Van Der Ploeg earns first NRS stage win

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Neil Van Der Ploeg (search2retain p/b health.com.au) has won the Stage 5 of the FKG Tour of Toowoomba ahead of Stage 4 victor Ben Grenda (Polygon Australia) and last year's winner on the circuit, Josh Taylor (GPM Data#3).

The win was enough for Van Der Ploeg to secure the Mavic Sprint Classification from overnight leader Jack Anderson (Budget Forklifts) while Nathan Earle's (Huon Salmon - Genesys Wealth Advisers) general classification lead was untroubled on the final stage criterium as the Tasmanian team dominated the final podium.

"It’s pretty special to be able to come here and win," said Earle. "Pat [Shaw] has won it two years previously and I got third in 2010 - I wore the leaders jersey for a day and lost it so that was bit upsetting and I said to myself 'I want to come back here at some point and win the tour.'"

The overall victory at the FKG Tour of Toowoomba for Huon - Genesys is their third in as many National Road Series events this season, having taken out the Tour de Perth and the Battle of the Border. Jack Haig remains the NRS leader on 34 points ahead of  Earle (29) with Jai Crawford (Huon - Genesys) and Van Der Ploeg both on 19 points.

"It’s a little bit overwhelming but I’m really enjoying being able to wear a jersey at the tours," Haig explained. "I’m just looking forward to keeping it for as long as I can and trying to get some exposure and get my name out there."

Numerous attacks punctuated the 21 lap race but the bunch sprint was somehow always going to eventuate with Van Der Ploeg first across the finish line in a tightly contested battle. After a tough week in the saddle where not a lot had gone the team's way, the sprinter's win was sweet relief. Adding to the celebrations was the amount of near misses for Van Der Ploeg with four podiums so far this season in the NRS, off the back of his fourth place at the Cycling Australia Road National Championships in January.

"It’s awesome to get the win," Van Der Ploeg said following his victory, his emotion as he crossed the line evident for all to see. "I’ve finished from second place to fifth place numerous times in the NRS so far this year so I was really keen to get a win on the board."

How it unfolded:

Heading into Sunday's fifth and final stage, Huon-Genesys had the podium wrapped up with Earle in the purple leader's jersey, eight seconds ahead of Jack Haig with Ben Dyball a further nine seconds back in third overall. In fourth place on the general classification was Crawford (+1:36) with Matthew Clark (CharterMason Drapac Development Team) the best-placed non-Genesys rider at 1:54.

The competition was much closer for the Mavic Sprint Classification with Jack Anderson (Budget Forklifts) leading on 12 points, followed by Van Der Ploeg (search2retain-health) and Craig Evers (Racing Kangaroos) tied for second place on nine points.

It was a hard and fast start to the action on the 2.4km circuit with Will Walker (Drapac) first to make a move off the front shortly after the conclusion of the first of 21 laps. The Victorian was soon joined by Aaron Donnelly (Huon-Genesys) but any gap was short-lived with the race back together.

Budget Forklifts was on the front foot heading into the first sprint lap with the aim of protecting Anderson but it was his nearest rival, Van Der Ploeg who scooped the points, followed by Evers and the classification leader. That resulted in a one-point differential between first and second with Anderson holding onto the lead with 16 laps remaining.

Satalyst Giant were again aggressive and looking to animate the race, sending Adam Semple up ahead of the peloton, with Eric Sheppard (search2retain-health) also hovering around the front of the bunch looking for any moves.

At the halfway mark, a small group of riders had earned a slight gap on the bunch with Evers, Steven Waite (African Wildlife Safaris Cycling Team), Caleb Jones (Parramatta Race Team), Matthew Nicholson (Polygon Australia), Robbie Hucker (Drapac), Josh Taylor (GPM Data#3), Dyball and Sheppard gaining close to 10 seconds ahead of the second sprint.

Evers was first over the line, followed by Sheppard and Dyball with the Racing Kangaroos rider the new sprint classification leader by just one point over Anderson and another back to Van Der Ploeg who was unable to contest the lap due to a mechanical.

The race came back together briefly as the lap counter was moved down into single figures but with the stakes high, the attacks were far from over with Semple, Bernard Sulzberger (Drapac), Saturday's breakaway man Nathan Elliott (Target Trek), and Joe Cooper (Huon - Genesys) moving away from the field.

Sulzberger and Cooper were then joined by Budget Forklift's Luke Ockerby riding into the bell lap but the trio would not be able to stay away for too long, caught by a peloton that was splitting under pressure. The brief lull signalled another attack from Walker before the bunch sprint of 34 riders coming to the line decided the stage.

"I think you’d be a bit of a fool not to be concerned with someone like Will going off the front," Van Der Ploeg said with Walker escaping late in the piece for victory on the opening stage. "Luckily we had Angus Tobin there to do a bit of a chase which was just enough in the end and I can’t thank the team enough."

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