GIPPSLANDER Joel Pearson notched the most emphatic triumph of his impressive career with a hard-fought victory in the Elgas Tour of the Murray River yesterday.
Pearson, 27, won the eight-day tour by 11 seconds from Canberra veteran Stuart Shaw, 32, with the amazing New Zealander Gordon McCauley, 38, a further second back in third place.
For the red-haired Pearson, who gained and lost the Tour’s purple jersey three times throughout the 902-kilometre race, it was his best result since winning the 262km Melbourne-to-Warrnambool Classic last October.
Four months ago, he underwent a serious hip operation which threatened to derail his 2010 season, but after a slow start to the current Scody Cup series in the Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland early last month, he gradually rode into peak form and was given marvellous backing by his Genesys team-mates throughout the 14 stages of the gruelling Tour.
Pearson, runner-up to the blisteringly-quick Queenslander Jonathan Cantwell in last year’s Murray Tour, said it was an “unbelievable feeling” to finally win a major Australian stage race.
“This is my biggest enjoyment because it was such a hard-fought, tough battle from start to finish,” Pearson said.
“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.”
The final stage, a 66km criterium raced on Mildura’s riverfront yesterday, was won by the incredibly nimble Malaysian Harrif Saleh who narrowly defeated young New South Welshmen Scott Law (Virgin Blue RBS Morgans) and Alex Carver (Jayco Skins).
Saleh won four Tour stages and will be a front-line rider for Malaysia in the road race at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games next month.
McCauley will also be in India for his fourth Commonwealth Games after he represents New Zealand in the time trial at the World road championships in Geelong on September 30.
In addition to his third placing, he also won the Tour’s king of the mountains championship and the Merbein Bendigo Community Bank most aggressive rider award.
The Tour, held for the 15th time, was supported by Tourism Victoria and six municipalities including Campaspe, Murray, Swan Hill, Balranald, Yarriambiack and Mildura.
In Saturday’s racing, tenacious New Zealander Gordon McCauley defied age, fierce winds and determined opposition to win the penultimate stage of the eight-day Tour.
McCauley, 38, oldest rider in the 133-man field, cracked his rivals apart in the 57.6km road race at Cardross, held over 12 laps of a 4.8km wind-hammered circuit.
Earlier, Canberra’s Thomas Palmer captured his third stage of the Tour by eclipsing his rivals in the 33km Merbein criterium.
Palmer, who has produced tremendous bursts of speed over the final stages of most criteriums throughout the Tour, defeated Scott Law, with Stuart Shaw in the minor placing.
Shaw went into the Cardross road race with a seven-second overall advantage from Pearson and the pair staged a traffic battle throughout the race, with Pearson prevailing in a couple of critical intermediate sprints and managing to break clear of his 32-year-old rival in the final lap.
This story appeared inside Monday’s Sunraysia Daily 6/9/2010.
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