The overall race leader Urs Huber wins again today, claiming his sixth stage victory at the 21st Crocodile Trophy at Wetherby Station ahead of Denmark’s Soren Nissen, Nicholas Pettina (Italy), Brendan Johnston (Australia) and Ondrej Fojtik (Czech Republic
Elite female Sarah White (Australia) and amateur woman Kristin Endres (Germany) ride together, still in the overall lead of their respective categories.
The penultimate stage of the Crocodile Trophy dished up a 101km marathon for the international rider field in Tropical North Queensland. It took the riders from the Skybury Coffee Plantation via undulating terrain to Wetherby Cattle Station, just up on the escarpment from tomorrow’s final stage destination in Port Douglas.
The overall race leader from Switzerland, Urs Huber, had said yesterday that he felt he had worked up quite a secure lead but today didn’t leave anything to chance.
Again a lead group formed with the so familiar, colourful jerseys of the top elites and Huber was able to break away from them on a fast descent ahead of the last feed zone with about 15km to go.
In 3h24:59.7 he took out stage eight with a gap of 49.9 seconds to overall runner-up Soren Nissen and Nicholas Pettina (+2:29.2 min). Brendan Johnston came in fourth (+7:52.7 min) and Ondrej Fojtik in fifth (+9:01.5 min).
Soren Nissen said that he crashed on the descent and lost Huber’s wheel and that he wasn’t able to catch up to the strong endurance rider from Switzerland any more.
Brendan Johnston, who is expected to take third overall and the leader jersey for the best Australian finisher across the line in Port Douglas, commented on the strong European racers, saying that it had been an interesting and exciting experience to race and place well in such a high-profile field of athletes at this year’s event.
Last year’s Crocodile Trophy Champion, Greg Saw, also complimented the top riders in the field, “The quality of riders is very impressive at this year’s event, I tried very hard to crack into the top five and a lingering gastritis didn’t help."
Elite Men
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Urs Huber (Sui) Team Bulls | 3:25:00 |
| 2 | Sören Nissen (Den) Racing Team Stevens - iHUS | 0:00:50 |
| 3 | Nicholas Pettina (Ita) Gruppo Sportivo Forestale | 0:02:29 |
| 4 | Brendan Johnston (Aus) Brendan Johnston | 0:07:53 |
| 5 | Ondrej Fojtik (Cze) FORCE KCK - PROGRESS CYCLES | 0:09:01 |
| 6 | Lukas Islitzer (Aut) CRAFT - Rocky Mountain Team | 0:10:47 |
| 7 | Greg Saw (Aus) Energima Abax Hr | 0:10:47 |
| 8 | Milton Ramos (Esp) Intense-TowCar | 0:12:08 |
| 9 | Thomas Engelsgjerd (Nor) Energima Abax Hr | 0:15:59 |
| 10 | Ryan Sherlock (Ire) TR | 0:16:31 |
| 11 | Vincent Arnaud (Fra) Cycle Tyres - Addictiv | 0:16:31 |
| 12 | Jiri Krivanek (Cze) Prestige - EthicSport | 0:18:45 |
| 13 | Jeroen van Eck (Ned) MPL Specialized MTB Team | 0:24:37 |
| 14 | Anthony Lincy (Aus) Astute Financial Racing | 0:25:36 |
| 15 | Matthias Grick (Aut) KTM RAD.SPORT.SZENE Ausseerland | 0:25:42 |
| 16 | Jindra Knot (Cze) SWEEP CYCLING | 0:25:43 |
| 17 | Manuel Pliem (Aut) KTM RAD.SPORT.SZENE Ausseerland | 0:46:57 |
Elite Women
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sarah White (Aus) Astute Financial Racing | 04:31:33 |
Elite Men General Classification after stage 8
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Urs Huber (Sui) | 25:38:16 |
| 2 | Sören Nissen (Den) | 0:17:39 |
| 3 | Brendan Johnston (Aus) | 0:38:58 |
| 4 | Nicholas Pettina (Ita) | 0:49:44 |
| 5 | Lukas Islitzer (Aut) | 1:02:21 |
| 6 | Milton Ramos (Esp) | 1:31:22 |
| 7 | Greg Saw (Aus) | 1:32:10 |
| 8 | Ondrej Fojtik (Cze) | 1:45:30 |
| 9 | Matthias Grick (Aut) | 1:49:22 |
| 10 | Vincent Arnaud (Fra) | 1:59:34 |
| 11 | Ryan Sherlock (Ire) | 2:04:04 |
| 12 | Jiri Krivanek (Cze) | 2:56:44 |
| 13 | Jindra Knot (Cze) | 3:50:36 |
| 14 | Jeroen van Eck (Ned) | 4:40:40 |
| 15 | Thomas Engelsgjerd (Nor) | 4:53:47 |
| 16 | Manuel Pliem (Aut) | 5:03:12 |
| 17 | Anthony Lincy (Aus) | 5:48:46 |
Elite Women General Classification after stage 8
| # | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sarah White (Aus) | 35:43:00 |
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