A winning pair: Scody Cup Series winner Jonathan Cantwell (left) and 2009 CAT Tour of Tasmania winner Bernard Sulzberger, both of Fly V Australia, have little time to celebrate their feats with the Herald Sun Tour beginning next week.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Well they go up that way and will be absolutely flying ,by the time they get back here we better be out of the way or our bagpipes will be all over the road!(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The field line up on the startline in Westbury after being escorted to the line by members of the Westbury Pipe Band.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
It was a picnic and festival type atmosphere at Westbury around the Village Green for the final day of the Tour.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Riders corner at the top-end of the home straight in Westbury before a great crowd.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The crowd lined the streets in Westbury for the final stage of the Tour.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The peloton make their way along the streets of Westbury adjacent to the Village Green.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Fly V Australia team-manager Henk Vogels congratulates Bernard Sulzberger on his 2009 CAT Tour of Tasmania victory.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Tour winner Bernard Sulzberger is interviewed by local media in Westbury after the final stage.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
A large crowd was on hand for the presentations after the final stage to the CAT Tour of Tasmania in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Final stage podium (l-r): Joseph Lewis (2nd,Drapac Porsche), Jonathan Cantwell (1st,Fly V Australia), and Bernard Sulzberger (3rd,Fly V Australia).(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Bernard Sulzberger (Fly V Australia) is presented with his Tas Gas Leading Tasmania rider of the Tour jersey in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Queenslander Jonathan Cantwell (Fly V Australia) took out the Country Club Criterium Championship on the Tour.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Richard Lang (Budget Forklifts) from New South Wales won the BOC Sprint Championship of the Tour.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Team spray: Drapac Porsche won the best team overall on the Tour's GC and duly celebrated on the podium in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The Tour's top three (l-r): Peter McDonald (2nd,Drapac Porsche), Bernard Sulzberger (1st,Fly V Australia), and Luke Durbridge (3rd,Jayco/AIS) get ready to party on the podium in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Champagne shower for a snapper: Joel Pearson (far right) of Savings and Loans makes the most of having a photographer at close range during the presentations in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Champagne shower for a snapper: Joel Pearson (far right) of Savings and Loans makes the most of having a photographer at close range during the presentations in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
A trio from the Westbury Pipe Band escorted the peloton to the startline in Westbury for the final stage of the Tour.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Hey guys you can't start without me: Tour leader and eventual winner Bernard Sulzberger (Fly V Australia) makes some final preparations at the back of the field before the final stage.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The Tour's competition jersey winners line up on the startline in Westbury for the final stage.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Riders swing around the top corner of the 1.3 kilometre street circuit in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The Drapac Porsche team on the front of the peloton during the final stage in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
A record field started the Tour in East Devonport last Tuesday and organisers could only be impressed with the entries for this year's race.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Peter Herzig (Budget Forklifts) won this stage a few years back and was looking to do the same again this year.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The peloton string-out on the skinny roads of Westbury during the final stage. (Image credit: Shane Goss)
A small break opens up on the streets of Westbury but on a fast and short curcuit staying away from the peloton was always going to be difficult.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Heading out of the final corner before the run to the finish where anyone wanting to win would need to be at the front of the peloton.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The field head under the banner and up the small rise in Westbury in the second-half of the 52 kilometre criterium.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The field head under the banner and up the small rise in Westbury in the second-half of the 52 kilometre criterium.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The crowd had great vantage points to watch the race from at the finish in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Drapac Porsche (l-r): Rhys Pollock, Zak Dempster, Thomas Palmer and Joseph Lewis in action in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The Fly V Australia train lead the peloton in the final laps with Tour leader Bernard Sulzberger in seventh wheel.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Benjamin King drives his Fly V Australia teammates into the 40th and final lap.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Jonathan Cantwell (Fly V Australia) takes the final stage before a great crowd in Westbury.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Numero uno on both the stage and the Tour: Jonathan Cantwell signals his ranking as Fly V Australia teammate and Tour winner Bernard Sulzberger begins the celebrations behind.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Nathan Haas (DiscoverTasmania.com/TIS) won the Tour's Tall Timbers King of the Mountain Championship. Haas is a mountain-biker from the Australian Capital Territory.(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The Tour's top three (l-r): Peter McDonald (2nd,Drapac Porsche), Bernard Sulzberger (1st,Fly V Australia), and Luke Durbridge (3rd,Jayco/AIS).(Image credit: Shane Goss)
The Scody Cup Series top three (l-r): Richard Lang (2nd,Budget Forklifts), Jonathan Cantwell (1st,Fly V Australia), and Joel Pearson (3rd, Savings and Loans).(Image credit: Shane Goss)
Riding on home soil in was an obvious motivational factor in Bernard Sulzberger's victory in the 2009 Caterpillar Underground Mining Tour of Tasmania.
Sulzberger became the second Tasmanian in as many years to win his home-state tour, following on from Richie Porte's success last year.
The Flowery Gully rider enjoyed a 50-second buffer to reigning Australian road Champion Peter McDonald with young West Australian Luke Durbridge claiming third spot, 56 seconds behind Sulzberger.
Sulzberger led the tour from start to finish and claimed six podium finishes from 10 stages.
He won the George Town to Scottsdale stage on Saturday, finished runner-up four times and closed the tour out by finishing third to his Fly V Australia teammate Jonathon Cantwell and Canberra 20-year-old Joseph Lewis.
Cantwell, too, was a dominant figure in the tour, winning three criteriums, which followed on from a stage win in the Tour of Geelong and three stage wins in the Tour of the Murray River.
Cantwell also took out the Scody Cup after reeling in NSW rider Richard Lang in the Tour of Tasmania.
At the start of the week, Lang held a narrow lead over Cantwell, but he couldn't match the power of the Fly V team and surrendered his advantage.
Cantwell also won the Country Club Tasmania Criterium Championship, while Nathan Hass won the Tall Timbers King of the Mountain Championship and Lang collected the BOC Sprint Championship.
Westbury Criterium
The added incentive of AUD200 for every intermediate sprint, plus extra cash bonuses for the most aggressive rider and most aggressive team ensured that the final stage of the tour was to be ridden at a hectic pace.
Held on a picturesque 1.2 km circuit at Westbury in Tasmania's north, riders were required to complete 40 laps, a task they completed in just 69:21 for an average speed of 45.1km/h.
The first of the intermediate primes was at the end of six laps and the first 10 of those were won by nine different riders.
Richard Lang, who started the final day as leader of the BOC Sprint Championship, concentrated on his immediate task: earn enough points to ensure he would collect the final jersey of the tour.
So open the final day was, any one of the entire field could have wrestled the sprint title away from Lang, but two early wins from the Budget Forklifts rider allowed him to effectively place one hand on the trophy.
Lang picked up an intermediate sprint of his own on Lap 30 and he was able to then enjoy the remainder of the race leaving the "GC boys" to fight out the stage finish. Like most of the tour, the Fly V Australia team gave Jonathon Cantwell and Bernard Sulzberger an armchair ride.
Cantwell had earlier in the week replaced Lang as leader of the Scody Cup, the overall points series which encompasses the Tours of Gippsland, Geelong and the Murray River, as well as this, the final Tasmanian leg.
The Queenslander started the tour with victory in the East Devonport criterium and followed that 24-hours later with victory in the Burnie Marist College criterium.
His prowess for street style racing continued at Westbury when he out-sprinted Canberra's 20-year-old Joseph Lewis, who the day before had won the Launceston to George Town stage. Third place was taken by tour leader Bernard Sulzberger, who had led the classic race from the opening stage.
"To win my home state tour means a lot to me," Sulzberger said. "My teammates have worked wonderfully well and while my name might go on the trophy, it's as much theirs as it is mine."
Sulzberger stretched his overnight margin out to 50 seconds from current Australian road champion Peter McDonald and a further 6 seconds to West Australian teenager Luke Durbridge.