New Zealanders hammered by Lara bingle

By John Michael Flynn in Lara, Victoria

At the eighty-nine kilometre mark in stage three of the Geelong Women’s Tour, there was disaster for the Bike NZ New Zealand National Team. Just outside the hamlet of Anakie, and almost within range of the finish line in Lara, a bingle in the bunch brought down six riders.

Included in the group, Jenny Macpherson and Josie Loane of the Australian National Team, Charlotte Becker (Nürnberger), Sigrid Corneo (Meninko Gysko), and New Zealanders Sarah Ulmer and Marina Duvnjak. The latter was the worst effected by the shunt, with Duvnjak transported to hospital after sustaining a suspected dislocated shoulder.

"We've had better days on the bike, we saw more of the terra firma than we wanted to," New Zealand National Team manager Susie Pride said. "There were a lot of crashes out there just mayhem and unfortunately we fell victim to one of the many crashes, and one of our girls Marina Duvnjak has a suspected dislocated shoulder. Sarah [Ulmer] crashed as well in the same crash but on the other side of the road, she cruised in afterwards quite fine."