase early, followed by youngster Gary Milburn (Cannondale) who showed his hand early before dropping off when the big boys came out to play. The race was definitely for second but it was a hot competition despite this. U23 XC champion, Mark Frendo (Flight Centre - Scott) made an appearance at the front of the chase pack before James Maebus (VIC - Michelin - Rudy Project - Bike Now) took matters into his own hands as the chase group was whittled down to nine.
At the mid-way point it was Jongewaard leading by just over 20 seconds over a chasing pack comprising Taberlay, Cooper, Winn (Yeti - Spoken - SRAM - Smith - PI), Frendo, Lewis Snr (Flight Centre -Scott), Van Der Ploeg, and Cannondale riders Hamish Elliot and Aiden Lefmann. While the chasing group was quite compact, Jongewaard was starting to lap riders at the tail of the elite field with just less than half the race to run.
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Taberlay looked to be shutting it down from second spot in the line-up as Jongewaard's lead steadily increased. The chasers were wise to this though and for the most part shared the workload to limit the Jongewaard's margin, whose biggest difficulty on track was turning his head to check on the weakening chase.
Shaun Lewis Snr laid his cards on the table and started to crank to drive the Scott-heavy chasing bunch. Taberlay was quick to react as ever and was straight on the wheel. The Avanti rider watched the attacks like a hawk until a little man in his head told him the time was right and he was off. Having saved his biccies by covering the attacks, Taberlay unleashed all he had to chip into Jongewaard's seemingly unassailable lead.
The reaction from behind came from Cooper as Maebus, Lewis, Winn and Frendo scrambled into a chase-bunch behind. With Sid having escaped the clutches of the chasers, the race was on for third. The most active were Scott riders Cooper and Lewis who each took a turn trying to bridge up to Taberlay.
Up front, Jongewaard looked to have switched on the autopilot with three laps to go to rest up for the plane flight home, such was his lead. While it was all calm up front, a bomb got dropped behind in the name of Cooper's final attack with one lap to go. With Taberlay relatively safe in second and Jongewaard half a minute up, all eyes were on the battle for third. As Winn put his nose into the wind, taking after Cooper the crowd lit up - particularly Winn's sponsor and STXC specialist Paul Rowney. As the pair turned up the first climb it was Winn who crept past and left the spent Cooper out of the final corner to take a well-deserved third spot. Behind Cooper was Frendo with Lewis and Maebus coming in a handful of seconds back.
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Jongewaard said of his win, "I was a bit worried for the first few laps. I knew I was going to be strong on the flat because of the road riding - which boosted up my intensity. Sid and I have a great relationship as far as racing - if he's out front I help him win and the same goes if I'm out in front."
Asked if he was tired from the XC the day before, Jongewaard said, "Yesterday didn't take much of a toll on me. During road tours I come good after a few days so I'm pretty used to backing up."
Jongewaard now heads back to Adelaide for two days off before starting the Tour Down Under with the best roadies in the world - look out for him as the form's good!
Second place Taberlay was happy with his spot - which complements his win in the XC the day before. "Chris always starts bloody fast so it was just a matter of letting him get a gap and getting away from the other guys," said Taberlay. "And it worked well - he took one and I took one."
Chris Winn had his best result ever with a great third and said, "I had a heart to heart with STXC guru Paul Rowney last night - he is a great inspiration and his advice really helped here today. I played it smart and it worked out really well…it was a really exciting finish - I hope I can do this in the US one day."
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And that wraps up the cross country national championships for 2006. The downhill titles will be decided next weekend at Thredbo.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mikkeli Godfree/Cyclingnews.com
- Chris Jongewaard was impressive from start to finish.
- Dylan Cooper was aggressive.
- Chris Winn took third for his best result in nationals.
- Sid Taberlay was a cool customer, backing up from his first in the XC with second in the short track.
- Chris Jongewaard was all class.
- James Maebus was one of the stronger chasers but ended up out of the places.
- Dylan Cooper and Chris Winn in agony with about 300m left to race.
- Amy and Kate Eva were the SRAM representatives in attendance to hand out the prizes from the STXC.
- Chris Jongewaard cuts loose with the bubbly
Results
1 Chris Jongewaard (Avanti/JT Cycles) 24.52 2 Sid Taberlay (Sram) 0.35 3 Chris Winn (Yeti Cycles/Spoken/SRAM/Smith) 0.39 4 Dylan Cooper (Scott/Shimano/Conceptis.com.au) 0.40 5 Mark Frendo (Flight Centre- Scott) 0.44 6 Shaun Lewis SHCC (Scott/Flight Centre Race Team) 0.46 7 James Maebus (VIS/Michelin/Rudy Project) 0.48
