Norris nets another win for Drapac

Lachlan Norris has scored Drapac Professional Cycling’s second stage win of the Tour of Tasmania with the 25-year-old besting a three-man battle to decide Stage 4.

Norris had escaped on the long, tiered haul up to Great Lake in Tasmania's wild Central Highlands with general classification leader Mark O'Brien (Budget Forklifts) and Nathan Earle (Genesys) having initially been part of a group of five riders which took the lead as the ascent began. The Drapac rider who splits his time between mountain biking and the road has been on a run of good form which included a win in the warm-up criterium for the Goulburn to Sydney Cycle Classic before animating the closing stages of the historic 170km event the next day.

Norris shook off his fellow escapees inside the final 10km to ride to a 44-second victory with Earle in second place at 44-seconds and O'Brien a further second in arrears. The Victorian's win was enough to take the overall lead from O'Brien who held a slim four-second lead after Thursday morning's third stage. Norris now leads the Tour of Tasmania by nine seconds.

Asked if he felt he could hold on to his overall lead, Norris was philosophical.

"There's a lot of hard racing to go and we're not going to discount the other teams," he said. "But I think we've got a strong team and I'm pretty confident we can do it."

His result follows teammate Darren Lapthorne's solo victory on Stage 2 which has resulted in Drapac heading up the teams classification by 47-seconds over Genesys.

The carnage got underway early with a crash in the neutral zone delaying proceedings. With the morning’s gusty conditions continuing as the tour left Hagley, the race soon split with around 40 riders making the front group.

Three of the four intermediate sprints on offer were in the opening 45 kilometres with Sewell Sweepers Sprint Championship leader Neil Van Der Ploeg (Search2Retain) securing his lead with minor placings on the opening three primes.

Thirty-five kilometres into the 101.2km stage, the front group was feeling the pinch, buffeted by a strong cross-wind and soon after the front group was split in three. It took 10km for them to work their way back together, just ahead of the first KOM of the day.

Ben Grenda (Team Polygon Australia) fourth in the morning criterium, attacked the peloton and with 67km of racing complete, had earned a 30-second advantage. By the time he reached the second KOM, he nearly had a minute on the field which was lead over the climb by Roman Van Uden (PureBlack Racing) and overall leader O’Brien.

With a cat. 1 climb looming, Grenda’s solo escape was doomed and he was reeled in by kilometre 78. The 5.5km, 6.4% climb with a select group emerging off the front consisting of O’Brien, Earle, Norris, Kristian Juel (Erdinger Alkoholfrei - Downer EDi Mining), Jay Bourke (Team Downunder). The quintet was enroute to the cat. 2 with a lead of 1:17 at the 89km mark and closing in on 10km remaining, O’Brien and Norris attacked again.

Earle initially tried to stick with the pair but could not bridge the gap at first. The 2010 winner of the Grafton to Inverell Cycling Classic fought back and eventually caught O’Brien and Norris as the kilometres remaining ticked down to single figures.

The Tour of Tasmania continues on Friday with another day of dual stages, starting with a 36km criterium in Ulverstone followed by a 78.5km road stage between Ulverstone and Penguin.