Davison takes his second stage win for Budget Forklifts

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Luke Davison won his second stage win at the Tour of the Great South Coast for Budget Forklifts when he out-sprinted Jack Beckinsale (Croydon Cycleworks) and teammate Ryan MacAnally. Davison’s win in the eighth stage is his second for the Tour, following Budget’s 1-2 win in stage 2. It marks another podium finish for Beckinsale and MacAnally who have come agonisingly close to a win over the past week.

Riders took to the 104.3km road stage from Koroit to Peterborough under blustery conditions. Positioning would be crucial as the route followed the coast whilst changing direction frequently. Riders would contest 8 intermediate sprints along the way with a single KOM located toward the finish. The climb would no doubt split whatever remained of the leading group.

The first two sprints were located within the opening 10km and made for a rapid start. Neil Van Der Ploeg (Search2Retain) won the first two sprints in an effort to close his gap on second-place rider Darren Lapthorne (Drapac) while a crash occurred shortly after involving KOM leader Ben Hill (RBS Morgans). The main peloton however, were shortly all back together.

Conditions strung the bunch into a long line at times but with riders looking to pick up intermediate sprints, the peloton remained all together coming into third sprint. Pure Black’s Roman Van Uden took it out with Gordon McCauley (Drapac) and Pat Shaw (Genesys) in second and third respectively.

Despite attacks from a number of teams, no riders were given any time off the front as Van Der Ploeg used the conditions to his advantage, taking out the fourth sprint ahead of McCauley and Shaw.

Hill easily rejoined the bunch and used the lull after an intermediate to attack the bunch. Approximately five riders joined him and whilst no threat to the general classification, Genesys closed it down before it could establish a significant gap.

The relentless pace and winds saw a group detached off the back and as the race winded along the coast, the bunch was spread across both sides of the road. Riders were often riding in the shoulder to take shelter from the wind.

Van Der Ploeg was at it again, looking to improve his GC deficit and at regaining the sprint jersey. He won the Nirranda sprint outside Cheesworld just over half way into the race and took second place behind Luigi Vecchio (African Wildlife Safaris) at Nirranda South. Drapac were busy on the front setting tempo for their captain Darren Lapthorn.

Riders began to fall off the back of the bunch as the race hit the first proper climbs with 30km still to go. James Hepburn (RBS Morgans) attacked off the front along with Joe Cooper (Pure Black) as teammate Ben Hill worked hard to join the leading duo.

The three were chased and this once again whittled the peloton down to a group of approximately 30 riders. The group would remain together coming into the final kilometres where Budget took another stage win with Luke Davison. Jack Beckinsale (Croydon Cycleworks) and Ryan MacAnally (Budget) finished second and third respectively.

Giacoppo and Lapthorne finished with the front group that formed over the day’s final climbs while Van Der Ploeg finished the day with a fourth-place in the final sprint. He was rewarded for his efforts in picking up numerous sprint points along the way, moving into second overall and bumping Lapthorne down into third.

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