Tour of the Murray River results
At Murray River, Australian Joel Pearson took the greatest victory of his career. Stuart Shaw finished the race 11 seconds behind Pearson and one second ahead of Gordon McCauley, the New Zealander in third place.
“This is my biggest enjoyment because it was such a hard-fought, tough battle from start to finish,” said Pearson.
The eight-day Elgas Tour of the Murray River was held in 14 stages, starting on August 29th, which covered a total distance of 902km. Pearson first gained the leader’s jersey in stage two but would lose it more than once over the course of the Tour.
“The likes of Stewie Shaw and Gordon McCauley threw everything at me over the last couple of days but I managed to hang on, mainly through the help of my Genesys team.”
Pearson won the 262km Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic last October and was runner-up to Jonathan Cantwell in the 2009 Tour of Murray River, but this was his first win of a major Australian stage race, proving a full recovery for the cyclist from his serious hip operation in May.
Recap
The first and longest stage of the Tour was won in a 16-man bunch finish, led by Shaw, Pearson and Harrif Saleh. Saleh went on to win the second stage, while Pearson finished in third and took the leader’s jersey from Shaw. The third stage was held the same day and saw Pearson lose the jersey to stage winner James Williamson, who held the jersey until stage six.
“Each stage is tough because there are so many intermediate sprints and hill climbs in the Murray Tour and there’s no way you can go out there and think about relaxing,” said Williamson. “Every stage is a fight. I don’t think they’ll be letting me break away again like I did on Monday.”
Pearson regained the leadership by winning the sixth stage ahead of Saleh, who won both the seventh and eighth stages, without dethroning Pearson.
“Hopefully, I will be able to hold on to the Elgas purple jersey until the tour finishes in Mildura on Sunday,” said Pearson. “The boys in my team are riding strongly and I am feeling fresher by the day.
Pearson lost the jersey when Shaw won stage nine but stuck as close as two seconds behind until finally taking the jersey back in the penultimate stage 13. Saleh took his fourth stage win in the 66km fourteenth and final stage. Shaw finished in second overall with one stage win, and McCauley finished in third without a stage win, but won the king-of-the-mountain classification and will represent New Zealand in the World Road Championships held in Geelong, Australia at the end of September.
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