Lachlan Norris wins the Cat Underground Tour of Tasmania

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Lachlan Norris (Drapac) won his first overall NRS title on Sunday afternoon when he successfully defended his lead at the Cat Underground Tour of Tasmania. Norris finished 17 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger Mark O’Brien (Budget Forklifts) in second place while Nathan Earle (Genesys) rounded out the final general classification in third.

The day also belonged to young Jay McCarthy (Jayco - Apollo - VIS) who recently signed for Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank. The rider was part of a move that formed late in the race and held off the bunch to sprint for line honours. In the rush to the line he relegated Luke Fetch (Search2Retain) and Ben Hill (Suzuki – Trek) to second and third respectively.

With a difficult final stage around Devonport it would be up to the team of Drapac Professional Cycling to ensure any dangerous moves were contained until later in the race. The biggest factor would be the close battle with O’Brien who began the day just 14 seconds down on race leader Norris.

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Riders would not be greeted with an easy final day. The 4.3km kermese course would be tackled 12 times with a total of five sprints and five KOMs to be negotiated. Neil Van Der Ploeg (Search2Retain) would be fighting to make sure he held onto his sprint leader’s jersey while Daniel Barry (Felt NZ) would be unlikely to overhaul his 12-point deficit to the Search2Retain leader.

As the race began it became clear who the tired riders were as they began to fall off the pace in the opening laps. Plenty of riders were still keen to achieve a result at the Tour and so the pace was high from the start. The flowing course made breaking away difficult but that didn’t stop the riders from trying.

With less than half the race remaining Felt NZ’s top placed rider Sam Horgan was involved in a crash and would not be finishing the race. It was a disappointing end for the Kiwi who began the day 11th on the general classification. The extent of his injuries was not clear at the time of the incident.

With 2 laps remaining a large group had moved off the front including Blair Windsor (Budget Forklifts), Josh Prete (Data#3 Cisco Racing Team) and Caleb Jones (GPM – Wilson Racing). Those three took out the final KOM points in that order before being joined by a number of others.

With Horgan still on the ground near the finish line, being attended by ambulance offices, officials were doing everything possible to keep the bunch away from the fallen rider.

Sixteen riders had made their way off the front of the rapidly reduced peloton before Ben Hill (Suzuki – Trek) tried his luck in a solo bid for the line with just over one lap to go.

Coming into the final lap there was five riders in the leading group with Saxo Bank – Tinkoff recruit Jay McCarthy, Luke Fetch (Search2Retain), James Williamson (PureBlack), Windsor and Hill all present in the move.

At the end it was the talented young McCarthy who proved too good for his breakaway companions, sprinting for the stage win ahead of Fetch with Hill a further five seconds behind. Norris safely crossed the line shortly after the breakaway to capture the overall title at Tour of Tasmania.

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