Haig blitzes Narrabri time trial

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The stocks of 20-year-old Jack Haig (Huon Salmon – Genesys Wealth Advisers) continue to rise with the some-time mountain biker clocking the fastest time to win the opening stage of the Santos North Western Tour, an 8.5km individual time trial.

Haig, current leader of the Subaru National Road Series, was the last man to leave the starthouse in Narrabri on Wednesday morning and made the most of it, edging out all 129 competitors before him in a time of 10:36.52.

"It was definitely not an easy ride," Haig said. "The wind picked up towards the end so it made it a little bit tricky out there with my disk wheels.

"I’m a little bit surprised to come away with the win and to win by 10 seconds was even better."

Haig caught his minute-man Marc Williams (Budget Forklifts) just ahead of the finish line.

"It was kind of good to Marc in sight in the last half of the race, it was a bit of a carrot and it definitely helped me," Haig admitted.

It was a much more tightly-fought contest for the remaining spots on the podium, with the narrowest of margins separating Pro Team Downunder's Jayden Copp (10:46.54) and Ben Dyball (10:46.74).

Kenyan rider Samwel Ekiru was the first of the men out of the starthouse in Narribri, setting a time of 13:17.94.

Some of the more dominant teams came out to play with Michael Cupitt (Budget Forklifts) posting the time to beat of 11:06.97 before up-and-coming track cyclist, Zac Shaw (Jayco/Apollo/VIS) set a time of 10:57.11 with his time good enough to be the benchmark until current Victorian champion in the discipline
Ben Dyball (Huon – Genesys) crossed the finish line in 10:46.74.

That time held until the somewhat surprising result of Jayden Copp (Pro Team Downunder) shifted Dyball into second place by two tenths of a second.

The remnants of the starters were then out on course, and GC hopefuls Nathan Earle (Huon – Genesys) and Jack Anderson (Budget Forklifts) both posted times that see them sitting comfortably in the top-10 but it was another stage won by the Tasmanian series leaders, with Haig 10 seconds ahead of his rivals.

Corset claims time trial honours in Narrabri

Ruth Corset (Pensar SPM) has earned her first win against the clock of the 2013 Subaru National Road Series in taking out the opening stage individual time trial at the Santos North Western Tour.

Corset, the final rider to start courtesy of her series lead, ripped through the 8.5km Narrabri out-and-back course in a time of 11:52.31.

"I was hoping to finish up the top but didn't expect to win it so I’m really happy with my ride," Corset explained.

"It was windier than I thought it would be and there were a few points where I was really struggling. Even though it was a flat course, it was still a tough time trial course."

Felicity Wardlaw (Bicycle Superstore) finished in second place, three seconds in arrears of the 36-year-old while Corset's teammate Katrin Garfoot was third, four seconds off the pace.

Marissa Madden was the first rider out of the starthouse at 10am, setting a time of 14:14.15. That mark was quickly overtaken, with the benchmark closing in on 13-minutes and then 12.

Third-place getter at the Cycling Australia Road National Championships, Wardlaw, brought that down to 11:55.03 but the time would only be good enough to be runner-up to Corset.

The Santos North Western Tour continues on Wednesday afternoon with a criterium in Narrabri. The women's field will race over 20 laps, the men 30 on the 1.1km course. 

Men - Full results

Women - Full results