News: Simon Yates top Brit in Sun Tour prologue

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The top Australia domestic stage race (non UCI) saw Simon Yates top Brit in 27th place, 19 seconds off the winner, Australian youngster Jordon Kerby

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The Australian cycling production line has produced another rising star, with 20-year-old former junior track champion Jordan Kerby upstaging his more famous competitors to take the opening prologue of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

Riding for Suzuki-Bontrager, the Queenslander upset the likes of Tour de France stage winners Stuart O’Grady and Simon Gerrans to win the Subaru prologue in 5 mins 25.01secs to have the honour of wearing the leader’s yellow jersey in tomorrow’s opening road stage.

New Zealander Joe Cooper (Huon Salmon–Genesys Wealth Advisors) was second with 5mins 26.48secs and David Kelly (Total Rush- Hyster Racing) the first man down the ramp, finished third with 5mins 28.69secs. Kerby sought out team manager John Forrest in early December seeking a ride just to experience racing in a “big tour”. Winning the opening stage was not even on his radar.

“I really wanted to do this tour, it’s a great tour and I rang John Forest from Suzuki-Bontrager and said hey mate have you got any spots. He said yeah sure and gave me a gig. I’m really grateful and happy to be able to repay him with that,” a surprised Kerby said after enduring a long wait to decide his win.”

So nervous was he during the wait that he went for a ride around the streets of Williamstwon to pass the time. “I just tried to chill out. I think there was like 70 guys still to go and big names so I kind of expected someone to do a better time but rider by rider went and they weren’t beating me so it was getting a bit more excited by the last ten guys.”

In sweltering conditions in Williamstown, the 108 strong peloton couldn’t win the 60th anniversary edition of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in the opening 4.7km individual prologue time trial in Williamstown but they could certainly lose the Tour in the space of six minutes if they weren’t on form. With the accumulated time from today’s opening lung-buster contributing to the general classification any lost second will need to be regained out on the open road over the next three days.

Two-time Jayco Herald Sun Tour winner and Milan San Remo victor Simon Gerrans finished inside the top ten and well within striking of a third victory, just 6 seconds adrift of Kerby with 5mins 31.54secs. Just behind him was teammate Simon Clarke (Tour of Spain Mountains winner) who will be one to watch on Arthurs Seat on Sunday.

Top British rider was the Academy’s Simon Yates in 27th with Raleigh’s Graham a few places behind in 31st.

Racing continues tomorrow with the opening road stage, a 147.7km trek from Rupertswood Mansion in Sunbury to the Tom Flood Sports Oval for a ‘Paris-Roubaix’-like finish on the outdoor velodrome in Bendigo. Two climbs threaten to break up the peloton, the first and largest at Mount Macedon, 33km into the race, and the second at One Tree Hill in the final lead into Bendigo. Due to the extreme heat forecast for tomorrow, the stage start has been brought forward two hours to start at 9.30am, with an anticipated finish time of 1.30pm in Bendigo.

RESULT – 4.8 kilometre time trial
1. Jordan KERBY U23 SZB 5:25.01
2. Joseph COOPER GEN 5:26.48 @ 1.47
3. David KELLY TRH 5:28.69 @ 3.68
4. Adam PHELAN U23 DEG 5:30.09 @ 5.08
5. Luke DAVISON SAS 5:30.11 @ 5.10
6. Anthony GIACOPPO GEN 5:30.58 @ 5.57
7. Aaron DONNELLY GEN 5:31.02 @ 6.01
8. Simon GERRANS AUS 5:31.54 @ 6.53
9. Simon CLARKE AUS 5:31.69 @ 6.68
10. Nathan HAAS AUS 5:32.35 @ 7.34
11. Campbell FLAKEMORE U23 DEG 5:35.90 @ 10.89
12. Mike NORTHEY NZL 5:35.99 @ 10.98
13. Jack BECKINSALE DEG 5:36.09 @ 11.08
14. Greg HENDERSON NZL 5:36.37 @ 11.36
15. Thomas PALMER DPC 5:36.40 @ 11.39
16. Damien HOWSON U23 DEG 5:38.42 @ 13.41
17. Bradley LINFIELD U23 DEG 5:38.66 @ 13.65
18. James ORAM NZL 5:38.67 @ 13.66
19. Ben GRENDA PGN 5:39.65 @ 14.64
20. Westley GOUGH U23 NZL 5:39.91 @ 14.90
21. Alex EDMONSON SAS 5:40.79 @ 15.78
22. Darren LAPTHORNE DPC 5:41.29 @ 16.28
23. Calvin WATSON U23 VIS 5:41.58 @ 16.57
24. Jack ANDERSON BFL 5:42.54 @ 17.53
25. Josh ATKINS NZL 5:42.82 @ 17.81
26. Wil WALKER DPC 5:43.88 @ 18.87
27. Simon YATES GBR 5:44.38 @ 19.37
28. Lachlan NORRIS U23 Raleigh 5:44.62 @ 19.61
29. Joseph LEWIS GPM 5:45.23 @ 20.22
30. Nathan EARLE GEN 5:45.74 @ 20.73
31 Graham BRIGGS Raleigh 5:45.88 @ 20.87
32 Stuart O’GRADY U23 AUS 5:46.82 @ 21.81
33 Mitchell LOVELOCK-FAY SZB 5:47.14 @ 22.13
34 Edward WHITE U23 GPM 5:47.55 @ 22.54
35 Scott LAW GPM 5:48.01 @ 23.00
36 Jay McCARTHY AUS 5:48.07 @ 23.06
37 Tom SCULLY U23 Raleigh 5:48.20 @ 23.19
38 Josh TAYLOR GPM 5:48.56 @ 23.55
39 Jai CRAWFORD GEN 5:50.26 @ 25.25
40 Sam WITMITZ U23 Raleigh 5:50.34 @ 25.33
41 Sam HORGAN BFL 5:50.39 @ 25.38
42 Robert John McCARTNEY SAS 5:50.52 @ 25.51
43 Alistair SLATER U23 GBR 5:50.58 @ 25.57
44 Kristian HOUSE RPH 5:50.79 @ 25.78
45 Neil VAN DER PLOEG STR 5:50.84 @ 25.83
46 Dean WINDSOR SZB 5:50.88 @ 25.87
47 Brendan JOHNSTON U23 SZB 5:51.27 @ 26.26
48 Sam SPOKES U23 VIS 5:51.40 @ 26.39
49 Robbie HUCKER DPC 5:51.46 @ 26.45
50 Alex CLEMENTS U23 DEG 5:51.49 @ 26.48
51 Richard HANDLEY RPH 5:51.50 @ 26.49
52 Jake McMAHON U23 PGN 5:52.03 @ 27.02
53 Rhys POLLOCK DPC 5:52.17 @ 27.16
54 Michael CUMING U23 RPH 5:53.13 @ 28.12
55 Jason SPENCER TRH 5:53.26 @ 28.25
56 Tom LEAPER TRH 5:53.31 @ 28.30
57 Andrew ROE SAS 5:53.46 @ 28.45
58 Cameron BAYLY STR 5:53.83 @ 28.82
59 Oliver KENT SPARK TTR 5:54.58 @ 29.57
60 Thomas HAMILTON VIS 5:54.96 @ 29.95
61 Brock ROBERTS U23 TTR 5:54.99 @ 29.98
62 Richard LANG U23 Raleigh 5:55.01 @ 30.00
63 Marc WILLIAMS BFL 5:55.19 @ 30.18
64 Dan McCONNELL U23 SZB 5:55.85 @ 30.84
65 Karl EVANS BFL 5:55.87 @ 30.86
66 Nathan ELLIOTT TTR 5:55.95 @ 30.94
67 Mark O’BRIEN Raleigh 5:56.61 @ 31.60
68 Alexander MALONE SGR 5:56.69 @ 31.68
69 Pat SHAW U23 GEN 5:57.44 @ 32.43
70 Aaron BUGGLE RPH 5:57.50 @ 32.49
71 Cal BRITTEN STR 5:57.67 @ 32.66
72 Alexander SMYTHE SGR 5:57.74 @ 32.73
73 Geoff STRAUB SGR 5:57.87 @ 32.86
74 Christopher LATHAM U23 GBR 5:58.44 @ 33.43
75 Stuart SHAW SZB 5:58.88 @ 33.87
76 Peter SMITH SGR 5:58.93 @ 33.92
77 Oliver MARTIN U23 PGN 5:59.05 @ 34.04
78 Nick WOODS U23 TDU 5:59.24 @ 34.23
79 Dylan HATELY U23 TTR 5:59.27 @ 34.26
80 Michael CROSBIE TRH 5:59.46 @ 34.45
81 Thomas DONALD STR 5:59.79 @ 34.78
82 Matthew GOSS AUS 5:59.91 @ 34.90
83 Chris JORY GPM 6:00.38 @ 35.37
84 Julian DEAN VIS 6:00.93 @ 35.92
85 Luke GRIVELL-MELLOR RPH 6:01.21 @ 36.20
86 Stuart SMITH STR 6:01.85 @ 36.84
87 Patrick LANE VIS 6:02.31 @ 37.30
88 Jay BOURKE TTR 6:02.46 @ 37.45
89 Samuel LOWE U23 GBR 6:03.16 @ 38.15
90 Bernard SULZBERGER DPC 6:03.23 @ 38.22
91 Sam RUTHERFORD U23 GPM 6:03.36 @ 38.35
92 Edward LAVERACK U23 RPH 6:04.23 @ 39.22
93 Jasper OCKELOEN TDU 6:05.13 @ 40.12
94 Mathew MARSHALL TDU 6:06.22 @ 41.21
95 Ian RICHARDS TDU 6:06.62 @ 41.61
96 Sam McCALLUM PGN 6:07.42 @ 42.41
97 Henry MORLEY SGR 6:08.14 @ 43.13
98 Jayden COPP U23 TDU 6:08.58 @ 43.57
99 Aaron SLAVIK SGR 6:08.62 @ 43.61
100 Shannon JOHNSON TRH 6:09.25 @ 44.24
101 Jack MATTHEWS U23 PGN 6:09.43 @ 44.42
102 Shaun McCARTHY BFL 6:10.53 @ 45.52
103 Joel STEARNES U23 PGN 6:11.38 @ 46.37
104 Rowan DEVER TTR 6:12.43 @ 47.42
105 Ryan MACANALLY TRH 6:13.91 @ 48.90
106 Michael CUPITT BFL 6:14.38 @ 49.37
107 Rico ROGERS STR 6:18.21 @ 53.20
108 Sean WHITFIELD TDU 6:20.62 @ 55.61

Event Website: http://www.heraldsuntour.com.au/

 

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