Shaw takes stage win and lead on general classification

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The 2010 Tour of Toowoomba winner Pat Shaw (Genesys) took a big step towards defending his title today in the second stage between Picnic Point and Upper Flagstone Creek. The Ballarat rider was first across the line on the brutal hill-top finish, besting good mate and training partner Rhys Gillett (Jayco-2XU) and Tasmanian Institute of Sport youngster Alex Clements.

The race distance was reduced early after the first 15 kilometres of a narrow descent was neutralised. One rider caught out, despite the comparably relaxed beginning was Gillett who was caught out early and spent the first 25 kilometres fighting his way through the team cars and cross-tail winds. For a rider expected to make it on to the podium, it was a dangerous way to start the stage.

"There's been easier days," Gillett said after the stage. "Spending any time in the convoy when you're trying to win the stage is not good. Spending 20 kilometres in the convoy's even worse; it wasted a lot of energy. I could have just been sitting up the front, in good position and focussed. Instead I was worrying if I was going to get back on. In the end I had plenty of time to recover and I spent plenty of time not trying to do anything."

There were several splits in the bunch, Nicholas Schultz (QAS) making the most of the attacks picking up valuable KOM and Sprint points. Between the final two KOM's, Budget Forklifts' Michael Cupitt attempted to make up some of the 13 minutes he lost on stage one, creating a gap that reached around a minute and a half before being gradually reeled in.

The main group numbered around 35 riders by the time they hit the bottom of the final climb with around five kilometres to go. That number was whittled down heading up the final climb, which had a gradient of around 28 per cent.

Clements was then ahead of the group until around 500 metres to go when he was caught by Shaw and Gillett. Shaw, who won the National Road Series in 2010, deviated slightly from his line heading to the finish, which earned a protest from the Jayco-2XU team but Gillett put it down to racing.

"He [Shaw] and I both know that whichever one of us is in front is probably going to win, just because we both sprint a little dirty," he explained. "Fair's fair."

Shaw credited the work of his Genesys teammates following the stage, helping him take the leading position in the race heading into Sunday's final two stages which begins with a 94 kilometre morning stage beginning and ending in Oakey, before a 50 kilometre crit around Queens Park in Toowoomba.

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