Luke Ockerby beats Ben Grenda to win Launceston International Criterium 2011
TIS/PureTas Team’s Luke Ockerby out-sprinted Ben Grenda (Genesys Wealth Advisers) in the last kilometres to take the victory in Launceston International Criterium 2011, that took place in Launceston, Australia, on Saturday.
After winning the stage, he said, "This is the biggest win of my road career. I have ridden the National Road Series with Pure-Tas this year and haven't had the luck, but to get the win over some strong riders is a very good feeling".
The 1 kilometre course was slippery because of the rain and the strong winds. In the beginning of the race, Ockerby was the initiator who created a gap and took a lead.
He was quickly joined by a group of seven cyclists, Ben Mather, Luke Fetch (Search2Retain), Aaron Jones (TIS/PureTas), Bernard Sulzberger (Fly V Australia) and Genesys Wealth Advisers trio: Nathan Haas, Ben Grenda and Pat Shaw.
The group gained a lead of 45 seconds over the rest of the field. However, in the last kilometres, Ockerby proved too fast for the others to catch up and ultimately, won the Launceston International Criterium with a timing of 49 minutes and 11 seconds.
Recently, Luke secured the silver medal in the Senior Track Championships, Omnium. He also earned the gold medal in U19 National Track championships, Scratch Race in 2010.
He is aiming to win the Omnium and Madison titles in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Luke will be joining Budget Forklifts for the next the year.
The Jayco Bay cycling criteriums and nationals will be his first race with Budget Forklift, where he hopes to do wonders.
Grenda made an impressive comeback, after recovering from his shoulder injury. He grabbed the runner-up’s spot with the same timing as of Luke. Ben Mather (Lawson Homes) finished third with a difference of 1 second.
Grenda was happy with his performance and said, "It was great to be up the front and ride in front of the home crowd again. I have only been back on the bike for a few weeks and things can only get better from here".
Luke Fetch of Search2retain was in the fourth place, ahead of Brernard Sulzberger (V Australia). Pat Shaw tried his luck to reach the front ahead of the others but failed and snatched the sixth place with a difference of 4 seconds.
Aaron Jones (TIS/PureTas), Steele Von Hoff (Genesys Wealth Advisers) and Will Clarke (Genesys Wealth Advisers) were in the eighth, ninth and tenth place, respectively.
The challenging race left the leaders excited, whereas there were many who did not finish the race.
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