Lang takes Tasmania win, Sulzburger holds classification

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After not firing a shot on the opening two days of the 2009 Caterpillar Underground Mining Tour of Tasmania, Richard Lang made a bold move to win stage five in Stanley.

Lang, 20, from the Sydney suburb of Ashfield was one of four riders who moved away from the peloton almost as soon as the 116.5 km stage had left the town of Smithton.

The longest stage of the six-day tour included 12 intermediate sprints and 12 hill climbs. The majority of those primes took place in a series of circuits around the picturesque township of Stanley, on Tasmania’s far North-West Coast.

Lang, along with William Clarke, Canberra’s Nathan Hass and Victorian Rhys Pollock quickly formed their own lead group.

The original move was instigated by Clarke, but Lang, Hass and Pollock joined the Tasmanian to work closely in unison.

The quartet dominated the stage so much that they shared in 23 of the 24 intermediate bonus sprints and hill climbs, with current Australian road Champion Peter McDonald snatching a third placing on the last sprint after Hass and Pollock had dropped back to the main field.

Big day out for Lang

Richard Lang started the Tour of Tasmania as leader of the Scody Cup, after strong performances at the Tours of Gippsland, Murray River and Geelong. However, his performances on the first two days suggested he wasn’t going to be able to defend his lead for too much longer.

Lang had won a stage in each of the three previous tours, but lost his Scody Cup lead to Jonathon Cantwell after the Queenslander won the opening stage in Devonport on Tuesday. He fell even further behind when Cantwell won again in Burnie.

But Lang’s victory in Stanley narrowed the margin back to 5 points and his Scody Cup chances are very much alive again.

Lang also replaced tour leader Bernard Sulzberger at the top of the BOC Sprint Championship, while Sulzberger’s Fly V Australian teammate Phillip Zajicek lost his grip on the Tall Timbers King of the Mountain Championship to Nathan Hass, who picked up 25 intermediate points to jump from third to first.

However, both Hass and Zajicek would agree that there is still a long way to go in this tour.

Lang, Hass, Pollock and Clarke posed no real threat to the General Classification leaders and were accordingly given a certain amount of freedom in their escape. At one stage the gap between the leading four and the peloton had stretched out to a maximum advantage of four minutes

The residents of Stanley were treated to a glorious sight of the Tour of Tasmania peloton circling the local hills and a special one-off 'Ace of the Green Hills' jersey was presented after the race to Lang, who had amassed the most points throughout the day.

Lang and Clarke were able to break away from their fellow early attackers in Pollock and Hass, while the chasing peloton hunted them down.

In the end, Lang had a five second advantage over Clarke at the finish while there was a further 29 seconds to the main field, led home by British Champion Kristian House. Rohan Dennis, tour leader Bernard Sulzberger and Luke Durbridge filled the remaining spots, that earned each of them a handful of bonus seconds.

At the halfway point of the tour, Sulzberger holds a 20 second lead over both House - who won the Tour of Tasmania in 2006 - and American, Zajicek.

Others still in contention include Ben Day (at 0:22), Durbridge (at 0:27) and McDonald (at 0:31).