Earle, Corset claim hill-top victories in Canberra

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Nathan Earle (Huon-Genesys) yet again proved to be the king of the mountain by claiming another Subaru National Road Series (NRS) hilltop victory, this time in Canberra at the National Capital Tour on Saturday.

Earle, the current NRS standing leader ahead of teammate Jack Haig, took line honours in the 120 kilometre road stage to Honeysuckle camping ground in solo fashion, breaking away inside the final five kilometres.

"I'm off to Europe next year [with Team Sky], so not quite heading off yet but it's a great way to begin to finish off the year," said Earle. "It's going to be my last year with this team and these guys so I'm really keen to finish on a high."

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Earle crossed the line 30 seconds ahead of Jack Haig (Huon-Genesys), with Jai Crawford (Huon-Genesys) a further 57 seconds back.

The gruelling ten kilometre ascent saw Earle and Crawford, who was part of the day's only breakaway, ride away together before they eventually split with Haig riding away from the remnants of the peloton to catch Crawford and to slot into second.

"Jack [Haig] just led me out into the climb after AJ [Anthony Giacoppo] and Sam [Davis] busted it on the front of the peloton for 40 or 50 kilometres that was pretty impressive.

"I rode across to the break and Jai [Crawford] took me up the road as much as he could before I went solid from there to get the win," Earle said.

Earle now leads the Tour by one minute and 15 seconds to Haig, while Brodie Talbot (Racing Kangaroos) sits in third place, one minute and 32 seconds back.

"We want to win this tour, so to go one, two and three in the stage today is great. Hopefully if we can back it up tomorrow we can win the tour. That will be a great confidence boost for everyone and good preparation for the Tour of Tasmania next weekend," Earle concluded.

The day began with a regular aggressive start as the peloton made its way out of Canberra and headed for the hills.

The action came when Budget Forklifts initiated a small breakaway group of five riders and took their chances on one of the early king of the mountain sections, and quickly gained a minute second advantage.

Jack Anderson, Kristian Juel (Budget Forklifts), Crawford, Andrew Roe (Euride Racing) and Cameron Bayly (Search2Retain/Health) worked well together before Joe Cooper (Huon-Genesys) bridged the gap solo.

After 40km a chase group of six riders also joined the leaders, including two additional Budget riders, Alex Clements (Huon-Genesys), Miles Scotson (Euride Racing), Nick Woods and Jayden Copp (Pro Team Downunder).

A crash in the group left Anderson, Juel, Kauffman, Windsor, Bayly, Crawford and Cooper to fight it out, the group gaining over two and a half minutes on the field and looking threatening

With ten kilometres remaining, however, the peloton were within striking distance, allowing Earle, Haig, Brodie Talbot (Racing Kangaroos), Jordan Davis (St George Skoda), to reach the breakaway

"[Our plan today] was just to make it hard basically," explained Anderson. "We all know Earle is a classy rider and probably one of the best hill climbers in Australia, Asia, possibly the world, so we had to try something different and put the pressure on early.

"That was the whole idea behind the tactics today. The team were unbelievable today," Anderson said.

Huon-Genesys now hold first, second and fourth on the overall classification with a road stage and a criterium still to be raced on the final day. Earle holds a one point lead in the sprint classification whilst Anderson has a two point buffer over Earle to wear the KOM jersey.

Jack Haig's two minute lead in the young rider classification is looking unassailable whilst his Huon-Genesys team have a strong five minute buffer over Budget Forklifts in the team classification.

Corset out climbs Garfoot

Ruth Corset (Pensar SPM) has taken out stage two in the National Capital Tour in Canberra with a dominating solo effort. After taking out the win on the hill-top finish Corset also moves into the overall lead in the Subaru National Road Series as she attempts to defend her 2012 crown.

"It means a lot to me to win this stage," said Corset. "I haven't been able to show my climbing abilities a lot during the year so I'm just happy to give it everything on the climb and get the win."

Corset attacked the whittled down peloton inside the final six kilometres with current NRS leader Katrin Garfoot doggedly holding her wheel. Corset continued to turn the screws with Garfoot eventually dropping off in the final five kilometres.

From there Corset soloed to the line 42 seconds in front of Garfoot with Rebecca Locke (Liv/Giant) rounding out the podium, a further two minutes and nine seconds down.

"I haven't really had the opportunity to race against Kat this year, and especially on the climbs, so I just wanted to prove that I was the better climber.

"I knew that she'd be glued to my wheel and follow everything so I just did my thing and kept attacking and she finally popped," continued Corset.

Three of the strongest women in the race in Corset, Garfoot and Felicity Wardlaw (Bicycle Superstore) formed a three woman breakaway at the 75 kilometre mark and gained a maximum lead of one minute before they were reeled in with 20km to race.

The reduced group remained together on the undulations heading to Tharwa before Corset rode away on the final ascent of the day.

"I tried to stay on her wheel to the end, but she got me on the final climb," Garfoot said. "She's just a stronger rider on the hills at the moment.

"On the steep sections I knew Ruth would attack, I tried to hang onto her wheel but she rode me off every time she attacked. I tried to come back at the end but I just didn't have it," Garfoot said.

Corset leads the tour by 42 seconds to Garfoot with Locke more than two minutes back with two stages remaining.

The women's and men's tours continue tomorrow with a double stage day including a road race around the parliamentary triangle before a criterium at Parliament House concludes the event.

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