Giacoppo takes the win in Koroit

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Anthony Giacoppo (Genesys) demonstrated his desire to turn around the disappointing events of the Tour of Gippsland, where he lost the overall lead, by taking the criterium win in Koroit on Saturday morning during the seventh stage at the Tour of the Great South Coast. His consistency throughout the 11 intermediate sprints also help secure the yellow jersey, relegating Darren Lapthorne (Drapac) out of the top spot. Sam Witmitz (Budget Forklifts) showed his speed with second place and Drapac Development team rider Shannon Johnson taking third.

A well-rested peloton wasted no time in getting up to speed when the stage 7 Koroit criterium began on Saturday. Racing resumed this morning under improved conditions from the previous day in which riders experienced appalling conditions during the stage 5 criterium in Port Fairy and would not contest the afternoon’s stage 6 due to weather conditions.

The day made an even greater turn for the worse heading into Friday’s afternoon’s 55km road race and organisers decided to cancel the stage 6 from Port Fairy to Hawkesdale, a decision respected and appreciated by the riders.

Saturday’s 1.3km criterium circuit would be negotiated 30 times with 11 intermediate sprints and under windy but dry conditions. Search 2 Retain’s Neil Van Der Ploeg has shown great form since the start of the Tour and has continued his strong run of form after the Tour of Gippsland. Van Der Ploeg won the opening sprint ahead of Anthony Giacoppo (Genesys) and David Edwards (VIS) who is using the race as preparation for the upcoming Tour of China with the U23 national team.

Giacoppo comes into the South Coast tour highly motivated after he lost the overall lead in the opening round of the Scody Cup at Gippsland. Sam Witmitz (Budget Forklifts) took the second sprint while Giacoppo took another second place ahead of current race leader Darren Lapthorne (Drapac). Giacoppo entered the day just 13 seconds down on Lapthorne.

Giacoppo was making small gains into his deficit to Lapthorne as he took the third sprint ahead of the race leader with Witmitz again in the mix for third place. The Genesys rider was clearly on a mission as he took another sprint ahead of Van Der Ploeg who came into the day 1 second behind Giacoppo. Van Der Ploeg crossed the line ahead of Mitch Pearson (Suzuki-Trek).

With the peloton entering the second half of the race, it seemed like a bunch sprint would be the end result. However, with so many intermediate sprints and precious seconds on offer the pace would remain high, opening up the potential for a small group to slip off the front.

With almost half of the intermediate sprints contested, the general classification contenders took a break while yesterday’s third-place finisher Jordan Kerby (VIS) took some points ahead of GPM-Wilson Racing’s Sam Rutherford and Brodie Talbot (Glenelg Shire).

Budget’s top placed rider Witmitz was back in the sprints for the sixth intermediate ahead of Giacoppo and Lapthorne. The top five in the classification would not be giving anything away this morning. Multiple stage winner Brenton Jones (Genesys) had yet to contest a sprint but would no doubt feature at the finish.

The Drapac team was kept busy looking after their captain throughout the first half of the race, ensuring the insistent Giacoppo did not take too many sprints. Robbie Hucker (Drapac) took the seventh sprint from Jones, who started to show himself and Giacoppo. Hucker is a recent signing to the Drapac team and has already featured on the winner’s podium when he placed second behind Lapthorne on stage 4.

Yesterday’s stage winner and teammate of Lapthorne, Gordon McCauley followed Witmitz in the next sprint with Lapthorne taking another point. It was no susprise to see the former New Zealand road and time trial national champion off the front yesterday; he’s one of the few riders who seem to excel in terrible conditions.

Van Der Ploeg captured a third place in the ninth sprint whilst none of the GC men featured. Josh Harrison (SASI) won ahead of Joel Pearson (Genesys) and Van Der Ploeg

Giacoppo again looked to close the gap to the race leader and despite a valiant effort from Lapthorne’s teammate Johnie Walker, Giacoppo took a sprint with the Drapac rider in second and Pat Shaw (Genesys) third. This moved Giacoppo to within two seconds of taking the yellow jersey at the end of the stage.

Entering the final 4 laps it was Oliver Kent-Park (SASI) who tried his luck off the front, taking the sprint ahead of teammate Harrison and Talbot. With three laps to go it was back together and down to Drapac and Genesys who were battling to control the front of the race for the high-speed finale.

The strength of Drapac, Genesys and Budget meant it would take an extremely tough effort to break free of the peloton in the closing two laps. The ever-aggressive Cam Peterson (RBS Morgans-ATS Cycling) tried his luck in a bold move but was absorbed into the Genesys-lead bunch entering the final lap.

Genesys would lead Giacoppo to the win and yellow jersey following the stage. Witmitz took a well-deserved second place for his Budget team with Shannon Johnson (Charter Mason) in third.

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