Rudolph takes Drapac's second win of the day in Euston

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Malcolm Rudolph (Drapac) earned his team’s second stage win of the day when he won the Euston criterium from a late-race breakaway. Rudolph held off Luke Davison for the stage win as the Budget Forklifts moved into the race lead. Miles Scotson (SASI) was riding strongly again and finished on the podium in third. Previous race leader Campbell Flakemore (Genesys) now finds himself in third spot overall behind Davison and Aaron Donnelly (Jayco-Honey Shotz)

After a challenging race in Robinvale, the peloton had to travel only a short distance to their next location at Euston. With afternoon winds picking up on the exposed 1.3km circuit, any tired riders would quickly find themselves in difficulty. The 52km race would provide 16 chances to gain sprint points over the 40-lap race.

Shortly after the race begun four riders took off in search of intermediate sprint points and the possibility of winning a stage. Caleb Jones (GPM-Wilson Racing), Harry Carpenter (SASI), Liam Dove (Plan B Racing) and stage 7 winner Alex Wohler (Team Downunder) were the successful riders who sped away from the bunch.

Jones took the first two intermediate sprint points, looking to protect his teammate Josh Taylor’s lead in the Tasco Inland Sprint Championship while Wohler soon dropped back to the bunch.

Carpenter took the third sprint on lap 10 with Dove and Jones behind him. Jones was the next to drop back to the bunch as Dove and Carpenter continued to work together. Taylor attempted to join the leading duo and took another point as he crossed the line on lap 12.

Halfway into the race it was still Carpenter and Dove, in that order, who took the sprint points ahead of Andrew Crawley (GPM-Wilson Racing) in third spot.

Carpenter was looking to improve his position on the general classification after starting the stage in 6th place and just 0:32 down on race leader Flakemore. With the duo’s lead nearing the 30-second mark, Carpenter was close to taking the virtual lead.

Anthony Giacoppo (Genesys) tried his luck in bridging to the leading two and while he was able to pick up a third-place in the Lap 16 sprint, he was quickly chased and back in the bunch.

With 10 laps to go the lead had dropped to less than 20 seconds and after another 2 laps the break of Carpenter and Dove was over.

Luke Davison (Budget Forklifts) was edging closer to capturing the race lead as he won the next two sprints before Gordon McCauley (Drapac), the morning’s stage winner in Robinson, took the sprint the Lap 28 win.

Taylor took out the next sprint, ensuring his lead in the Sprint classification remained secure over second place Aaron Donnelly. With two more days ahead, the jersey’s winner is by no means a given.

Malcolm Rudolph (Drapac) won sprints on lap 32 and 34 before he took off with Donnelly and Miles Scotson (SASI). Donnelly won the final intermediate as the three riders desperately tried to push out their 10-second advantage over the bunch.

McCauley was loving the tough conditions in Euston and jumped clear of the bunch to try and join the front three with a little under three laps to go. Behind the leaders was a chase group containing race leader Flakemore. Davison managed to jump clear but he was too late to win the stage as Rudolph took his team’s second win of the day.

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