Cantwell wins Tassie finale

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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.

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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.