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February 22-25, 2005
New dates announced!
The Geelong Tour for 2006 will be held from February 21-23, 2006
Full details will be announced soon.
Ton Van Bemmelen AA Drink visit Belmont Primary School
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The day after the Geelong Women's Tour finished, Ton Van Bemmelen AA Drink members Sara Carrigan, Suzanne De Goede and Kate and Natalie Bates paid a visit to Belmont Primary School in southwestern Victoria. The good looking quartet had the students rapt with excitement as they showed them their bikes, talked about life as professional cyclists, and signed autographs.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by John Veage
- Sara Carrigan and Suzanne De Goede demonstrate the fine art of taking out a front wheel.
- Sisters Katherine and Natalie Bates hand out flyers from their team, Ton Van Bemmelen AA Drink.
- The Bates sisters prove popular prove popular with the littlies.
- Olympic gold medallist Sara Carrigan hounded by little people.
- You got these in a smaller size?
Stage 4 - Thursday, February 24: Road Stage Lara, 112.9km
Wood crowned Geelong Tour champion for second straight year
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Canberra's Oenone Wood has been crowned Geelong Tour champion for the second straight year after four stages of which she won two including today's fourth and final stage in Lara north of Geelong. The 24 year-old Athens Olympian is the reigning World Cup champion and has signalled she'll again be the rider to watch when the world class field lines up on Sunday, February 27 in the opening World Cup round in Geelong.
"This is the best way to be before the world cup - all the girls are riding really well," said Wood who says it makes no difference to her if she is the hunter or the hunted on Sunday. "Either way, we haven't even decided who the team leader is for Sunday. The Geelong Tour is a good indicator to see who's had a long off season and who has been getting into it earlier but the Europeans are getting their race form from here."
Wood this week made her debut with the German registered Nurnberger professional team and today's stage saw her ably assisted by two of her German team mates, Judith Arndt, the reigning World Champion and Athens Olympic silver medallist and Trixi Worrack.
How it unfolded
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Three kilometres into the 112.9 kilometre road stage, raced in 33 degree heat, a trio of riders attacked. New Zealand's Susie Wood and Vickie Burr joined forces with Italian Silvia Valseccah (Nobili) and at one stage had a lead on the main field of more than six minutes. But as the climb up Mt Wallace at the 57 kilometre mark approached the big guns came to the fore. Susie Wood didn't wait around for the chasers instead launching her own break from the lead trio to surge up the climb first.
Oenone Wood and Dutchwoman Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Buitenpoort-Flexpoint) powered up the short, steep climb and soon after Arndt and Worrack joined them along with Melchers team mate, two time World Champion, Susanne Ljungskog. The five chasers then reeled in Susie Wood to form a six woman lead group.
"Mijram moved up about a third of the way up the climb and I followed her up," said Wood. "Trixi and Judith moved up and we had three out of the front six. There are no two better people to do a pursuit with. They worked so hard for me in that second half and the other girls did a lot before the hill to keep the gap to the break down. I was sitting there watching them work and i didn't think we'd get caught."
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The field, including overnight second placed Sydney's Kate Bates (Ton van Bemmelen) tried to regroup but the Nurnberger train was motoring.
"I have the power to climb but Ican't hold it on for 3 hrs - I could get up but didn't have much left not on the flat for the 5 km after the top," said Bates. "I spent the last 50 km on the front and at one point I thought we were going to get them but we ran out of horsepower. The climb was atrocious and in spots you had to sit down just to keep traction," said Bates. "Every year I think it can't be that bad... but it is!"
As the finish line approached, Ljungskog attacked in a bid to ruin the Team Nurnberger strategy but Oenone Wood jumped on her wheel and stuck like glue enjoying the slipstream of the tall Swede for an armchair ride to the finish line. One hundred metres from the finish she launched a blistering sprint and Ljungskog had no answer, as Wood raised her arms in triumph to seal the stage and overall Tour victory.
Wood crossed in a time of 3.01.50 ahead of Ljungskog with Melchers riding home in third place, 35 seconds later with Arndt.
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Overall Wood finished the Geelong Tour 46 seconds clear of second placed Ljungskog. Susie Wood's aggressive tactics today earned her promotion her from 17th overnight to fifth place overall. Kate Bates came home with the main field 3.01 behind Wood to drop to sixth place overall, while her sister and Ton Van Bemmelen team mate Natalie ended the Tour ranked seventh a further eight seconds back.
Oenone Wood also claimed the sprinter's crown with 16 points ahead of Kate Bates on ten points while New Zealand's Michelle Hyland was awarded the Best Young Rider Under 23 classification.
Stage 4 resultsStage 3 - Wednesday, February 23: Road Circuit Barwon Heads, 77.4km
Mayolo-Pic wins stage, but Wood increases lead
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Canberra's Oenone Wood gained valuable time bonuses on today's third stage of the Geelong Tour to increase her overall lead to six seconds from Sydney's Kate Bates with one stage remaining in the international women's three day event.
Stage 3, a 77.4km race over four laps of a circuit along the Surf Coast at Barwon Heads, was always going to be a day for the sprinters with the top ten riders separated by less than 30 seconds on overall standings.
Wood, debuting with the German registered Nurnberger professional team, and Bates, who rides for the Dutch based Tom van Bemmelen outfit, started the day only one second apart and with four intermediate sprints and the finish line bonus up for grabs their teams were keen to put them in the best possible positions when it counted.
In the first sprint after 15 kilometres Bates claimed first blood ahead of Wood with New Zealand's Melissa Holt third. But at the second sprint at 30km Bates was out of the placings as Wood accelerated across the line. Holt was second and Santia Tri Kusuma, the only Indonesian team rider left in the race, was third.
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Bates fought back in the third sprint to again pip Wood across the line with Holt ever present in her battle to move up the standings after starting the day in sixth place, 13 seconds behind Wood. Before the next sprint a crash in the field brought down 14 riders and disrupted the leaders leaving the way clear for an intermediate win to Tri Kusama. NSWIS cyclist Kate Nichols was second and Mayolo-Pic third.
As the finish line loomed fans waited in expectation of a Bates - Wood showdown but instead it was 38 year old Mayolo-Pic of the Lloyd Morgan Recruitment team who set the running flying home for the stage win in front of Sydney's Rochelle Gilmore.
"It was awesome fast and fun and I had a great lead out from my team mates who did the job on the front for the last five kilometres," said Mayolo-Pic, the three time American Criterium Champion. "I really wanted the stage win and the intermediate sprintts were great practice runs for the final sprint.
"You never know how it's going to go because it's all positioning and even though they'd (Oenone and Kate) been contesting the intermediates you never know how much they'll have left at the end."
Wood managed third but didn't have her usual jump and admits her early battle with Bates took it out of her. "Kate (Bates) put the pressure on early so I really had to work hard and she tired me out so I had no answer to Tina in the final sprint," said Wood while Bates found herself in the wrong place to contest the finish placings.
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"I felt like I was sprinting well and my track legs let me do it a couple of times but not five and I just got a little bit lost and ran out of gas at the finish," said Bates. "I can usually get myself out of bad spots but I got stuck so not today."
Earlier in the stage several riders tried to get away but were soon reeled in including Barcelona Olympic gold medallist Kathryn Watt who attacked after the third sprint. It was a shortlived lead though as reigning World Champion and Wood's team mate, Judith Arndt, of Germany mowed her down with ease.
Both Bates and Wood agree tomorrow will be the real pressure day when the race contests the 112.9km loop out and back from Lara including the challenging short, sharp climb up Mt Wallace. There are two intermediate sprints offering bonus seconds on tomorrow's stage plus the 10 second winning bonus for the stage result.
"Tomorrow will be a tough day again for the sprint bonuses but I'll have a go," said Wood. "We have a great team and I think we can come through with the goods tomorrow."
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Bates also plans to go for broke tomorrow. "Tomorrow's going to be a big day and I hope to recover well tonight," said Bates who started this week off the back of an intensive two weeks of track competition. "The climb suits me as I'm a power rider and I'd rather come fiftieth after having had a go and tried for a jersey than not tried at all."
Wood also leads the sprint classification while New Zealand national team member Michelle Hyland, 20, has moved up as the Best Young Rider Under 23 after the withdrawal of South Australian Alexis Rhodes (Australian National Team) due to a stomach bug. Athens pursuit silver medallist Katie Mactier (Jayco VIS) has also withdrawn due to ill health.
Overall Wood leads Bates by six seconds with her sister Natalie third at 14 seconds and South Australian Amy Gillet fourth at 19 seconds. Arndt at 20 seconds, Holt at 21 seconds, Olympic gold medallist Sara Carrigan at 25 seconds and Mayolo-Pic at 25 seconds are also all in contention.
Stage 2 - Tuesday, February 22: Criterium Portarlington, 30km
Wood leads after two stages
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Canberra's Oenone Wood has signalled she is on track to defend her 2004 World Cup Series crown after a strong opening day in the three day Geelong Tour, the lead up event to the first round of the 2005 World Cup on Sunday.
But Sydney's Kate Bates is also in hot form and will challenge Wood in both this and the World Cup event with the pair tied on time at the end of two stages.
The day began with an eight kilometre time trial along the Esplanade at Portarlington on Victoria's Port Phillip Bay in overcast conditions with a light onshore breeze which created a headwind for the riders on the outbound four kilometres and a tailwind on the return.
The fastest time of the day was that of Barcelona Olympic Champion Kathy Watt, 40, who covered the distance in 11min31sec. However she was later relegated to last place when officials ruled her handlebars were lower than allowed under the regulations.
The stage win was then awarded to Sydney's Natalie Bates, 24, of the Tom Van Bemmelen professional team who rode a time of 11:35. South Australian Alexis Rhodes, 20, riding for the Australian National Team impressed with an 11:36 to claim second and the lead in the Best Young Rider Under 23 classification with fellow South Australian and national team member, Amy Gillett, 29, third in 22:39.
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"I'm very happy because I wasn't sure what my legs would be like as the last race for me was road nationals," said Bates who was fourth in the time trial at the Australian Championships in Adelaide in January. "I've only been training with Kate (sister and team mate) so hard to know how good the legs would be and it was good to have a hit out.
"I felt good out there and it's always great to get on the podium."
Wood, the reigning Australian time trial champion, was twelve seconds slower than Bates in 11th place on the time trial stage.
Two hours later the riders were back on their bikes for stage two, a 30 kilometre criterium around a one kilometre circuit in Portarlington. The stage featured two intermediate sprints with bonus seconds on offer plus time bonuses on the finish so as expected Wood and the Bates sisters were aggressive throughout.
On both intermediate sprints Wood crossed first ahead of Kate and Natalie for the three, two and one second bonuses with the final sprint across the line set to decide the race lead.
New Zealand's Joanne Kiesanowski of the Nobili team surprised the favourites to sprint clear in the final metres but Wood accelerated and in a final lunge got her on the line in a photo-finish which separated the pair by milimetres.
"They don't get any closer than that and I felt I had it but it all happened so quickly and you can never be sure," said Wood. "Kate (Bates) let a gap form so I really had to push to get to Joanne and close the gap."
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Kate Bates crossed close behind in third to put her and Wood in front on the same time forcing officials to go to the time trial times and the hundredths of seconds to split them. Wood also holds the lead in the points classification.
"My director (past World and Olympic Champion and recently retired from competition, Petra Rossner) told me before the second stage not to worry about the intermediate sprints if it was going to take it out of me just focus on the win but I felt good," said Wood who had the benefit of the reigning World Champion, Germany's Judith Arndt as her support for the stage.
"She's like a human motorbike she's amazing as are all our other team mates," said Wood who along with Newcastle's Olivia Gollan moved from the Australian Institute of Sport progra into the preofessional ranks this year. "It's first race with the new team so I'm really happy to be able to perform for them"
But Wood admits holding the race lead will be tough.
"It will be like last year, a race of internmediate sprints," said Wood after being awarded the yellow leader's jersey. "It will be a tough couple of days to beat Kate Bates and I expect a really strategic race."
Kate Bates, on the same time, and Natalie Bates (two seconds off the overall lead) also have Athens Olympic road race gold medallist Sara Carrigan in the team and she is sitting only nine seconds off the lead time which provides three chances to attack.
"We're in a good position but we'll have to play it smart and cover the moves," said Natalie. "Oenone is sprinting really well so not sure we'll get over her in the sprints but we'll look at what else we can do."
Tomorrow's stage three will see the 86 riders from 16 countries contest a 77.4km (five laps of the circuit) in and around the coastal town of Barwon Heads on Bass Strait.
Kathy Watt will start the race 2min35seconds behind the leader after her relegation on stage one.
Results
- Stage 1 results - Tuesday, February 22: Time Trial Portarlington, 8km
- Stage 2 results and report - Tuesday, February 22: Criterium Portarlington, 30km
Startlists announced
Startlists for the 2005 Geelong Tour have been announced and can be found here.
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2004 Geelong Tour
- Stage 4 results
Full results & report from the final stage in Lara. - Stage 3 results
Full results & report from stage 3 at Barwon Heads. - Stage 2 results
Full results & report from stage 2 in Eastern Park, Geelong. - Stage 1 results
Full results & report from stage 1 in Port Arlington.
2003 Geelong Tour Stage One, Stage Two, Stage Three,
The Geelong UCI Women's World Cup is proudly supported by the Victorian Government and the City of Greater Geelong.
