Bendigo and District Cycling Club 3 Stage Tour - Race Report

The Bendigo and District Cycling Club hosted the Merv Dean Memorial 3 stage tour over the King's birthday long weekend at Sutton Grange and Harcourt just outside of Bendigo. 83 riders across Men's A, B & C grades and Women's A, from as far afield as Alice Springs, Mt Gambier and Adelaide signed for 3 challenging days of racing. More notably Alyssa Polities, a local star of road and track and heading to her second Commonwealth Games in just over 6 weeks and Mark O'Brien, who has won about every road and gravel bike race there is to win in Australia, were ready it serve it up to their rivals.

The elites in A grade received a lot of the coverage, so this report is going to concentrate on the combined Women's A and Men's C grades. Whilst there was an overall General Classification for each grade, the stages, the sprint and king of the mountain primes and time bonuses were combined. Picking up time bonuses within each stage would be vital for those hoping to stake a claim on GC if the peloton stayed together.

Women's A & Men's C Finish

Stage 1 Sutton Grange - Metcalfe - Redesdale Loop

Best described as a rolling course of 50km with 600m of climbing. The race began with the first KoM just 4.5km of the start line. For myself in Men's C grade, the KoM was the first indication that the race had ratcheted up a notch from last year. Michael Williams from Blackburn CC timed his launch to the line from way out perfectly, followed by Sarah Dally from Mt Gambier and Alyssa Polities who took the remaining points.

Jeremy Hindell from Brunswick CC and Michael Williams, were the main attackers on the stage, gaining handy leads at times only to be reeled back in by an organised peloton. Heading into Redesdale for the sprint, Michael Williams took maximum points ahead of Alyssa and Sarah. Meanwhile heading out of Redesdale, I sensed an opportunity to attack and take a few with me, but it wasn't long before the peloton was onto the move.

The stage came down to a bunch sprint, with the hitters of the group being prominent. It was local rider Belinda Bailey leading home Alyssa Polities and Sarah Dally in a hotly contested sprint. James Fitzgerald from Geelong was the first male in 4th place.

Stage 2 Harcourt North Loop and Mt Alexander (Queen stage)

Stage 2 Start

The Queen stage had us doing about a lap and a third or 58km before hitting the climb up Mt Alexander. The conditions were foggy and the roads were damp. The fireworks began shortly after we went past the Mt Alexander turnoff on lap one, where the circuit descends on tight curvy roads. Alyssa Polities and Belinda Bailey went to the front and stretched the peloton out over 100m or more, to see if they could force a break and they almost did. If not for some concerted chasing and welding, those of us sitting mid-pack at the time could have said goodbye to the stage. An unfortunate few were dropped and the peloton thinned out.

Next up was the aptly named Turdburg KoM, 1.6km at 5.5% gradient. Once again Michael, Sarah and Alyssa took the points. Michael Williams attacked a few kilometres before the Harcourt town sprint and went solo. This time there was little interest in chasing him, as he was clearly the strongest rider in the field.

Heading into Harcourt, where the remaining bonus points and seconds were on the line for the town sprint, the women lit it up again. Meanwhile I tailed them and decided to keep riding while they recovered. I was joined in a two rider break with Ally Sinclair from Norwood CC. When Ally said that the bunch wasn’t chasing us down, my response was that they think we either "too young, too old or too stupid". Michael Williams from Blackburn was too far ahead to chase, so we settled into a rhythm that afforded us a lead of at least a few hundred metres from the base of the climb. The first 2.1km has a gradient of 8.8% and this is where the watts mattered most. Having a decent gap would hopefully demoralise anyone trying to chase us down. There's a brief respite of 600m descending which takes less than a minute, before 2km at 5.2% through to the finish. My lead was enough to hold off the bunch containing the lead women Belinda, Alyssa and Sharni, by 43 seconds and move up to second overall on GC. Unfortunately Ally was caught by the lead women with 1km to go and was only gapped in the last 100m, leaving her in 9th place on the stage. It was an outstanding ride by Ally who is only new to the sport and hadn't ever been in the breakaway before.

Michael Williams taking first place on Mt Alexander

Ally Sinclair - breakaway companion

Stage 3 Harcourt Kermesse 47km (4 x 11.75km laps)

A extremely aggressive stage from the beginning, with everyone out to salvage something from the weekend. On lap 1 Alyssa, Belinda and Sharni were dragging it out and attempting for force a gap on the rolling terrain of Reservoir Road. Once again the gap was welded shut. Rounding lap one past the North Harcourt Hall, the sprint points were hotly contested with Jeremy, Madeline Douglas and Sharni taking the points. The pace continued up the remaining climb and I was one of the last to get back on as the bunch hit Harmony Way for the second time.

Jeremy Hindell and Sharni Morley lead the bunch

Michael Williams (121): Annabelle Kelly (86): Andrew James (129)

Lap 3 halfway between the start and Harcourt there was a lull in the race, with riders recovering from the last effort. I spotted Alyssa with her hand in her back pocket and thought now is as good a time as any to attack. I went forward and got a gap, more to see what would happen. No one chased, so I put my head down and the gap opened. I managed to pick up the Lap 3 KoM points and move up to 3rd in the KoM category. According to race leader Michael Williams, I managed to get out as far as 40 seconds, but I was tiring. Heading into the final lap Isabel Cranage (Norwood CC) bridged over, helped me out for a while and we led the race into Harcourt. Meanwhile the peloton was closing in and my legs were feeling it after 25min of being in the break. Halfway down the eastbound Market Street into a light headwind, I let Isabel’s wheel go and slid back into the bunch hoping recharge for the finish. 

In what seemed like a moment of Brunswick tag-team racing, Jeremy Hindell shot forth from the peloton, bridged across to Isabel and they worked together to defend their lead. The final sprint was brutal, with Belinda Bailey doing exactly what she did last year by lighting it up from 1km out off the last descent, launching a blistering attack that left all the guys, except Jeremy who was ahead, in her wake. Isabel and Jeremy managed to stay away from the fast finishing peloton just 3 seconds behind them. Isabel took 1st and Jeremy 2nd. Unfortunately for Belinda, her attack was not enough to hold off the fast finishing Alyssa Polities who took third place and in the process managed to secure enough bonus seconds to win the women's GC by the slender margin of 3 seconds.

Isabel Cranage salutes on the line ahead of Jeremy Hindell and the bunch

Summary

What a weekend of riding. As a masters rider, it was a a great privilege to be sharing the road with some of the best local female riders in the country, some of whom I've just met and some like Sharni whom I have raced against since she was a junior (8yrs ago).  Sharni  will be heading over to Europe shortly to give it another crack and hopefully the form of this tour will set her up well.

My own club, Brunswick Cycling Club was well represented across all grades, with Jeremy Hindell, Andrew Gannon and Andrew James in C grade, Sydney Grace-Myler in B grade and Taj Hindell, Tristan Ingham and Lysander Tansley in A Grade. The final stage saw both Jeremy and his son Taj on the podium in their respective grades, with Taj winning A Grade from a 3 up breakaway.

The level of organisation by the host club was exceptional. This race would not have been possible without the sponsors, the lead and follow cars for each grade, a lead motorcycle ensuring that we never made a wrong turn, the photographers, commissaires and corner marshals. 

A Grade finish: Taj Hindell: Matt Sherwin: Aiden Teese

Bonus Race Report from A Grade Stage 3 winner Taj Hindell

The Profound Civil Construction Merv Dean Memorial 3 Day Tour is one of the toughest races on the Australian calendar, attracting riders from across the country. Three days of hard racing, courses and competition made for a great tour, even better by the perfect conditions throughout the weekend.

The highlight for me was the final stage, a five-lap kermesse around a lumpy 11.7 km circuit in Harcourt. After a tough opening road race and the brutal climb up Mount Alexander, I wanted to finish the tour on a high.

Around 15 km into the race, I attacked and managed to get clear after several earlier moves had been caught. Matt Sherwin and Aidan Teese soon bridged across, and the three of us quickly settled into a rhythm, building our lead to around 1 minute 30 seconds.

By the final lap, our advantage was still just under a minute, but after almost an hour in the break we all became tired and more conservative, saving our legs for the finish. Sherwin attacked with 3 km to go before Aidan tried his luck over the final rise, but neither move stuck. The stage came down to a three-up sprint. Sherwin led it out early, allowing me to come around him in the final 50 metres and take the win by half a wheel, a perfect way to finish the tour.

None of this would have been possible without the support of so many people. A huge thank you to the Bendigo Cycling Club for organising another fantastic event, and to all the sponsors whose support makes the race possible. To the volunteers who generously give up their time to ensure everything runs smoothly, your efforts never go unnoticed. Your hard work allows riders to enjoy an incredible weekend of racing, and we are all extremely grateful.

Full Results: https://6-v.org/bdct/