Cantwell out-paces international competition

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Jonathan Cantwell’s amazing run of success on the Australian road cycling circuit continued with a hair’s width victory in today’s Preface to the 2009 Jayco Herald Sun Tour in Ballarat.

The 27-year-old Queenslander has now won the opening stage of the last four Australian stage races. His last minute dash for the line gave him the tiniest of margins over Garmin Slipstream’s Chris Sutton, but it was enough to secure him the honour of wearing the yellow jersey on tomorrow’s opening stage.

“I went with 100 metres to go. It was full on up hill and with a cross wind so I couldn’t go any earlier’, a clearly elated Cantwell said after the win. “I’ve won every opening stage of all the tours in Australia I’ve ridden in this season, so I couldn’t be happier.

“We had a gut feeling the break was going to go today, so it was important we were there, and in the end we had three guys in it,” he said. “We came here to make a race out of the first one and the guys rode awesomely.”

It was a clearly a satisfactory outcome for Fly V Australia team boss, Henk Vogels who earlier in the day had issued orders to his squad to ride only for Cantwell.

“I am very proud. They do everything I ask them to do - it just keeps rolling along, “ Vogels said.

He also had some special praise for Cantwell, who he described as a character and a real scallywag, saying the winner of the 2009 tours of Atlanta and the Murray Valley had learned a lot this year.

Cantwell, Sutton and the eventual third-place getter, Gene Bates (Drapac Porsche) were part of an 18 man break that dominated the race from lap 10 of the 20 2.2km laps round Ballarat’s main street.

The group opened up as much as a 52 second gap over the peloton but managed to remain intact as a bunch until the last 200 metres of the final climb up Sturt Street.

Sutton, who has the chance to be part of the first father/son combination to win Australia’s oldest stage cycling race, said during the presentations that he was beaten by a better bike rider on he day.

“I know I was second. The team did everything we could but just got beat.”

Bates was similarly complimentary, including Sutton in his praise.

“I tried to kick and hold the wheel, but they were both to good for me.”

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