Cure gives Polygon back-to-back wins

Image 1 of 3

Amy Cure (Polygon Australia) has sprinted to victory in the 105.6 km Stuart O'Grady road race to give her team back-to-back victories in the opening two stages of the Adelaide Tour. 

Cure earned over a bike-length to her nearest challengers Ruth Corset and Jenelle Crooks (Pensar SPM) in a group of 24 riders which fought it out for the win, ensuring the Tasmanian held on to the leader's jersey she claimed courtesy of victory in the team time trial on Friday.

"It is awesome, it was a really great job once again by the whole team today," said 20-year-old Cure. "We did a really good job of communicating and our junior girls in Lauren [Perry] and Macey [Stewart] were fantastic again and it was great to have Georgia [Baker] and Grace [Sulzberger] there at the end to bring us home."

After numerous attempts at breakaways, Lucy Coldwell (Holden Women) was the only rider who could make a sizeable gap stick, making her move on the second gravel section during the northern loop. At the 65km mark, Coldwell had moved ahead to a maximum advantage of 1:30 on the peloton but with Polygon unwilling to give up the overall lead, the Tasmanian team drove the chase.

With 77km of racing complete, Coldwell's lead was reeled in and Peta Mullens (Target-Trek) went on the attack to lead the bunch over the second KOM, followed by Rebecca Locke (Liv-Giant) and Taryn Heather (Jayco-Apollo VIS). Samantha de Riter (Holden Women) shot off the front with around 15km left to race but was only able to gain 45 seconds before being caught with just under six kilometres to go.

"We weren’t too worried about the first attack until it got out to a minute twenty, a half and we sort of panicked a bit," admitted Cure. "We wanted to sit back and let everyone watch for our moves today, but when it got to a point when we potentially might lose the [yellow] jersey, we knew we had to get on the front and bring it back.

"We managed to do that, and recover a little bit for the finish, so it is great to pull through for the win."

Windsor takes out three-way battle in men's race

Blair Windsor (Budget Forklifts) broke through for his first National Road Series win, sprinting to victory over Nathan Elliot (Target Trek) and Cam Bayly (search2retain p/b health.com.au) following a late attack.

The three riders were the remnants of a quartet which rode clear over the final dirt sector, with Jack Haig (Huon - Genesys) puncturing out of contention. After a 158.4 km battle which seethed with attacks, the peloton crossed the line less than 10 seconds back from the winner.

"I’m really happy to win that one,” admitted Windsor. "I’ve been trying to win an NRS race for four or five years now and to win one in Budget Forklifts colours which is a team I’ve rode for since I was 18 is really special.

"Especially in a race like that, it was super-hard and the team rode brilliantly and to finish it off with a win, I’m ecstatic.”

Multiple attacks early on proved unsuccessful and it took 65km of racing for a breakaway to establish with Aaron Donnelly (Huon - Genesys), Lachlan Ambrose (Veneziano Blefari), Joel Strachan (Target Trek), Jason Spencer, Sam Crome (CharterMason Drapac) and Sam Horgan (Budget Forklifts) finally getting away.

As the critical Hahndorf climb approached, team of the yellow jersey Euride Racing and search2retain-health alternated at the front of the chase to keep the six rider's advantage under 30 seconds. Under a hot pace, Jack Beckinsale, Sam Davis (Huon - Genesys), Blair Windsor, Jack Anderson (Budget Forklifts), Al Loutit (GPM Data#3), Jay Bourke (Seight Test Team p/b The Biomechanics) and Alistair Donohoe (search2retain-health) bridged the gap to join the leaders and after 102km of racing the gap stood at just 40 seconds.

Crome was the first rider to drop out of the break, but the number remained steady with Neil Van Der Ploeg (search2retain-health) moving ahead to join the escapees but the Victorian would soon attack the group, forcing a split and signalling the beginning of the end for the front of the race. As the chaos ensued, GPM Data#3 and Euride was driving the bunch and the gap was back under 30 seconds and with less than 40km of racing remaining, it was gruppo compatto.

As the race went through Hahndorf for the final time, Josh Prete (Budget Forklifts) and Cal Britten (search2retain-health) moved clear, but their slight gap was short-lived and the peloton was back together with 25km to go.

The last ride over the dirt saw a break of six go clear, including Battle of the Border winner, Haig. Local rider, Bayly proved to be a threat from within however, attacking his breakaway companions with three kilometres left to race. Haig punctured out of contention and that forced a move from Elliot and Windsor.

"Luckily I had a bit at the end and crossed the line first, and I’m still a bit shocked that I did that," Windsor admitted. "In that last five kilometres, I’ve never hurt so much in a bike race before.

"Full credit to Euride, for 150 kilometres, we threw everything at them and they kept fighting back.

"With one kilometre to go, I had a look behind me and knew there wasn’t even 15 seconds in it, so I thought I could at least I could repay the boys with a stage win."

George Tansley (Euride Racing) steps into the overall lead heading into Sunday's third and final stage, the Mike Turtur Kermesse. Tansley finished in seventh place on the stage, with stage 1 leader teammate Harry Carpenter 24th across the finish line.

"We’ve kept the yellow jersey in the team so we are pretty happy," said Tansley.

"The boys rode out of their skin and we were on the front all day," he continued. "Budget [Forklifts] and [Huon] Genesys were really aggressive and we countered everything, defending isn’t something we’re used to.

"We still also hold the top three positions on the general classification so you can’t ask for much more than that."

Elite women - Results

Elite men - Results