HOBART rider Jai Crawford has continued Drapac Pro Cycling’s impressive Tour of Tasmania performance, clinching victory in picturesque Grindelwald, after dropping his early breakaway group on the final ascent.
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Under sunny skies in stark contrast to the first two wet stages, Crawford joined a breakaway group within the first 30 kilometres and never looked back.
Having conquered the last king of the mountain point, local rider Crawford attacked to cross the line solo, six seconds ahead of chasers Patrick Bevin (Search2Retain Cycling) and Michael Jaeger (Peloton Sports).
‘‘I’ve ridden up there before, but not recently – it was a few years ago and I couldn’t remember it very well,’’ Crawford admitted after the 93km stage.
‘‘But talking to my teammates they had said that once you get to the king of the mountain you drop down and it is two kilometres to go. It was a bit tough when I saw it was actually three kilometres, and it didn’t really drop down! I just put my head down and gritted my teeth.’’
The victory comes after teammate and fellow Tasmanian Wesley Sulzberger’s stage 2 triumph on Wednesday, and was a moment to savour for the veteran who admitted post stage that he is considering retirement.
‘‘It’s excellent – especially with two Tassie guys, Wes and I, winning stages like that in our home tour. And we’re also guys looking for jobs for next year, so it’s particularly sweet.’’
After spending his day with the peloton, Bevin gave chase in the final stages to earn some extra general classification seconds, narrowing Ben Dyball’s (Avanti Racing) overall advantage to a solitary second.
‘‘I knew it was a good finish to try and sneak some time back,’’ Bevin said. ‘‘I would have liked to have gone into yellow after committing that at much effort with the guys, but one second back is within striking distance, especially with the time bonuses – so it’s a really close race now.
‘‘Our team had to really control who went up the road today. Avanti didn’t really want to chase, they wanted a move to go up the road to try and take up the time bonuses, so we had to ride really smart and really hard in that first move. It paid out quite well in the end.’’
The Tour of Tasmania continues with stage 4 today with a 106km road race from Ulverstone to Penguin.
