Rogers beats Lang to second stage victory

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Rico Rogers stopped the Jayco-Skins squad from dominating the Tour of Gippsland’s opening day, with the Team Budget Forklifts rider holding off Richard Lang to win the day’s second stage. Lang’s teammate Alex Carver had won the morning’s opening criterium ahead of Patrick Shaw (Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans), who finished third on the afternoon’s stage.

Two main climbs on the day’s stage helped thin the peloton, however Rogers still lead a 60-strong bunch into the finish at Wonthaggi.

Race leader Ben Grenda was well protected by his strong Genesys Wealth Advisers team in the mountainous 88km afternoon stage, which took a punishing toll on large proportion of the 160-strong field. Grenda feels he can hold the leader’s yellow jersey until Sunday’s grand finale criterium in Paynesville but is weary of tomorrow’s 134km stage.

“I’ve got the yellow and somebody else has got to take it off me but I would certainly like to hang on to it,” said Grenda. “I’ve been working very hard on improving my sprinting over the past few months and it seems to be working for me. It’s also comforting to have such a supportive team around me.”

An early five man break was reduced to three riders at the start of the first climb, with only Dylan Newell (Genesys Wealth Advisers), Charles Howlett (Search2Retain-Myteam2) and Adiq Othman (Drapac-Porsche) away. The peloton caught the trio by the summit however where Cameron Jennings (Team Budget Forklifts) claimed the King of the Mountains points ahead of Othman and Patrick Lane (Jayco-Skins).

Lane led over the second climb, putting him in the mountains competition lead. He was followed by Lachlan Norris (Drapac-Porsche) and Stuart Smith (Jayco-VIS).

Just 60 riders remained in the lead bunch as the peloton closed in on the finish, where Rogers sprinted to victory.

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