Von Hoff storms home in Camden to take out hard fought classic

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Steele Von Hoff (Genesys) has taken out his maiden Goulburn Sydney Classic, with a thrilling sprint victory over Adam Phelan (Drapac) and Chris Jory (BikeBug.com). Von Hoff, one of the poster boys of the National Road Series jumped past Phelan in the final 100 metres after struggling to stay with the leaders over the final climb up Razorback to claim a hard fought win.

Despite it being win number 16 in the NRS this year for Von Hoff, the 23-year-old said that today’s rated among his best for the season.

"Yeah it was perfect," said Von Hoff. "Pat Shaw dragged me over old Razorback, after I’d been dropped, and he worked so hard to get me back, and then there were three of us up the road in a group of 13 so it was an ideal situation to be in.

"We then had Nathan and Pat covering all the moves, Haas lead for the final 2km on the front, and then Pat took me right to the finish and I just stepped out and got it. I’m really happy with the result."

Genesys took a double victory with the team also taking out the overall honours for the two day tour with NRS leader Nathan Haas.

Phil Grenfell (BikeBug.com) who was second home from the second group, behind Scott Law (V Australia) questioned the tactics of V Australia, who also missed the break but refused to chase until it was too late.

"They said they had Johnnie Walker up there, but I don’t think he’s quite as good as Steele," said Grenfell. "So [Law and I] had ‘discussions’ and they ended up riding, but by then it was only 5km to go. [Kersten]’s team was done - so it was us and them."

BikeBug.com did get some consolation though. Chris Jory took out third on the day, and Sam Rutherford won the KOM competition. For Rutherford, just returning from a cold he’d had at the Tour of the Murray River, the prize was a welcome bonus for a long day of racing. Team manager of BikeBug.com Trent Wilson said he was pleased with the way the race panned out.

"We had a great race strategy planned, and it came off to a tee," said Wilson. "It would’ve been nice to have someone else in the break at the end to help Jory, but with third on the day and the KOM, you’ve got to be happy with that."

How it unfolded

At just before eight, 155 riders set off from Clifford St, Goulburn for the classic 171.4 km road race to Camden, the second day of the expanded Goulburn to Sydney Classic.

Barely out of the first corner, the race had its first casualty, with local favourite Tirian McManus (NSWIS) crashing hard, and was forced to abandon. More misfortune came just a few kilometres later, this time with an in-form Ben Kersten (Jayco-2XU) puncturing just as the day’s escape was going away.

Though it took a little while to finally form, the escape included Nathan Haas (Genesys Wealth Advisers), Brian Mcleod (Budget Forklifts), Rhys Pollock (Drapac Professional Cycling Team), Sam Rutherford (Bikebug.com), Julian Hamill (Forza Capital), Taylor Shelden (V Australia) and Alistair Loutit (Bikebug.com). They quickly built up their advantage over the chasing pack, gaining more than two minutes before there was any major reaction from the main field.

Second overall, Haas, created some tension within the break by sitting on and protecting the lead of teammate Anthony Giacoppo, however the escape continued to work reasonably well together approaching the first KOM on Bendooley Hill.

Rutherford grabbed the points there over Haas, with Loutit third.

With a tailwind aiding them, the first 100 kilometres of racing were done at an average speed flirting near 50 km/h and as the race turned off the highway on to the ‘dead’ roads of Remembrance Drive, the pace finally slowed, with fatigue and the hot conditions beginning to take their toll on the riders.

After the day’s first intermediate sprint in Bargo won by Nathan Haas, the breaks advantage began to fall. 7 kilometres later at the second intermediate sprint it was just over a minute and after passing through the rural town of Picton, the peloton was within sight of the escape.

Razorback

Razorback Hill, crested twice by the field, once from the ‘new’ gentler side, and once from the harder ‘old’ side, was always going to sort the men from the boys and it did not disappoint. Jayco-2XU, who had missed the early break, finally made it gruppo compatto at the top of the first time up Razorback.

The descent saw Drapac and Genesys set a blistering pace as they tried to force a selection, and as the group reached the start of ‘old Razorback’ a split started to form halfway down the main field.

Josh Atkins (Suzuki-Trek), Peter Herzig (Budget Forklifts) and Nathan Haas then launched an attack and the trio were joined by a dozen others to form the decisive group that would fight it out for the finish.

Isolated behind in the second bunch were sprinters Phil Grenfell (BikeBug.com) and Scott Law (V Australia) and the two along with their remaining teammates chased desperately to rejoin the leaders.

Their chase however was in vain, and after a long hot day in the saddle, Steele Von Hoff, who had managed to just hang on over the second climb up Razorback took the final sprint ahead of Adam Phelan (Drapac) and Chris Jory (BikeBug.com).