Blair wins stage and stays in yellow

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The elite men's category in the Ingkerreke Commercial MTB Enduro is shaping as a three-horse race. The elite trio of Andy Blair, Jason English and Aiden Lefmann entered today's stage 4 BMX track finish arena in a tight-knit bunch for yet another finish line sprint.

After 77 brutal kilometres under a will-sapping sun, there was nothing between them as they traded places around the final berms before disaster struck for English.

"Andy and I were having a tight battle. I had the lead into the BMX track. On the first corner, I took the inside line to get good gap, then tried same on the second corner as I thought it would be quicker again. But I hit a slick patch and went down. I should have played it safe," said English, who lost six seconds in the recovery to finish third for the stage in 2:57:43.

Blair retains his yellow jersey for another night after crossing first in 02:57:38 (which garners a 20-second time credit), with Lefmann one second further afield.

Lefmann's result, and the associated 10-second time credit, claws back precious time on English in the overall stakes, but not enough: he is now one second behind English. Only 35 seconds separate first and third placegetters after 165km of racing.

Unlike in previous stages, the trio was not alone up the front with a larger pack including Nick Both, Steven Cosworth, Billy Sewell, Chris Hanson and Rohin Adams putting the go-fast pressure on. Both and Cosworth even extended a lead in the middle section of the race. They were perhaps taking advantage of the so-called "Three Stooges" having fought a fierce technical battle in the rougher early stages before sitting up (easing the pace) on the bike path section, happy to let those fighting it out for fourth place set the pace.

Young gun, 17-year-old Billy Sewell flashed his phenomenal talents once again, putting in a number of strong attacks and threatening to upset the status quo at the pointy end, before a broken chain saw him fall away in the latter stages.

Over the final 20 kilometres, English, Blair and Lefmann bridged the gap to Both and Cosworth, and then set about a game of cat and mouse, each consistently attacking, each hoping to drop the other, all to no avail until the tense BMX track finish.

In the women's category, the yellow leader's jersey changed hands with Giant rider Jess Douglas putting in a storming day's ride to finish more than eight minutes ahead of her nearest rival of the day, an under the weather Jo Wall. Previous overall leader, Anna Beck, registered third place.

"I went into today just thinking I'd sit back and see what would happen at the first climb," said Douglas. "Suddenly I was passing Jo (Wall) and Anna (Beck) before the top of the hill - they both seemed to be breathing heavy, so I thought it best to go then and there and didn't look back."

On her own out front, Douglas went into time trial mode. "I kept my cadence steady, without overcooking, but knowing I had to keep up the pace enough so they wouldn't reel me in."

"I tried to play it safe, but it did get a bit hairy in the desert - I had to calm myself a few times."

Tomorrow's two-stage day reels back the kilometres somewhat with two 23km dashes, one a time trial effort with riders setting off at 30-second intervals; the other is a night race on predominantly flowing singletrack.

"The time trial will show up who's got any legs left," said English, who being in second place will set off second last on the hunt for the fastest time. "With time trial, you're going hard as you can. There's no taking it easy and I reckon together with the night stage, it'll be a big decider."

For her part, the Ingkerreke Commercial MTB Enduro's new leader Douglas will be cautious, knowing she has nearly nine minutes up her sleeve over previous leader Beck.

"I like night racing, so that stage suits me," said English. "And in the time trial I'll just be doing what I did today - riding smooth and safe."

Stage 4 Results

General classification after stage 4 / day 3