Giacoppo wins bunch sprint into Rochester

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Anthony Giacoppo (Genesys Wealth Advisers) edged closer to reclaiming the overall lead from his teammate Joel Pearson when he won the fifth stage at the Tour of the Murray River. Giacoppo won the 155.1km race ahead of Luke Davison (Budget Forklifts) and Alexander Smyth (Plan B Racing). The longest stage of the tour was aggressive and rapid however, despite the numerous attacks it was only toward the closing kilometers when Joe Cooper (PureBlack Racing) looked like he could steal the day, passing 10km to go with 30 seconds on the chasing bunch. He was swept up in the final 3km, setting the scene for a mass sprint.

The stage began under slightly blustery conditions as the peloton rolled out for longest race of the tour from Echuca to Rochester. Riders initiated the attacks from the moment the flag was dropped but with a flat opening 80km, it would take a strong group to get away.

At the first sprint, after less than 10km it was James Hepburn (RBS Morgans-ATS) who took the 3 points ahead of Roman Van Uden (Pure Black Racing) and Brenton Jones (Genesys Wealth Advisers). The windy conditions saw a couple of team attempt to split the field with Drapac Professional Cycling and Genesys putting the pressure on as the bunch headed toward the second sprint outside Tongala.

Anthony Giacoppo (Genesys) was first across the line, closely followed by race leader and teammate Joel Pearson with Sam Witmitz (Budget Forklifts) in third. Despite the continual attacks, nothing was getting too far away. With almost 50km covered the bunch remained all together.

Sprint leader Josh Taylor (GPM-Wilson Racing) was clearly looking to extend his lead in the classification as he took second spot behind Ryan Macanally (Budget Forklifts). GPM teammate Caleb Jones protected Taylor’s lead by taking third and claiming a single point.

Taylor was ready again for the fourth sprint and took the maximum points ahead of Pearson and Macanally. The bunch was intent on keeping it together for a while longer, as yesterday’s breakaway member and 8th place on the stage, James Boal (John West Cycling) took the next sprint outside the Food Works in Stanhop.

Finally after 75km, a break formed, quickly gaining 40 seconds on the bunch which no longer contained Pearson – he had also entered the move. The move contained Amir Rusli and Gordon McCauley (Drapac), Taylor (GPM-Wilson Racing), Pat Shaw (Genesys) and a number of others however, it was shortly brought back.

It seemed that nothing would be allowed too much space in today’s stage and even with a number of the Murray’s ‘climbs’ littered throughout the final half of the race, the field was essentially intact after 107km.

Tour of the Great South Coast stage-winner McCauley was determined to make his presence felt as he attacked again. Fellow New Zealander Van Uden joined McCauley with Jay Bourke (Moira Shire) making the move to form a three-man lead group. Genesys came to the front to control the gap, which extended to approximately 40 seconds leading into the final KOM of the day with 30km from the top of the Cat.2 climb to the finish.

As the break hit the day’s final test the gap had dropped to less than 30 seconds with Genesys driving the pace on the short and sharp climb. The speed was too much for some as the peloton split into pieces towards the top. A fast and slightly downwhill run to the finish would make for an interesting final 30km. Over the top a group had worked its way clear, with Pearson, Campbell Flakemore (Genesys), Glen O’Shea, Miles Scotson (SASI), Joe Cooper, Van Uden (PureBlack), McCauley (Drapac), Shaun McCarthy, Luke Davison (Budget Forklifts), Bourke (Moira Shire) and Aaron Donnelly (Jayco-Honey Shotz) pushing clear of the bunch.

Pearson’s presence in the leading group was always going to make things uneasy and once the gap stretched to 30 seconds, it began to split. O’Shea, McCauley, McCarthy and Bourke was dropped as the group continued to attack each other. It was Cooper of PureBlack who managed to get away on his own with five riders chasing behind.

Cooper managed to hold off the charging peloton which had swept up the remaining breakaway riders and held a 30 second advantage with just 10km remaining.

Unfortunately for Cooper, the Budget Forklifts-lead peloton swept him up with just under 3km to go, ensuring it would be a bunch sprint.

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