Peterson gives Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans maiden victory

New squad Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans claimed its first National Road Series victory when Cameron Peterson climbed his way to glory on the Mersey Valley Tour’s first road race. Peterson’s team-mate Ben Dyball provided the icing on the cake by making it a one-two for the Queensland squad.

The result moved the pair into second and third on general classification with one stage remaining in the season-opening NRS round. The duo’s team-mate Michael Freiberg told Cyclingnews the riders worked well together on the day’s second stage, despite having limited time working together.

“Last week we had a very tough team camp and we are just starting to learn each other’s strengths and we played to that today and came away with the stage victory,” he said. “It will be tough to take the lead on tomorrow’s stage but we will have to wait to see what happens.”

After taking a 1:20 minute lead in the morning’s time trial, Luke Durbridge (Jayco-Skins) lost much of his early advantage on the afternoon’s stage. With a lack of time checks the West Australian didn’t realise another rider had drilled into his lead by 50 seconds overall, narrowing his 30 second advantage heading into tomorrow’s final road race.

“It was a really tough day today, but I got through,” said Durbridge. “I lost some time today up the climb because I didn't realise the break was up the road.

“I had better climbing legs today coming off a four week track camp,” he added.

As the sole Jayco-Skins rider in the event Durbridge was expected to have a hard time fending off the Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans and Genesys Wealth Advisers teams in the afternoon’s stage. Durbridge had an ace up his sleeve, however, in the form of assistance from the riders of West Australian based team Plan B.

With 116 kilometres of racing left on Sunday’s stage in Sheffield, Durbridge is hoping the assistance of Plan B will enable him to hold on for the overall victory.

Hogan impressive but Carle leads

Joanne Hogan took a surprise victory on the women’s first stage, soloing across the finish line 38 seconds ahead of Alexandro Carle. Myra Moller couldn’t hold on to Carle’s wheel in the closing metres, but still managed third place just two seconds back.

Hogan’s stage victory gave her a boost in the general classification, however it wasn’t enough to bridge the gap from her morning time trial result. Hogan moves in to second place on general classification, 20 seconds behind new leader Carle.

Former race leader Shara Gillow dropped 2:51 minutes on the afternoon stage, finishing in 12th place.

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