DARREN Lapthorne says his training partner Mark O’Brien will certainly hear more about his victory in today’s New Norfolk to Lake Pedder road race, an arduous leg of the 2012 Caterpillar Underground Mining Tour of Tasmania.
The pair, along with Lachlan Norris, often train together in Lapthorne’s base in Bendigo, sharing a friendly rivalry.
“Next week when we’re training together, we’ll be giving each other plenty of flak,” Lapthorne laughed.
While the Drapac Professional Cycling member clinched the 123.5km postcard-worthy stage, O’Brien – who spends a lot of time in Bendigo as his girlfriend lives there – nabbed the Caterpillar Underground Mining tour leader’s jersey.
The Team Budget Forklifts rider is wary of his mate, who he dubs “The Lapthorne Express.”
Today marked Lapthorne’s second consecutive triumph in the Derwent Valley region after he also took out Sunday’s Bothwell to New Norfolk Classic.
His success in today’s road race was somewhat of a consolation after Drapac didn’t deliver in yesterday’s team time trial to the top of Mount Wellington in Hobart.
Prior to today’s stage, they trailed GC leaders Genesys Wealth Advisers by two minutes and 34 seconds. “Yesterday was a really disappointing day for our team,” he said.
“You never want to think the tour’s over but we really thought our chances were low. But today showed anything can happen.”
Like he did in Sunday’s classic, the 2007 national road champion crossed the line solo in the picturesque
Lake Pedder.
The finish line was a welcome sight for riders, who endured an undulating course.
“It was a really hard day,” said Lapthorne, who described it as “one of the best road stages we’ve done in an Australian tour.”
The renowned climber featured in a leading bunch of five which made a move with about 30kms to go, after the last of six categorised hill climbs.
The group included O’Brien, Norris, Jay McCarthy (Jayco/Apollo/VIS) and Alex Clements (Team Polygon), building an unassailable lead of almost two minutes with about five kilometres remaining.
“I could tell straightaway this was the group that was going to be the break for the day,” said Lapthorne, who heaped praise on teammate Norris – the Goodstone Group most aggressive jersey winner.
“Lachie set me up perfectly.
“He did the hard effort and got away with Jay (with about five kilometres remaining).
“Once they got brought back, we only had a kilometre to go and my legs weren’t feeling too bad by that point.”
The difficulty of the stage was highlighted by the first and last riders being separated by almost 50 minutes.
O’Brien naturally wants to hold onto yellow but stressed that it was unpredictable race.
“We had the game plan . . . maybe to eliminate one or two of the Genesys riders but to leapfrog them all was very unexpected,” he said.
“Genesys has such a strong team and they’ve managed not to defend it today, which just shows that in this tour anything can happen with such hard terrain and hard racing.
“It’s such a quality field here.”
The Sewell Sweepers sprint jersey went to Search2Retain’s Neil Van Der Ploeg, while the Norske Skog King of the Mountains leader is John West Cycling’s Matthew Clark.
Tomorrow’s action kicks off with the Shaw Contracting Westbury criterium at 12noon, followed by a 101.2km Hagley to Great Lake road race.
The tour is the last leg of the 2012 SCODY Cup, showcasing seven municipalities – Hobart City, Derwent Valley, Meander Valley, Central Highlands, Central Coast, Burnie City and Devonport City.
Devonport will host the finale, a waterfront road race, on Sunday, October 7.
Race Results
Tour of Tasmania (2012) - Stage 2
| 1 | Darren LAPTHORNE (DPC) | 3h15:28 | |
| 2 | Jay MCCARTHY (VIS) | 10 | |
| 3 | Mark O’BRIEN (BFL) | 10 | |
| 4 | Lachlan NORRIS (DPC) | 10 | |
| 5 | Alex CLEMENTS (PGN) | 10 | |
| 6 | Patrick LANE (VIS) | +2:13 | |
| 7 | Jordan DAVIES (SKO) | +2:39 | |
| 8 | Roman VAN UDEN (PBR) | +2:39 | |
| 9 | James WILLIAMSON (PBR) | +2:39 | |
| 10 | Chris JORY (GWR) | +2:39 | |
| 11 | Brodie TALBOT (CNC) | +2:39 | |
| 12 | Dion SMITH (PBR) | +2:39 | |
| 13 | Calvin WATSON (VIS) | +2:39 | |
| 14 | Sam RUTHERFORD (GWR) | +2:39 | |
| 15 | Floris GOESINNEN (DPC) | +2:39 | |
| 16 | Samuel HORGAN (FNZ) | +2:39 | |
| 17 | John WALKER (DPC) | +2:39 | |
| 18 | Bradley LINFIELD (PLB) | +2:39 | |
| 19 | Kristian JUEL (EAD) | +2:39 | |
| 20 | Peter HERZIG (BFL) | +2:39 | |
| 21 | Jason SPENCER (BFL) | +2:39 | |
| 22 | James EARLY (FNZ) | +2:39 | |
| 23 | Nathan EARLE (GEN) | +2:39 | |
| 24 | Andrew ROE (SAS) | +2:39 | |
| 25 | Michael CROSBIE (AWS) | +2:39 | |
| 26 | Mathew MARSHALL (TDU) | +2:39 | |
| 27 | Jai CRAWFORD (GEN) | +2:39 | |
| 28 | Ben DYBALL (GEN) | +2:39 | |
| 29 | Matthew CLARK (JWC) | +2:39 | |
| 30 | Karl EVANS (SAS) | +2:39 | |
| 31 | Joshua ALDRIDGE (PBR) | +9:22 | |
| 32 | Daniel BONELLO (PLB) | +9:22 | |
| 33 | Saxon IRVINE (EAD) | +9:22 | |
| 34 | Ben GRENDA (PGN) | +9:22 | |
| 35 | Blair WINDSOR (BFL) | +9:22 | |
| 36 | Sam MCCALLUM (PGN) | +9:22 | |
| 37 | Jake MCMAHON (PGN) | +9:22 | |
| 38 | David MELVILLE (DCR) | +9:22 | |
| 39 | Jamie LACEY (CNC) | +9:22 | |
| 40 | James SZOLLOSI (EAD) | +9:22 | |
| 41 | Trent MOREY (PLB) | +9:22 | |
| 42 | Mitchell COOPER (CHM) | +9:22 | |
| 43 | Daniel BARRY (FNZ) | +9:22 | |
| 44 | Campbell FLAKEMORE (GEN) | +9:22 | |
| 45 | Adam PHELAN (DPC) | +9:22 | |
| 46 | Michael CUPITT (BFL) | +9:22 | |
| 47 | Edward WHITE (GWR) | +9:22 | |
| 48 | Joshua ATKINS (FNZ) | +9:22 | |
| 49 | Nathan ELLIOTT (CHM) | +9:22 | |
| 50 | Hamish SCHREURS (FNZ) | +9:22 | |
| 51 | Luke FETCH (STR) | +9:22 | |
| 52 | Oliver KENT-SPARK (JWC) | +12:14 | |
| 53 | Trevor SPENCER (BFL) | +12:14 | |
| 54 | Cameron BAYLY (STR) | +12:14 | |
| 55 | Caleb JONES (GWR) | +12:14 | |
| 56 | Henry MORLEY (PLB) | +12:14 | |
| 57 | Eric SHEPPARD (VIS) | +12:14 | |
| 58 | Samuel NELSON (SKO) | +12:14 | |
| 59 | Alex WOHLER (TDU) | +12:14 | |
| 60 | Danny PULBROOK (PGN) | +12:14 | |
| 61 | Oliver MARTIN (PGN) | +12:14 | |
| 62 | Jacob KAUFFMANN (CHM) | +12:14 | |
| 63 | Callum O’SULLIVAN (DCR) | +12:14 | |
| 64 | Timothy CAMERON (SZT) | +12:14 | |
| 65 | William WALKER (DPC) | +12:14 | |
| 66 | Malcolm RUDOLPH (DPC) | +12:14 | |
| 67 | Joshua PRETE (DCR) | +12:14 | |
| 68 | James RENDALL (CNC) | +25:10 | |
| 69 | Steven DEL GALLO (JWC) | +25:10 | |
| 70 | Taylor GUNMAN (PBR) | +25:10 | |
| 71 | Brenton JONES (GEN) | +25:10 | |
| 72 | Rhys GILLETT (AWS) | +25:10 | |
| 73 | Jayden COPP (TDU) | +25:10 | |
| 74 | Steven WAITE (AWS) | +25:10 | |
| 75 | Nicholas WOODS (TDU) | +25:10 | |
| 76 | Samuel DAVIS (GEN) | +25:10 | |
| 77 | Jonathan LOVELOCK (GEN) | +25:10 | |
| 78 | Jay DUTTON (SKO) | +25:10 | |
| 79 | Ben CARMAN (EAD) | +25:10 | |
| 80 | Sam SAUTELLE (SZT) | +25:10 | |
| 81 | Benjamin HILL (SZT) | +25:10 | |
| 82 | Luke OCKERBY (BFL) | +25:10 | |
| 83 | Alexander RAY (TDU) | +25:10 | |
| 84 | Josh BERRY (SZT) | +25:10 | |
| 85 | Jason RIGG (PGN) | +25:10 | |
| 86 | Nick AITKEN (VIS) | +25:10 | |
| 87 | Jay BOURKE (TDU) | +25:10 | |
| 88 | Thomas DONALD (STR) | +25:10 | |
| 89 | Cal BRITTEN (STR) | +25:10 | |
| 90 | Neil VAN DER PLOEG (STR) | +25:10 | |
| 91 | Rhys POLLOCK (DPC) | +25:10 | |
| 92 | William LIND (SZT) | +25:10 | |
| 93 | Anthony GIACOPPO (GEN) | +28:15 | |
| 94 | Lachlan EDWARDS (SKO) | +28:15 | |
| 95 | Gerard WILD (PGN) | +28:15 | |
| 96 | Ryan MACANALLY (BFL) | +31:16 | |
| 97 | Michael ASTELL (TVL) | +31:16 | |
| 98 | Adam ALLEN (DCR) | +31:16 | |
| 99 | Matthew NICHOLSON (TVL) | +31:16 | |
| 100 | Stephen COUSINS (CNC) | +31:16 | |
| 101 | Joshua CLARK (TVL) | +31:16 | |
| 102 | Jared TRIGGS (SKO) | +31:16 | |
| 103 | Jack BECKINSALE (SAS) | +31:16 | |
| 104 | Liam DOVE (PLB) | +31:16 | |
| 105 | Luke JOYCE (PLB) | +31:16 | |
| 106 | Samuel WOOD (DCR) | +31:16 | |
| 107 | Samuel VOLKERS (DCR) | +31:16 | |
| 108 | James HENRY (AWS) | +31:16 | |
| 109 | Ben CUTAJAR (TDU) | +31:16 | |
| 110 | Rafael VAINIKKA (EAD) | +31:16 | |
| 111 | Scott LAW (STR) | +31:16 | |
| 112 | Jack CUMMINGS (VIS) | +31:16 | |
| 113 | Conor MURTAGH (CHM) | +31:16 | |
| 114 | Alex EDMONDSON (SAS) | +31:16 | |
| 115 | Liam HILL (STR) | +31:16 | |
| 116 | Andrew MARGISON (TVL) | +31:16 | |
| 117 | Joshua TAYLOR (GWR) | +31:16 | |
| 118 | William BOWMAN (FNZ) | +31:16 | |
| 119 | James BOAL (JWC) | +31:16 | |
| 120 | Michael SMITH (TVL) | +31:16 | |
| 121 | Rowan DEVER (JWC) | +47:28 | |
| 122 | Trent DERECOURT (JWC) | +47:28 | |
| 123 | James IBRAHIM (PLB) | +47:28 | |
| 124 | Harry CARPENTER (SAS) | +47:28 | |
| 125 | Tom KAESLER (SAS) | +47:28 | |
| 126 | Miles SCOTSON (SAS) | +47:28 | |
| 127 | Jake MAGEE (GWR) | +47:28 | |
| 128 | Adam HUDSON (TVL) | +47:28 | |
| 129 | Karl MICHELIN-BEARD (CNC) | +47:28 | |
| 130 | Andrew CRAWLEY (GWR) | +47:28 | |
| 131 | Dave BROWN (DCR) | +47:28 | |
| 132 | Jacob LANGHAM (CNC) | +47:28 | |
| dnf | Thomas HAMILTON (VIS) | ||
| dnf | Ben HILLEARD (AWS) | ||
| dnf | Nicholas HORSLEY (TVL) | ||
| dnf | James SWADLING (CNC) | ||
General Classification after Stage 2
| 1 | Mark O’BRIEN (BFL) | 4h04:45 | ||
| 2 | Jay MCCARTHY (VIS) | 12 | ||
| 3 | Darren LAPTHORNE (DPC) | 38 | ||
| 4 | Ben DYBALL (GEN) | 49 | ||
| 5 | Lachlan NORRIS (DPC) | 50 | ||
| 6 | Nathan EARLE (GEN) | 54 | ||
| 7 | Jai CRAWFORD (GEN) | 54 | ||
| 8 | Alex CLEMENTS (PGN) | +1:34 | ||
| 9 | Patrick LANE (VIS) | +2:23 | ||
| 10 | Peter HERZIG (BFL) | +2:38 | ||
| 11 | Jason SPENCER (BFL) | +2:38 | ||
| 12 | Calvin WATSON (VIS) | +2:50 | ||
| 13 | Samuel HORGAN (FNZ) | +3:13 | ||
| 14 | James EARLY (FNZ) | +3:16 | ||
| 15 | Floris GOESINNEN (DPC) | +3:26 | ||
| 16 | Andrew ROE (SAS) | +4:13 | ||
| 17 | Karl EVANS (SAS) | +4:13 | ||
| 18 | Chris JORY (GWR) | +4:39 | ||
| 19 | Sam RUTHERFORD (GWR) | +4:39 | ||
| 20 | Roman VAN UDEN (PBR) | +5:06 | ||
| 21 | Dion SMITH (PBR) | +5:13 | ||
| 22 | Matthew CLARK (JWC) | +5:25 | ||
| 23 | John WALKER (DPC) | +5:40 | ||
| 24 | Bradley LINFIELD (PLB) | +5:42 | ||
| 25 | Mathew MARSHALL (TDU) | +5:56 | ||
| 26 | Kristian JUEL (EAD) | +6:02 | ||
| 27 | Campbell FLAKEMORE (GEN) | +7:37 | ||
| 28 | James WILLIAMSON (PBR) | +7:45 | ||
| 29 | Blair WINDSOR (BFL) | +9:20 | ||
| 30 | Joshua ATKINS (FNZ) | +9:59 | ||
| 31 | Hamish SCHREURS (FNZ) | +9:59 | ||
| 32 | Jordan DAVIES (SKO) | +10:20 | ||
| 33 | Ben GRENDA (PGN) | +10:48 | ||
| 34 | Jake MCMAHON (PGN) | +10:48 | ||
| 35 | Sam MCCALLUM (PGN) | +10:54 | ||
| 36 | Brodie TALBOT (CNC) | +11:04 | ||
| 37 | Adam PHELAN (DPC) | +11:46 | ||
| 38 | Michael CROSBIE (AWS) | +11:54 | ||
| 39 | Joshua ALDRIDGE (PBR) | +11:56 | ||
| 40 | Luke FETCH (STR) | +12:11 | ||
| 41 | David MELVILLE (DCR) | +12:12 | ||
| 42 | Eric SHEPPARD (VIS) | +12:25 | ||
| 43 | Daniel BONELLO (PLB) | +12:25 | ||
| 44 | Trent MOREY (PLB) | +12:25 | ||
| 45 | Daniel BARRY (FNZ) | +12:32 | ||
| 46 | Saxon IRVINE (EAD) | +12:45 | ||
| 47 | James SZOLLOSI (EAD) | +12:45 | ||
| 48 | Malcolm RUDOLPH (DPC) | +13:03 | ||
| 49 | Oliver MARTIN (PGN) | +13:40 | ||
| 50 | Caleb JONES (GWR) | +14:14 | ||
| 51 | Joshua PRETE (DCR) | +15:02 | ||
| 52 | Cameron BAYLY (STR) | +15:06 | ||
| 53 | Oliver KENT-SPARK (JWC) | +15:09 | ||
| 54 | Henry MORLEY (PLB) | +15:17 | ||
| 55 | Timothy CAMERON (SZT) | +15:31 | ||
| 56 | Alex WOHLER (TDU) | +15:31 | ||
| 57 | Danny PULBROOK (PGN) | +16:17 | ||
| 58 | Callum O’SULLIVAN (DCR) | +16:41 | ||
| 59 | Jamie LACEY (CNC) | +17:47 | ||
| 60 | Mitchell COOPER (CHM) | +17:57 | ||
| 61 | Nathan ELLIOTT (CHM) | +17:58 | ||
| 62 | Samuel NELSON (SKO) | +19:55 | ||
| 63 | Edward WHITE (GWR) | +19:58 | ||
| 64 | Jacob KAUFFMANN (CHM) | +20:50 | ||
| 65 | Michael CUPITT (BFL) | +21:50 | ||
| 66 | William WALKER (DPC) | +21:59 | ||
| 67 | Jonathan LOVELOCK (GEN) | +24:14 | ||
| 68 | Samuel DAVIS (GEN) | +25:30 | ||
| 69 | Trevor SPENCER (BFL) | +27:06 | ||
| 70 | Taylor GUNMAN (PBR) | +27:44 | ||
| 71 | Neil VAN DER PLOEG (STR) | +27:53 | ||
| 72 | Steven DEL GALLO (JWC) | +28:05 | ||
| 73 | Sam SAUTELLE (SZT) | +28:27 | ||
| 74 | Josh BERRY (SZT) | +28:27 | ||
| 75 | Alexander RAY (TDU) | +28:27 | ||
| 76 | Jay BOURKE (TDU) | +28:27 | ||
| 77 | William LIND (SZT) | +28:27 | ||
| 78 | Ben CARMAN (EAD) | +28:33 | ||
| 79 | Nick AITKEN (VIS) | +29:19 | ||
| 80 | Nicholas WOODS (TDU) | +29:26 | ||
| 81 | Cal BRITTEN (STR) | +32:37 | ||
| 82 | Jayden COPP (TDU) | +32:48 | ||
| 83 | Jay DUTTON (SKO) | +32:51 | ||
| 84 | Jason RIGG (PGN) | +33:04 | ||
| 85 | Joshua TAYLOR (GWR) | +33:16 | ||
| 86 | James RENDALL (CNC) | +33:35 | ||
| 87 | Samuel WOOD (DCR) | +34:05 | ||
| 88 | Samuel VOLKERS (DCR) | +34:06 | ||
| 89 | Scott LAW (STR) | +34:08 | ||
| 90 | Rhys GILLETT (AWS) | +34:25 | ||
| 91 | Steven WAITE (AWS) | +34:25 | ||
| 92 | Benjamin HILL (SZT) | +34:34 | ||
| 93 | Rhys POLLOCK (DPC) | +34:55 | ||
| 94 | Lachlan EDWARDS (SKO) | +35:56 | ||
| 95 | Jack CUMMINGS (VIS) | +36:17 | ||
| 96 | Matthew NICHOLSON (TVL) | +36:47 | ||
| 97 | Joshua CLARK (TVL) | +36:47 | ||
| 98 | Michael SMITH (TVL) | +36:47 | ||
| 99 | William BOWMAN (FNZ) | +37:02 | ||
| 100 | Michael ASTELL (TVL) | +37:23 | ||
| 101 | Luke OCKERBY (BFL) | +37:34 | ||
| 102 | Andrew MARGISON (TVL) | +38:00 | ||
| 103 | Brenton JONES (GEN) | +38:01 | ||
| 104 | Anthony GIACOPPO (GEN) | +38:41 | ||
| 105 | Gerard WILD (PGN) | +38:50 | ||
| 106 | Liam HILL (STR) | +39:17 | ||
| 107 | Conor MURTAGH (CHM) | +39:52 | ||
| 108 | Thomas DONALD (STR) | +40:23 | ||
| 109 | James HENRY (AWS) | +40:31 | ||
| 110 | Jack BECKINSALE (SAS) | +40:45 | ||
| 111 | Adam ALLEN (DCR) | +40:53 | ||
| 112 | Jared TRIGGS (SKO) | +41:42 | ||
| 113 | Luke JOYCE (PLB) | +42:30 | ||
| 114 | Liam DOVE (PLB) | +43:43 | ||
| 115 | Alex EDMONDSON (SAS) | +44:29 | ||
| 116 | Ryan MACANALLY (BFL) | +46:06 | ||
| 117 | Rafael VAINIKKA (EAD) | +46:11 | ||
| 118 | James BOAL (JWC) | +46:17 | ||
| 119 | Stephen COUSINS (CNC) | +46:54 | ||
| 120 | Harry CARPENTER (SAS) | +49:02 | ||
| 121 | Tom KAESLER (SAS) | +49:02 | ||
| 122 | Ben CUTAJAR (TDU) | +49:49 | ||
| 123 | Trent DERECOURT (JWC) | +50:23 | ||
| 124 | Jacob LANGHAM (CNC) | +56:50 | ||
| 125 | Andrew CRAWLEY (GWR) | +58:05 | ||
| 126 | Karl MICHELIN-BEARD (CNC) | +1h00:26 | ||
| 127 | Miles SCOTSON (SAS) | +1h01:15 | ||
| 128 | Rowan DEVER (JWC) | +1h02:29 | ||
| 129 | Jake MAGEE (GWR) | +1h04:41 | ||
| 130 | Adam HUDSON (TVL) | +1h05:55 | ||
| 131 | Dave BROWN (DCR) | +1h07:19 | ||
| 132 | James IBRAHIM (PLB) | +1h08:30 | ||
| dnf | Thomas HAMILTON (VIS) | |||
| dnf | Ben HILLEARD (AWS) | |||
| dnf | Nicholas HORSLEY (TVL) | |||
| dnf | James SWADLING (CNC) | |||
