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Tattersall's Cup Series Tour of Gippsland - NE
Australia, August 3-7, 2005
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Stage 4 - August 4: Seaspray - Loch Sport, 59 km
McCauley strikes back
By Rod Morris in Loch Sport
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Ace New Zealander Gordon McCauley claimed overall honours after the fourth stage of the Tattersall's Cup Tour of Gippsland yesterday, but his lead is just two seconds.
McCauley wrested the lead away from young Canberra rider James Meadley after the afternoon stage, a 59 km "sprint" from Seaspray to Loch Sport, when he finished fourth behind leading Victorian Robert Tighello, South Australia's Luke Bettany and Sydney's Robert Cater.
McCauley pinched seven bonus seconds in the intermediate sprints, four seconds for his stage placing, and a further three seconds in time bonus, to reduce his deficit to Meadley and find himself in the yellow leader's jersey.
The afternoon stage was full of attacks, but Meadley wasn't amongst any of them. "I finished in the bunch, which hasn't done my GC chances all that much good, but I'm still in the race," said Meadley.
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A group of about 20 riders grabbed a one minute lead at around the half way mark, but as the peloton dragged them back, a smaller group of four riders - including Tighello and McCauley - eked out a narrow lead to take to the finish line.
McCauley's fourth placing pushed him into the overall lead and he quickly declared he wasn't about to give it up without a fight. "I came here with a point to prove to New Zealand selectors for leaving me out of the national squad, and although I haven't won a stage yet, my original intention was to figure highly in overall honours," he said. "I'm not over the line yet and there are still five stages and a lot of distance to travel yet, so I've still got a lot of hard work to do."
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Meadley although obviously disappointed to have lost his lead, was adamant he wasn't finished either. "Two seconds isn't much and I've got some good riders around me, so I'm still confident I can get the yellow jersey back," he said.
Tighello jumped into third place overall, narrowing the gap to 12 seconds behind McCauley, whilst McLachlan dropped back to fourth at 20 seconds. Although this tour is still very much alive, the realistic chances of overall honours are narrowing by every stage.
Michael Tolhurst of Canberra is in fifth at 42 seconds behind and Stuart Shaw is next in line at 47 seconds. Pre-tour favourite David McKenzie is yet to fire a shot and is more than a minute behind, but as all riders agreed, so much can still happen before they see the checkered flag in Traralgon on Sunday afternoon.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Shane Goss/www.licoricegallery.com
- A bad hair day for Robert Cater perhaps, but a great ride for third in stage four.
- Cheers Robert, stage winner Robert Tighello (C) with Luke Bettany (L) second and Robert Cater (R) third.
- By George, I'm the Latrobe City Council Sprint Points leader!.
- James Meadley of the A.C.T a happy leader in the Latrobe City Council Sprint Points Championship.
- Gordon McCauley from New Zealand the new leader in the Tattersall's Tour of Gippsland.
- Kiwi Gordon McCauley has an eight second lead after four stages.
- Bernard Sulzberger of Tasmania before the start of stage four in Seaspray.
- An imposter on the Tour of Gippsland?.
- Tasmanian Matt Rice is heading back to Europe shortly after the Tour of Gippsland.
- South Australian Mathew Rex signs on in Seaspray for stage four.
- Adam Murchie of Victoria finished 41st, just 10 seconds behind the winner of stage four.
- Peter Dawson of Western Australia at the sign on for stage four.
- On the startline in Seaspray for the 59km stage to Loch Sport.
- Race leader James Meadley awaits the start to stage four.
- It's this way boys, New Zealander Gordon McCauley directs the lead group.
- Gordon McCauley (R) and Stuart Shaw on the front of the lead group.
- Just follow the dotted line, boys.
- Robert Tighello working hard for the lead group on a windy stage of the tour.
- The chasing bunch in search of six breakaway riders.
- The boys from FRF driving the chasing bunch.
- Robert McLachlan (C) keeps watch on Tour leader James Meadley (far R),.
- Stuart Shaw, sixth overall after stage four.
- The peloton are on the hop chasing down the lead group!.
- Robert Cater working hard in the driving rain.
- Tour leader James Meadley trying to bridge the gap near the finish.
- Luke Bettany from South Australia in the lead group.
- King of the Mountains leader Robert Tighello driving the lead group.
- Gordon McCauley of New Zealand has his eye on the Tour lead close to the finish of stage four.
- Victorian Robert Tighello takes out stage four into Loch Sport.
- Robert Tighello shows off his Tourism Victoria King of the Mountains leader's jersey.
Results
1 Robert Tighello 1.10.00 2 Luke Bettany 3 Robert Cater 4 Gordon McCauley 5 George Bunt 6 Mitchell Docker 7 Start Shaw 0.03 8 Robert McLachlan 0.04 9 Bradley Norton 0.06 10 Joshua Marden 11 Bernard Sulzberger 12 Fabio Calabria 13 Mathew Rex 14 Wesley Sulzberger 15 Peter Milostic 16 David Kemp 17 Aaron Salisbury 18 Matthew Gilbert 19 Kirk Eddy 20 Nathan Wise 21 Joshua Wall 22 Peter Dawson 23 Scott Peoples 24 David McKenzie 25 Dean Windsor 26 Robert Crowe 27 Charles Howlett 28 Christopher Jenkins 29 Jason Hegert 30 Craig McCartney 31 Michael Ford 32 Stephen Rossendell 33 Michael Tolhurst 34 Patrick Shaw 35 Andrew Graham 36 Johnny Walker 37 Richard Moffatt 0.10 38 Peter Herzig 39 Gerard Lai-Smith 40 Matthew Rice 41 Adam Murchie 42 Cameron Wise 43 James Meadley 44 David Hiley 45 Samuel Rix 46 Brendan Brooks 47 Ben Darlington 48 Richard Vollebregt 49 Ashley Hayat 50 Daniel Furmston 51 Adrian Salter 52 Steven Pilson 53 Kym Howard 54 Simon Pearson 55 James Maebus 56 Matt Haydock 57 Peter McDonald 58 Nathan Rollason 59 Timothy Decker 60 Tim Hucker 61 Trent Stevenson 62 Heath Keenan 63 Brad McCreadie 64 Chris Winn 65 Adrian Hanson 66 Scott Jensen 67 John Mackenzie 68 Darren Lapthorne 69 Grant Gaston 70 Casey Munro 71 Sean Finning 0.16 72 Simon Van Der AA 0.19 73 Glen Peterson 74 Dane Crawford 75 Glen Stojanow 76 Will Dickeson 77 William Murray 78 Phil Gough 79 Jason Johnson 80 Jonathon Tainsh 81 Andrew Naylor 82 Tim Buchanan 0.23 83 Timothy Walker 0.26 84 Ben Isaksen 85 Kyle Marwood 2.57 86 Andrew Hanigan 5.53 87 Glenn Myler 88 Peter Ladd 7.09 89 Vaughan Bowman 7.11 90 Bradley Payne 7.15 91 Luke Weir 7.32 92 ben Serpell 8.44 93 David Salton Sprints Sprint 1 - Flamenco Beach 1 Robert Tighello 3 pts 2 Gordon McCauley 2 3 George Bunt 1 Sprint 2 - The Trinculo 1 Robert Tighello 3 pts 2 Gordon McCauley 2 3 Start Shaw 1 Sprint 3 - Golden Beach Fooderarma 1 Gordon McCauley 3 pts 2 Robert Cater 2 3 Luke Bettany 1 General classification after stage 4 1 Gordon McCauley 6.18.41 2 James Meadley 0.08 3 Robert Tighello 0.12 4 Robert McLachlan 0.20 5 Michael Tolhurst 0.44 6 Start Shaw 0.45 7 Richard Moffatt 0.58 8 Peter McDonald 1.02 9 Bernard Sulzberger 1.12 10 Luke Bettany 1.16 11 Bradley Norton 1.20 12 Mitchell Docker 1.22 13 Craig McCartney 1.23 14 Cameron Wise 1.29 15 David McKenzie 1.30 16 Dean Windsor 17 Scott Peoples 1.31 18 Michael Ford 19 Fabio Calabria 20 Wesley Sulzberger 21 Peter Milostic 22 Darren Lapthorne 1.35 23 David Hiley 24 Glen Stojanow 1.44 25 Johnny Walker 2.15 26 Richard Vollebregt 2.17 27 Matthew Gilbert 2.19 28 Peter Herzig 2.26 29 Brendan Brooks 30 Matt Haydock 2.29 31 Chris Winn 2.30 32 Simon Pearson 33 Brad McCreadie 2.56 34 Adam Murchie 3.05 35 Matthew Rice 3.08 36 James Maebus 3.13 37 Christopher Jenkins 3.59 38 Will Dickeson 4.34 39 Patrick Shaw 5.22 40 David Kemp 6.59 41 Jason Hegert 7.24 42 Casey Munro 7.26 43 George Bunt 8.05 44 Adrian Salter 8.15 45 Aaron Salisbury 9.16 46 Peter Ladd 9.17 47 Joshua Marden 9.18 48 Grant Gaston 11.34 49 Trent Stevenson 50 Andrew Graham 12.15 51 Nathan Wise 13.04 52 Tim Hucker 13.08 53 Jonathon Tainsh 13.13 54 Peter Dawson 13.54 55 Vaughan Bowman 14.29 56 Timothy Walker 15.02 57 Bradley Payne 15.21 58 Mathew Rex 15.38 59 Stephen Rossendell 16.07 60 Nathan Rollason 17.55 61 Charles Howlett 19.15 62 Robert Crowe 19.31 63 Adrian Hanson 19.35 64 Timothy Decker 26.32 65 Tim Buchanan 26.37 66 Sean Finning 27.41 67 Luke Weir 27.44 68 Robert Cater 29.23 69 John Mackenzie 29.42 70 Joshua Wall 30.11 71 Samuel Rix 30.30 72 Ben Isaksen 33.45 73 Kym Howard 34.17 74 Daniel Furmston 35.49 75 Andrew Hanigan 37.06 76 Kyle Marwood 38.48 77 Phil Gough 39.41 78 Dane Crawford 40.12 79 David Salton 40.45 80 Jason Johnson 41.10 81 William Murray 43.32 82 Kirk Eddy 45.48 83 Scott Jensen 46.11 84 Ashley Hayat 46.54 85 Ben Darlington 48.35 86 Gerard Lai-Smith 51.01 87 Simon Van Der AA 51.33 88 Glen Peterson 52.53 89 Andrew Naylor 53.01 90 Steven Pilson 56.29 91 Heath Keenan 59.17 92 ben Serpell 1.01.41 93 Glenn Myler 1.18.14 Subaru Aggressive Rider Awards 1 Gordon McCauley 2 pts 2 Robert Tighello 2 3 Craig McCartney 2 4 James Meadley 1 5 Bradley Norton 1 6 Aaron Salisbury 1 Latrobe City Council Sprint Championship 1 James Meadley 34 pts 2 Gordon McCauley 18 3 Aaron Salisbury 15 4 Robert Tighello 13 5 Bradley Norton 13 6 Robert McLachlan 9 7 Richard Moffatt 8 8 Craig McCartney 8 9 Cameron Wise 6 10 Start Shaw 5 11 Michael Tolhurst 3 12 Robert Cater 3 13 Joshua Marden 2 14 Kyle Marwood 2 15 Matthew Rice 2 16 Bernard Sulzberger 2 17 Peter Herzig 2 18 Luke Bettany 1 19 Peter McDonald 1 20 Sean Finning 1 21 George Bunt 1 22 David McKenzie 1 Tourism Victoria King Of The Mountain Championship 1 Robert Tighello 17 pts 2 Gordon McCauley 12 3 Peter McDonald 10 4 Michael Tolhurst 6 5 Start Shaw 5 6 Bernard Sulzberger 3 7 Peter Herzig 2 8 Mathew Rex 2 9 Richard Moffatt 2 10 George Bunt 1 Criterium Championship 1 James Meadley 10 pts 2 Gordon McCauley 9 3 Aaron Salisbury 8 4 Bradley Norton 7 5 Start Shaw 6 6 Robert McLachlan 5 7 David McKenzie 4 8 Patrick Shaw 3 9 Matthew Gilbert 2 10 Peter Dawson 1
