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Mars Cycling Australia Road National Championships 2012

Date range:
January 5-10 2012

January 5, Elite men's criterium: Ballarat 44km

Giacoppo too good for Renshaw in Australian Criterium Championship

By:
Jane Aubrey
Published:
January 5, 10:30,
Updated:
January 5, 14:59

Von Hoff rides to bronze medal

Anthony Giacoppo (centre) from Western Australia upstaged a crack field to win the National Men's Elite Criterium Championship in Ballarat.

Anthony Giacoppo (centre) from Western Australia upstaged a crack field to win the National Men's Elite Criterium Championship in Ballarat.

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Anthony Giacoppo (Genesys Wealth Advisers) has continued his run of form from the Jayco Bay Series Cycling Classic to win the Australian Criterium title in Ballarat on Thursday evening. Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) was second in the bunch sprint with the field coming together on the final corner, with Steele Von Hoff (Chipotle Development Team) third.

Giacoppo won stage 3 and finished third overall in the four race series, behind winner Allan Davis and Caleb Ewan. At the time, the 25-year-old said that Tuesday's win was the biggest in his career, but found himself repeating the same statement to reporters after claiming the national title.

"I'm going to have to find a new line," the Perth native laughed with reporters. "It's been a great week - a good result in the Bay Crits and it's nice to follow up by going well today.

"As a team, we really gel well together and every guy knows what his job is," he continued, before delivering the Orange Army's mantra, "Team work wins races."

It was the almost race-long effort of teammate "domestique extraordinaire" Pat Shaw that Giacoppo had to be thankful for, the Ballarat-local animating the race as a regular part of several breakaway groups which tried their luck throughout the 40-lap event. Also trying their hand was Zak Dempster and Bernie Sulzberger, who had both been active throughout the Bay Crits earlier in the week.

Giacoppo had finished as runner-up in the 2011 edition of the championship and so had made Thursday a bit of a target.

"It's a great way to start the weekend and a great way to start the season, so hopefully we can just build from here and keep going," he said. "I got second last year, so we've always had it in our heads that this is the one race where you can go quite well."

Renshaw meanwhile, chose to sit out the Australian season opener, and instead continued to train at home.

"I felt good, it's my first race [and] it feels like my heart rate is 180," he explained. "These guys have come off the Bay Crits, but I'm really happy.

"I said earlier I would be happy to podium and I've done that, so I'm where I need to be."

The thrilling 44 kilometre criterium came to a head on the final lap with Robbie McEwen, who later revealed that he was suffering food poisoning causing him to vomit throughout the race, made a charge down the back straight. Both he and GreenEdge teammate Baden Cooke came into the final corners at top speed and required full use of their considerable bike handling skills to stay upright however, probably lost their best chance of a win with it.

Giacoppo was following the wheel of Renshaw en-route to the finish line, having been delivered into perfect position by Von Hoff, although he admitted it was a tough task.

Full results

# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Anthony Giacoppo (WA) 1:00:26  
2 Mark Renshaw (NSW)    
3 Steele Von Hoff (Vic)    
4 Bernard Sulzberger (Tas)    
5 Malcolm Rudolph (Qld)    
6 Baden Cooke (Vic)    
7 Shannon Johnson (Vic)    
8 Dean Windsor (NSW)    
9 Rico Rogers (Vic)    
10 Zakkari Dempster (Vic)    
11 Sam Witmitz (Vic)    
12 Jonathan Cantwell (Qld)    
13 Neil Van Der Ploeg (Vic)    
14 Richard Lang (NSW)    
15 Paul Van Der Ploeg (Vic)    
16 Fabio Calabria (ACT)    
17 Dale Scarfe (NSW)    
18 James Mcdulling (NSW)    
19 Nicholas Mitchell (Vic) 0:00:07  
20 Michael Curran (NSW)    
21 James Hepburn (Qld)    
22 Jason Spence    
23 Marc Williams (ACT)    
24 Michael Troy (NSW)    
25 Darren Lapthorne (Vic) 0:00:15  
26 Alexander Smyth (Vic) 0:00:17  
27 Patrick Shaw (Vic)    
28 Nash Kent (NSW) 0:00:24  
29 Jonathan Lovelock (Vic)    
30 Nicholas Sanderson (Vic) 0:00:27  
31 Joel Pearson (Vic)    
32 Sam Rutherford (NSW) 0:00:31  
33 Robbie McEwen (Qld) 0:00:35  
34 Blair Windsor 0:00:37  
35 William Clarke (Tas) 0:00:49  
36 Sean Finning (Vic) 0:00:55  
37 Tom Donald (Vic)    
38 Damien Turner (Vic) 0:01:00  
39 Phillip Grenfell (NSW) 0:01:05  
40 Shaun McCarthy (Vic) 0:01:09  
41 David Pell (Vic)    
42 Jacob Kauffmann (NSW) 0:01:19  
43 Michael Cupitt (NSW) 0:01:33  
44 Kris Johnston (ACT)    
45 Adam Semple (WA) 0:02:14  
46 Rhys Pollock (NSW)    
DNF Chris Jory (NSW)    
DNF Dane Crawford (NSW)    
DNF Andrew Crawley (NSW)    
DNF Anthony Dimotrovski (NSW)    
DNF David Jamesion (Qld)    
DNF Caleb Jones (NSW)    
DNF Ben Kersten (NSW)    
DNF Jake Magee (NSW)    
DNF Peter Malcolm (Vic)    
DNF Johnathan Millington (NSW)    
DNF Chris Pescott (Vic)    
DNF Stuart Shaw (ACT)    
DNF Peter Thompson (Qld)    
DNF Edward White (NSW)    
DNS Kane Walker (Vic)    
DNS Kel Chaffey-Jones (Vic)    
DNS Lachlan Norris (Vic)    
DNS Peter Herzig (Qld)    
Intermediate sprints - 34 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Alexander Smyth (Vic) 3  pts
2 Blair Windsor 2  
3 Patrick Shaw (Vic) 1  
32 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Shaun McCarthy (Vic) 3  pts
2 Nicholas Sanderson (Vic) 2  
3 Darren Lapthorne (Vic) 1  
30 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Joel Pearson (Vic) 3  pts
2 Blair Windsor 2  
3 Michael Curran (NSW) 1  
28 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Bernard Sulzberger (Tas) 3  pts
2 Joel Pearson (Vic) 2  
3 Blair Windsor 1  
26 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Sam Witmitz (Vic) 3  pts
2 Dean Windsor (NSW) 2  
3 David Pell (Vic) 1  
24 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Shaun McCarthy (Vic) 3  pts
2 Blair Windsor 2  
3 William Clarke (Tas) 1  
22 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Shaun McCarthy (Vic) 3  pts
2 Alexander Smyth (Vic) 2  
3 Jason Spence 1  
20 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Shaun McCarthy (Vic) 3  pts
2 Adam Semple (WA) 2  
3 Dean Windsor (NSW) 1  
18 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Steele Von Hoff (Vic) 3  pts
2 Darren Lapthorne (Vic) 2  
3 Blair Windsor 1  
14 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Adam Semple (WA) 3  pts
2 Patrick Shaw (Vic) 2  
3 Dean Windsor (NSW) 1  
12 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Adam Semple (WA) 3  pts
2 Patrick Shaw (Vic) 2  
3 Dean Windsor (NSW) 1  
10 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Adam Semple (WA) 3  pts
2 Zakkari Dempster (Vic) 2  
3 Patrick Shaw (Vic) 1  
8 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Adam Semple (WA) 3  pts
2 Patrick Shaw (Vic) 2  
3 Michael Cupitt (NSW) 1  
6 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Patrick Shaw (Vic) 3  pts
2 Zakkari Dempster (Vic) 2  
3 Michael Cupitt (NSW) 1  
4 to go
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Patrick Shaw (Vic) 3  pts
2 Michael Cupitt (NSW) 2  
3 Shaun McCarthy (Vic) 1  
Sprint Championship
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Adam Semple (WA) 14  pts
2 Patrick Shaw (Vic) 14  
3 Shaun McCarthy (Vic) 13  
4 Blair Windsor 10  
5 Alexander Smyth (Vic) 8  
6 Joel Pearson (Vic) 5  
7 Dean Windsor (NSW) 5  
8 Zakkari Dempster (Vic) 4  
9 Michael Cupitt (NSW) 4  
10 Steele Von Hoff (Vic) 3  
11 Bernard Sulzberger (Tas) 3  
12 Sam Witmitz (Vic) 3  
13 Darren Lapthorne (Vic) 3  
14 Nicholas Sanderson (Vic) 2  
15 Michael Curran (NSW) 1  
16 Jason Spence 1  
17 Jonathan Lovelock (Vic) 1  
18 William Clarke (Tas) 1  
19 David Pell (Vic) 1