Walker forced to fight to secure comeback overall victory

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Will Walker (Drapac) has completed a fairytale return to racing, taking out the 2012 Tour of Gippsland with a determined showing in the final stage criterium in Paynesville. 

There, Luke Davison (Budget Forklifts) took stage honours, his fourth win for the tour.

Walker held a 14-second lead heading into Sunday’s ninth and final stage with sprint bonuses proving a target for his general classification rivals. Walker, 26, took maximum points on three of the laps to maintain a buffer on Ben Hill (RBS Morgans-ATS Pro Cycling) and Neil Van Der Ploeg (Search2Retain) who threw everything at the former national road champion.

Returning to racing at the Mersey Valley Tour in April after a premature retirement which began three-and-a-half years ago due to tachycardia, Walker rocketed up the Gippsland general classification order on Saturday, winning Stage 8. Following the victory, he explained how grateful he was to be given the opportunity to ride with Australian Continental outfit, Drapac Professional Cycling.

"Six months ago I thought I would never race again," he admitted. "Michael Drapac has shown a lot of faith in me to get me back to 100 per cent health.

Walker took small steps at first when embarking on his competitive return, and the experience proved challenging.

"I really got belted in a few local races," he said. "Then I went to Italy and really trained hard.

"I killed myself to make sure I'd be strong enough to get back."

Securing victory in Drapac's return to the Australian National Road Series for the season after the squad took on Asia and Europe, he said is just the icing on the cake.

"All the local teams are fantastically strong," he said. "I would've been happy to just get in the top 10 and just stay on my bike."

Walker showed he was up for today's challenge by taking out the opening intermediate sprint but the Search2Retain outfit, which had Van Der Ploeg in third overall and chasing a 15-second deficit, signalled they were just as hungry winning the second intermediate sprint on lap eight. Van Der Ploeg's efforts were not enough as he eventually dropped back to fourth on GC.

Over the next six sprint laps, Hill and Pat Shaw (Genesys) who was fourth overall at the start of the day and 24-seconds in arrears, were relentless in their bid for time bonuses and ate away at Walker's advantage.

Hill later admitted that his raids were as much about preservation with racing on the flat not really his strong-suit.

"I was trying to hold onto second place [in the GC] and I managed to do that," the Canberra-based rider said.

Walker resisted the attacks however, and his win on the ninth of 16 sprints earned him 13 seconds of breathing space and cemented his eventual general classification victory.

Continuing his solid performance during the tour's previous three days, Josh Taylor (GPM - Wilson Racing) earned the title of the stage's most aggressive rider, and the extra two points enough to take out the classification ahead of Drapac's Darren Lapthorne.

Davison meanwhile, might just be the form sprinter of the NRS at the moment and sits at the top of the Scody Cup ladder with Walker.

"Coming into this, I didn't know whether I'd be contending for top 10," Davison said. "You thrive on the confidence when the wins back up."

Walker's win in this the first of five category-1 event on the NRS calendar, is enough for him to become the new series leader, overtaking Mark O'Brien (Budget Forklifts) who tok out the opening three events of the season.

The NRS continues later this month with the Tour of the Great South Coast, a nine-stage race run from August 15-19.

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