Crocodile Trophy 2017: Stage 8 Results

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Leandre Bouchard - lifting his bike at the finish line at Port Douglas as the Crocodile Trophy Champion (Image credit: Regina Stanger/Crocodile Trophy)

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2017 classification winners: l-r: Daniela Erni Ruoss (Amateur women), Erik Dekker (Amateur), Leandre Bouchard (Overall winner), Daniel Beresford (Best Australian), Peter Urdl (Best Austrian), Bart Duraj and Brendon Skerke (Best Team) (Image credit: Regina Stanger/Crocodile Trophy)

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Leandre Bouchard crossing the line (Image credit: Regina Stanger/Crocodile Trophy)

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Andrew L'Esperance at the finish (Image credit: Igor Schifris / Crocodile Trophy)

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Martin Wisata completed his eighth Croc Trophy in 2017 (Image credit: Igor Schifris / Crocodile Trophy)

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Haley Smith and Andrew L'Esperance enjoying a dip in the ocean (Image credit: Igor Schifris / Crocodile Trophy)

Canadian Leandre Bouchard sealed his first Crocodile Trophy victory while Andrew L'Esperance won his third straight stage win to close out the Australian stage race.

"I'm really happy that I was able to take most of my lead across the finish line," said Bouchard who was 15 seconds slower than L'Esperance in the 30km time trial.

"Andrew [L'Esperance] got really strong over the last few days and I really wanted to claim today's stage myself, but am content with the overall victory, of course. It's been a real adventure and I really enjoyed this week."

Bouchard claimed the overall title by 1:16 minutes over L'Esperance with third place going to Ben May who was 2:28:05 in arrears.

Haley Smith (Norco Factory Team) successfully completed the race and sealed the elite women's title as the sole rider in the classification.

The race will move back to its traditional latter spot on the calendar in 2018, taking place 13-20 October 2018.

Full Elite Results

Elite Men
#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Andrew L'Esperance (Can) Forward Racing-Norco	0:54:49
2	Leandre Bouchard (Can) BH SR Suntour KMC	0:00:15
3	Ben May (Aus) Bicycle Riders/Specialized/Infinit Nutrition	0:07:54
4	Mike Blewitt (Aus) Subaru-Marathonmtb.com	0:08:17
5	Hiroyuki Okamoto (Jpn) Inpulse	0:57:08

Elite Women
#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
12	Haley Smith (Can) Norco Factory Team	1:07:56

Elite men general classification after stage 7
#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Leandre Bouchard (Can) BH SR Suntour KMC	27:16:00
2	Andrew L'Esperance (Can) Forward Racing-Norco	0:01:16
3	Ben May (Aus) Bicycle Riders/Specialized/Infinit Nutrition	2:48:05
4	Hiroyuki Okamoto (Jpn) Inpulse	3:27:42
5	Mike Blewitt (Aus) Subaru-Marathonmtb.com	4:56:03

Elite women general classification after stage 7
#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Haley Smith (Can) Norco Factory Team	32:13:29

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