Tour of Toowoomba

This years Tour of Toowoomba was the second National Series (NRS) event for 2012, and was a four day event, including five stages. The weather compared to last year was much more favourable, with the gale force winds noticeably absent this year. This didn't mean the racing would be any less difficult, with all of the major National Series Teams present to contest the event.

Stage One saw Condy get himself into the top twenty, after a break of ten riders took the win. This was a good result for Condy given his recent illness and knee problems that have caused him problems for a few days.

Stage Two was a spectacular mountain top finish, atop the Bunya Mountains. With gradients well over 20% at times, it was a real suffer fest. Bad luck plagued the team, with punctures and crashes halting any ambition of a good result. The boys just did what they could to get to the finish.

Stage Three was a Team Time Trial. Given the team would not feature in the overall classification, it was decided to ride tempo for the TTT and save the legs for the following stages.

Stage Four was a windy and rolling course out the back of Oakey, which saw the race really explode in the cross winds. There was plenty of "gutter action" as the strong NRS teams drove the pace to break the race through the windy sections. The team didn't fare too well, but did what they could to get to the finish so they could contest the final criterium on Stage Five. Darren Rolf took a great solo victory for the RBS Morgan team. Very impressive.

Stage Five was the traditional criterium finish around Queens Park in Toowoomba. Following Steve's win in the support event, the team was keen for more success. The pace was on from the beginning, with much of the field dropping off in the relentless pace setting. All of the boys finished, but no result was possible after the previous hard days.

The team represented the sponsors very well over the tour and were all happy to have finished and to have gained further experience at the top level of Australian cycling.

Steve wins the Queens Park Criterium (Toowoomba)

The Queens Park Criterium is a great support event to the Tour of Toowoomba. For several of the team riders not racing the Tour, the Queens Park Criterium proved to be a great event, with Steve Handreck taking the Teams first win for the season.

With Jimmy and Matt supporting Steve, the race started out with the usual flurry of attacks. some small breaks got away early, however the team was patient and waited for these moves to come back. Steve then played a classic counter attack move just before the first prime and created a gap from the field.

Steve and two others forged ahead, with Steve taking the first Prime. They then set about creating a nice margin between themselves and the chasing pack. Matt and Jimmy did well to marshal any pretenders hoping to get across to the move, which allowed Steve and co to increase their lead.

With two laps to go, the break away started attacking each other, which caused Steve and a companion to ride the final lap together. Steve then patiently waited for the sprint, knowing he would have the measure of his rival, where he took a great win.

Steve also won the first Prime, and the Most Aggressive Rider prize. It was a great day for the team.