The Wagga Junior Tour was held last weekend and its the first junior tour of the road season. 6 junior riders from Mudgee made the trip on friday afternoon to start the race on Saturday morning with 160 other junior riders from around the state. This junior tour consists of a Time Trial followed by three road stages.
Under 13: (19 riders)
Will on his first tour
Will Toovey made his tour debut placing 16th in the opening time trial (6km).
The first road stage was an out and back course of 14km with Will losing touch with the front bunch at the turnaround as he wasn’t prepared for the sharp acceleration as they rounded the witches hat. This was simply a lack of experience and Will rode to the finish with a number of other riders to finish.
The second road stage on Sunday morning was a distance of 11km and Will showed he had learnt from the race the day before to finish 12th place in the bunch.
The final stage of 14km saw Will again finish in the bunch.
Will gained a lot of experience from his first tour and will improve dramatically as the season progresses and he comes to understand road racing. Most importantly he enjoyed the racing and is looking forward to the Goulburn Tour in 3 weeks.
Under 15′s: (Josh Toovey, Hamish Burke and Henry Whiteside)
17 riders made up the start list and with this number meant there would only be the one grade. The under 15 Australian Road and Track Champion (Cameron Scott) was in this race and was no doubt going to make it a hard race for all riders.
In the opening Time Trial (10km) Scott did a time of 15:58 (on restricted gears) to win with Josh Toovey in 2nd (16:22) and Hamish Burke in 5th (17.02) and Henry Whiteside towards the back.
The first road stage was a hilly 36 km and after the Mudgee boys got in a couple of breaks only to be brought back to the bunch, Cameron Scott rode away from the field to get first place. The bunch was well and truly splintered with Josh coming in second a couple of minutes behind and Hamish in 5th further back. It was a tough stage for Henry but he
Henry focusing on the time trial
showed plenty of determination to finish the stage when some other riders chose to withdraw from the race. Well done H.
The 3rd stage on Sunday morning (36km) saw a bunch sprint with Josh placing 3rd and Hamish leading out one of his Racing Kangaroo teammates to get 5th. Henry came in towards the back of the field.
The final stage (26km) again ended in a buch sprint with a bunch sprint. Cameron Scott winning again, but Josh coming in second to wrap up second place overall and Hamish finishing with the bunch to stay in 5th place overall. Hamish was the first rider of his age overall (1st year under 15). Josh is racing very well and is clearly the second best rider behind Cameron Scott. I’m sure Josh will push him in a few races this year.
Josh and Hamish finsihed well
Whilst Henry had some hard races up against some very fast riders he completed every stage and had some stories to tell after each stage. Henry loves his cycling, and still went home with a smile on his face. With his commitment and resilience it is only a matter of time before Henry is racing at the sharp end. Keep the training up Henry and job well done by all three boys.
Under 17′s: (Jock Whiteside and Callum Payne)
With 39 riders registered to the Under 17 boys the field was split into A and B grade. Both Jock and Callum are both in their first year in this age category and raced in B grade. Both have been training strongly in recent weeks and it would be interesting to see how they go.
Jock had a great time trial finishing in 4th place (14km in 22:47 on restricted gears) and Callum not as good in 11th place at 24:02 (need some time trial training).
The first road stage of 60km was a hilly and testing course with a number of riders being dropped. A reasonable sized bunch came in for the finish with the Mudgee boys near the front. Jock finishing in 3rd and Callum in 4th.
The second road stage (Sunday morning) was a 50km stage and Jock was keen to improve his 4th position on GC. Both boys got over the early hills in the front bunch and with about 5km to go Jock attacked the bunch to break away with another rider. Unbeknown to Jock the rider with him was ahead on GC and Jock dragged him to the finish line only for this rider to sprint past him to take the win. Callum then came in with the bunch about 25 seconds down and sprinted to take second in the bunch sprint (4th in the stage).
Jock and Cal working together
Jock was now in 2nd place overall and with Callum in 10th place, Callum decided to ride for Jock in the final stage to help him maintain second position. The final stage was 26km and reasonably flat. Attacks from other riders were expected and the boys would work together to bring the attacks back. Early into the race another rider broke away and after he had got a decent lead, Callum, Jock and a Bathurst rider teamed up to bring him back. The boys achieved this and the plan was then for Callum to lead Jock out in the sprint for the finish for Jock to gain some bonus time. With about 1km to go Callum moved towards the front of the bunch with Jock on his wheel. Callum led Jock into the final corner (200m from finish) in about third place and did a final surge for about 50metres before Jock kicked past him to win the stage by about 2 bike lengths. The way the boys executed this sprint was great to watch and both were very pleased with their efforts.
Jock 2nd on GC and Callum 10th. It was only the time trial that let Callum down, as he rode very strongly in all the other stages.
A great weekend had by all riders with the Mudgee boys doing very well. Goulburn Junior Tour is next on the 26th and 27th May.