Australian Mark Jamieson wins opening stage of Tour of Tasmania 2011 - Cycling Update
Jayco-2XU’s Mark Jamieson put in a brilliant sprint performance in the opening stage of Tour of Tasmania 2011 on Monday, October 3. He also took the overall leader’s jersey as Mark was the first member of his team to finish.
Team manager Patrick Jonker was very happy with the performance of Mark and said, "This was the sweetest of victories. We were hoping for a top three finish, but realised the Russians and Genesys were very professional outfits who were prepared for this
type of race.”
In the final kilometres, Mark got away and took the fastest time of 48 minutes and 29.9 seconds to cover the distance of 18.1 kilometres between Cascade Brewery and Mt. Wellington.
Jayco-2XU riders showed a tremendous performance in the final kilometres as his team-mates Joshua Atkins, Dale Parker and Jai Crawford were in second, third and fourth place with the same timing as Mark.
Genesys Wealth Advisers’ Anthony Giacoppo was in good form but he failed to catch the four cyclists of Jayco-2XU team and grabbed the fifth place with a difference of 17 seconds ahead of his team-mates Campbell Flakemore, Nathan Haas and Nathan Earle.
Russian team also showed a good performance throughout the stage but rider Alexander Khatuntsev failed to increase his pace and secured 9th place with a difference of 30.6 seconds ahead of his team-mates, Valery Valynin, Valery Kaikov and Alexander
Serov.
He further added, "This is an exciting victory for us and I'm sure that one of our boys can win the tour. I had been over the course twice before so I knew what to expect."
Jamieson also took the lead in the Tasmanian riders standing ahead of Jai Crawford. Campbell Flakemore was in third spot with a difference of 17 seconds ahead of Nathan Earle.
Previously, Mark took first place in Los Angeles, Team Pursuit and won the Point race and Pursuit race of Australian National Track Championships in 2008. He also secured seventh and ninth stage of Tour of the Murray in 2007.
The next stage will run in New Norfolk and finished in Hamilton as all the cyclists will cover the distance of 61.4 kilometres.
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