Nathan Earle, Loren Rowney win in Invernell
The European pro road cycling season is officially over, but it’s only getting warmer in Australia and the continental teams still have a lot of life in them. Nathan Earle of Genesys and Loren Rowney of Lifecycle won the races to Invernell
on Saturday. Earle won the 228km Grafton to Invernell Cycling Classic after a late breakaway with Brendan Brooks, the duo finishing 13 seconds ahead of the chase group. Sam Rutherford won the bunch sprint to take the third podium spot.
“I don’t think I took a breath down the entire finishing straight,” said Earle. “It’s unreal, just unreal, I never thought I’d win today. I came to help my team mates but it all just sort of worked out in my favour and towards the end there I just had nothing
left but I still managed to win. I’m just speechless. I didn’t know if I was going to get him, Brendan was so strong out there.”
The 112km women’s race, the Glen Innes to Invernell Cycling Classic, also finished in a two-rider sprint, which Rowney won ahead of Jo Hogan. Simone Grounds won the bunch sprint at the head of the chase group, 32 seconds behind, and took the third podium
spot.
“I really wanted to win after last year. I knew I had a good kick,” said Rowney. “Basically we worked really hard together to stay away and then in the last 200 metres it was anyone’s race.
Pro cyclist Heinrich Haussler was there at the finish line in his hometown race, having joined the chief judge for the duration of the race. The Grand Tour stage winner is enjoying his time in the gap between with Pro season and the training season. He will
be leaving Australia next month for the Garmin-Cervelo training grounds in the Cayman Islands.
“It was my first time seeing the race for the whole day, so it was an exciting day,” said Haussler at the finish. “I was just with Dan Wilks doing the judging for the sprints – it was just great.”
The race celebrated its 50th anniversary this year with its largest field yet. There were 536 riders signed in at the starting line, including 21-year-old defending champion Malcolm Rudolph, and the last outing for team NRS, which hosts some of
Australia’s best female cyclists, some of whom are moving to the ProTour level in 2011.
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