Von Hoff seemingly unbeatable with fourth win

Steele Von Hoff claimed his fourth stage victory in the Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland but despite his sprint domination, he is out of contention for overall victory in the five-day stage race.

Von Hoff began the third day’s racing with a win in the 45km criterium at Moe South, then followed with a triumph in the 85km stage six road race from Morwell to Maffra. The former Melbourne boilermaker, who has been competing seriously for only 12 months, also won the opening criterium in Wonthaggi on Wednesday and followed with another victory in yesterday’s closed circuit street race in San Remo.

Von Hoff began the 102km mountainous fourth stage from San Remo to Warragul yesterday afternoon wearing the leader’s yellow jersey but in an incredible mix-up with his Genesys teammates, he lost 11 minutes and slumped to 17th overall.

The new tour leader is his Genesys partner, Canberra’s Nathan Haas, but even team boss Andrew Christie-Johnson was bewildered by his contingent’s tactics.

“Nathan got away in the break and we thought we had Anthony Giacoppo up there as well,” Christie-Johnson said. “But before we realised what was happening, there was a six-minute gap and our second option dried up. I was a bit puzzled by the lack of initiative from the other teams as well.”

Haas now leads overall by 20 seconds from 17-year-old West Australian Bradley Linfield (Plan B), with the Jayco AIS rider Aaron Donnelly, of NSW, 30 seconds back in third place.