Cantwell closes with second stage win

Image 1 of 40

It may have poured all week during the 2009 Jayco Herald Sun Tour but after today's final stage on Lygon Street it was Bradley Wiggins' turn to reign, in the company of his talented accomplices from the Garmin Slipstream team. The team's display during the 61.5 kilometre circuit race that brought this year's Tour to a close was nothing short of emphatic. But their strong riding at the front of the field didn’t stop Fly V Australia’s Jonathan Cantwell from claiming the final stage.

For the Englishman, Wiggins, the emotion finally showed after playing it low key for the rest of the Tour. "I could have been in London today, the amount of people that were cheering for me," he said. "It didn't really kick home to me until today. Very few stage races around the world finish like this with so many people around an area like Lygon Street. Shows how big cycling is here.

"And then you look at the roll of honour on the trophy Gerry (Ryan of Jayco) presented to me,” he added. “The names are so good. It's brilliant to be on there."

Wiggins also acknowledged the importance of the team, and gave some idea of the process they went through in dealing with the dilemma of whether to go with him or Chris Sutton for the overall win. "We had a few beers last night trying to decide what to do but CJ really made his mind up deciding to give it to me and that was it really,” he said. But even then we were still umming and ahring with two laps to go whether Chris was going to do the final sprint. And the boys - they were amazing."

For Cantwell, it was clearly a matter of getting as much out of the final day as possible, a task he fulfilled admirably. "I knew I couldn't catch Chris Sutton or Bradley Wiggins on GC so we had other plans,” he said. “First was to get on the podium for the Tour, second was to win the points jersey and the third was to win the stage.

"We weren't sure of what the Garmin tactics were going to be but we got all three, so I guess we did okay. The team has been brilliant all year, especially today,” he added. "The green jersey's not bad but I'd prefer yellow. It's a bit of a strange feeling me being on the stage for the GC podium, being just a sprinter. I couldn't be more happy.”

Sutton was also content with his lot, acknowledging that he had surpassed both his and his father’s, 1984 winner Gary, expectations with his three stage victories. Garmin's sporting director Matt White, who had to direct his troops through the quandary of the previous 24 hours, was understandably more than happy with the outcome.

"With four stages, the general classification, the king of the mountains (Tom Peterson) and the team win it's been a successful week. The boys should be very proud," said White, who can now turn his attention to the arrival of his first child with wife Jane Saville in coming days.

The Tour also produced some fine performances by the next generation of Australian stars, led by 19 year-old Leongatha rider Nick Aitken, who convincingly held onto the white jersey for the best under 23 rider, in finishing eleventh overall. It was an impressive effort from the tall Jayco Australian team man, who only got the call up for duty at the last minute as a replacement for Baden Cooke.

Equally impressive amongst the younger riders were Mitchell Pearson (Prime Estate) who picked up a couple of top 10 stage finishes, Michael Matthews (Jayco AIS) who added a second placing on the final stage to some fine break away efforts earlier in the week.

Results