Grenda attacks late for Stage 4 victory

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Former U23 national criterium champion Ben Grenda (Polygon Australia) has won the Stage 4 of the FKG Tour of Toowoomba. The result was one better for the 23-year-old Tasmanian who had finished as runner-up in Toowoomba's opening stage to Highfields on Thursday.

Grenda won the 113km stage ahead of Mal Rudolph (Drapac) in an exciting finish to the double-stage day. Neil Van Der Ploeg (search2retain p/b health.com.au) was third in yet another podium finish, his fourth for the season after collecting two in Perth and another at last week's Battle on the Border.

"I'd backed myself for a bunch kick so the boys had the confidence to ride for me too and we tried to make sure it came back to that," Grenda told Cyclingnews. "Obviously it wasn't a bunch kick in the end and we ended up kicking away in the last couple of k's..."

A late attack from Drapac's Darren Lapthorne inside the final 10 kilometres proved unsuccessful, but it only resulted in several more attacks as the race approached the Toowoomba criterium circuit and the finale, with Grenda leading the way.

General classification leader Nathan Earle (Huon-Genesys) finished safely in the main peloton to maintain his overall lead and is unlikely to be challenged given his teammates Jack Haig, Ben Dyball and Jai Crawford make up the top-four riders.

Grenda however, on form and high on confidence following Saturday's win was certainly backing himself for Sunday's final stage.

"That's the stage we've been looking forward to. I like riding criteriums - it's a big circuit, it's not really a true criterium, you could almost class it as a bit more of a road circuit. There's big long straights and there's a nice little punch up the hill, so that will suit my kind of sprint. We'll definitely be going for another win."

How it unfolded:

Earle stole maximum points on the first KOM of the afternoon, just over 10km into the 113km stage before racing got hectic on the narrow farming roads and open plains of the Darling Downs.

The chaotic start resulted in multiple splits in the peloton, but three riders managed to ride alone out front, Budget Forklifts’ Jack Anderson, Robbie Hucker (Drapac) and Nathan Elliot (Target-Trek). Anderson, doing a mountain of work for the group, took the points on the second KOM and with 50km of racing complete, the trio had ridden away to an advantage of 1:48.

That gap would not be improved, with the next 30km of racing resulting in close to a minute being wiped off the breakaway's lead thanks to the work of Huon-Genesys, Satalyst Giant and search2retain-health leading a determined chase for the final 50km of the stage in a bid to get their sprinter's up for the spoils. With the gap closing, the Polygon squad also moved to the front with around 15km to go.

Anderson would be rewarded for his efforts over the stage, rocketing up the Mavic Sprint Classification standings and take over the fluro yellow jersey at the end of the day and earning the stage’s most aggressive rider award.

Eventually caught with 10km to go, the hammer was well and truly down with the peloton splitting once more under pressure with rival teams throwing everything at the Huon-Genesys squad in a bid to upset their stranglehold on the general classification.

The FKG Tour of Toowoomba concludes on Sunday with a traditional criterium around Queen’s Park in the centre of town.

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