Frendo wins Crocodile Trophy time trial stage

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Australian Mark Frendo won Friday's time trial stage at Laura and was able to increase his general race lead by almost a minute. Race favourite Cory Wallace has not been able to race away from his strongest rival this year and he finished in third behind Josef Benetseder from Austria.

Women's leader Liesbeth Hessens again impressed the entire Crocodile Trophy rider field and crew by clocking in the 25th-fastest time, but behind her, a race for second and third places is unfolding between Giordana Sordi and Maria Cristina Prati from Italy. Not even eight minutes separate the two in the women's general classification ahead of Saturday's marathon stage into the Aboriginal coastal community of Hopevale.

Under blue skies and in sweltering 40+ degree (Celsius) heat, the Crocodile Trophy riders lined up for a 38-minute time-trial stage in Laura. Starting in reverse order of the general classification with one-minute gaps, the race course took them onto a corrugated main road out of Laura and then onto a smoother, yet partly sandy dirt track in the Lakefield National Park.

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"I'll try to catch Jiri, but don't really want to see Mark," said overall runner-up Wallace, whose plan was not to be caught by race leader Frendo. Frendo started one minute behind Wallace.

However, that wasn't what would happen.

"I came up to Cory at about the half-way point and stayed a few hundred metres back just to catch my breath and recover a bit," said Frendo, who then attacked with about 5km to go.

But Wallace wasn't going to give up easily. He caught Frendo just before the finish line, however, but was still 57 seconds slower, due to the time trial starting grid.

Benetseder squeezed in between the two with a 24-second gap off Frendo.

"I'm happy that today went so well. All I really wanted to do was contain any losses, because I knew that Cory would go hard," said Frendo, admitting that he was slowly starting to dream of Cooktown and taking out the Crocodile Trophy victory for Australia for the first time since Adam Hansen's win in 2005.

For supporters, it was a welcome change to stay another night at a stage destination. No tents were to be packed up, the catering crew didn't have to dismantle their entire Outback kitchen set up. One of them, Maarten Neyens had been accompanying the event as a supporter for his Lotto Belisol racing teammate Sander Cordeel. However, since Cordeel's crash and race pullout, the two likable Belgians have been helping out in camp: Cordeel in the kitchen with one hand in a sling and Neyens building tents for the riders. Today Neeyen couldn't help but get a taste for Outback racing and was one of the starters at the time trial, which he completed in 1:18:05.

"Next year we'll come again and race the entire Crocodile Trophy - what an adventure", beamed Neyens after his race today. Former Croc-winner Adam Hansen, who races for the same pro-cycling team in Europe, had told them so much about his home country and the Crocodile Trophy that Sander had decided to participate this year.

"Being part of this event, travelling through the Outback and seeing the wide variety of terrain and tracks that you get to race makes me want to come back as a rider," Neyens said.

Saturday's second-last stage will take the riders towards the coast again, and camp will be set up in the Aboriginal community of Hopevale. Wide Outback highways and river crossings await the riders on the 113km and 1100m stage.

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