Teams Series Round 4

Kingaroy hosted the latest round of the Queensland Teams Series, where the team looked to make sure Condy held onto the lead of the Masters category.
Day 1
Saturday was a 120km road race around Maidenwell, which included three laps of a hilly circuit. The boys were fresh and ready to go and hoped to get amongst it.

After the usual hectic start, finally a break of up to 8 riders got away after about 25kms. With still almost 100km to race, the peleton did not panic and let the group gain over 2:30 minutes. The main pack set a steady tempo and managed to keep the break in check. Despite this, the break was clearly setting a high tempo up front, as the gap wasn't coming down.

With a lap to go, Matt and Michael started to get into some moves, hoping that they might be able to get across to the break, but the effort was not rewared. Instead, Matt and Jimmy went to the front to try and reduce the gap.

Into the finale, it was clear the break would have their day, and so the team worked to set Condy up for the sprint, where he was able to get second in the bunch sprint and take a top ten result for the day.

Day 2
With 144km around Kingaroy over a very hard course, some nervous legs came to the start line. Over the first lap and up the main climb of the day, the bunch split in two. Condy was feeling the efforts of day one, and was caught behind the front group. Matt managed to get condy onto his wheel and ride him back up to the front group.

After a brief rest, Matt then followed a move off the front and managed to get himself into the early break of the day. At one point, Matt and his two break away companions gained almost three minutes advantage over the bunch, however the testing course took it's toll and after 50km's of being in the break, what was left of the main bunch caught up.

Counter attacks started, and Matt then finished himself off by setting tempo on the front to bring the leaders back and allow the rest of the team to wait for the finale.

Condy was still suffering to stay witht e front, but managed to hold on and contest the finale. Two riders broke away with only a few kilometres to go, however Condy managed to get another top ten result, which will hopefully allow the team to move up in the standings.

Condy should now win the Masters jersey

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.

Teams Series Round 3

Gatton hosted the third round of the teams series, which included a time trial and two road races.

Time Trial

The team doesn't have any renowned time trialers, so the team's hope was for someone to post a time that would place one of the riders in the top 30. Andy and Condy got close to a top 30 time trial, but still missed out. This wasn't so bad for the team, who were focused on getting some better results in the next road races.

Road Race 1

The 105km road race was held over the same rolling course as the TT. The pace was very fast from the beginning, with the race averaging over 46kph. This meant it was very hard for any breaks to get away. Jimmy did a great job of following the early moves, but the high pace wasn't letting anything go. In the finale, Aidan and Matt tried to get into some late breaks, but again, the bunch didn't want to see anything go.

The race was looking like a bunch sprint, with a big group coming into the finale 2km, however with 1.5km to go the bunch hesitated as a small group of 7 riders eased off the front and gained a small gap. The very late break held on until the line. Condy got third in the bunch sprint to take 10th place.

Road Race 2

Sunday's course included several steep climbs over 110km, which was likely to result in some breaks. The pace was somewhat sedate for the first half of the race, with the real action not happening until the final 20km. Going over the final King of the Mountains, a small break got away with 7 km to go. The bunch chased hard to bring them back, but was too late. Condy was well placed to get second in the bunch kick to take another top ten result. This meant he increased his lead in the Masters Jersey and improves his overall position. Jimmy, Aidan and Matt finished in the same group.

Battle on the Border

The team was well prepared for the first big stage race of the year. With a full compliment ready to go, the 4 stage race unfolded as follows:

Stage 1
The TT is never an event that suits the team, however the team gave it a good go to start with to ensure not much time was lost. Andy did well to get a top 25 result and was only 30 seconds off the lead, while Matt also managed to stay about 40 seconds off the lead. This set up Stage 2, where we knew the overall lead would possibly change.

Stage 2

This hilly road race over 145km was always going to be hard. The boys did well to stay in the front group over the first 100km, however the race split up through the feed station as some teams attacked as other teams took on water. Half of the team didn't expect this convention of cycling to be broken and were therefore left behind in the split as the race broke apart in the feedzone. Thankfully Andy and Steve were up the front and managed to stay in the attacking group.

Over the final 45kms, the race split further, with a group of 10 going onto win. Andy and Steve finished in the second group, losing  up to 2 minutes.

Stage 3

With time having been lost in Stage 2, we were keen to get a stage result. Matt spent the first half of the race trying to get into a break, and almost managed to bridge across to the early break, but came up short. Matt continued to get into other moves over the hilly course, but the teams were playing there cards and happy to see the break stay away.

The rest of the team waited for the finale, however the break stayed away, with the team missing out.

Stage 4

The final criterium over the technical circuit always makes a fast selection. The field was flat strap from the beginning, which caused early splits. Andy and Condy made the front split. As the race progressed, things broke up further, with Condy making the final selection. As the finale approached, Condy was well positioned for a good result, however int he final lap, a hectic finish saw Condy get pushed out of position, yet still doing well to finish in the front group.

The team now freshens up for the next round of the Queensland Teams Series

ANZAC 25 race

The ANZAC 25 is a great way to remember the diggers of the present and past, and as such, the race was well attended.

The team was confident for more good results, and set about making sure we were in every move that went away. The pace was very high, with the race averaging more than 45kph over a hilly course. This made it very hard for a break to stay away, but this didn't stop the team from trying hard to be apart of any breaks that were looking like staying away.

Jimmy, Steve and Mick did a great job of covering all early moves, while Matt and Aidan worked well to cover the late moves, but in the end it was going to be a bunch sprint.

Condy as usual was very patient and waited for the bunch sprint, where he managed to take 3rd, despite some dangerous moves from the eventual winner.

Well done Condy.

Teams Series Round 2

Round 2 of the Teams Series saw some hard racing over two days at Boonah.

Stage 1 was a 90km road race, which was a fast race, with a break getting away late in the race. With some sickness in the team the last few weeks, we weren't at our strongest, but Condy managed a top 30 finish to maintain his lead in the Master Category.

Stage 2 was a very hard ITT up Mt French. With ramps of over 20%, it was never going to be easy. The boys knew this wouldn't be to our strengths, so we made sure we didn't go too deep so we had something left int he tank for the third stage.

Stage 3 was a very hard 100km road race with many small but steep climbs. The race was a battle of attrition as the course took it's toll. Both Condy and Aidan posted top 30 positions to collect some valuable points.

Condy remains in the Master Lead and is 8th overall in the competition.

Queensland Road Teams series - Round One

Stage 1 Road Race
The 117km road race stage was always going to suit the teams character. With several hills and an uphill sprint finish, on paper the team was looking good.

The race started very fast, which meant that early on, numerous riders were getting dropped, especially once the race hit the first King of the Mountain point. Over the major climb, the race really got hard and by the top of the climb, less than half of the riders were left in the race. Thankfully four Campos - Avalon riders made the split.

The second time over the climb, more riders were shed, and it was down to less than 40 riders coming into the finale. Some late attacks meant that teams had to chase, but all were brought back for a bunch sprint.

Condy did well to take third in the stage, while the team was second overall thanks to great riding from Andy and Steve. Condy also lead the Masters Category.

Team Time Trial

Stage two was a 16km Team Time Trial. With plenty of wind about, the course was to be a big tail wind out and a strong headwind back. Judging the teams efforts was crucial.

Despite the team not being time trial specialists, a respectable time of 23:06 minutes was posted to take 11th spot.

Criterium

The Criterium was always going to be hard. More wind in the afternoon was sure to break things up, and within ten laps, the race was split up all over the place. Unfortunately Condy missed the split, and was forced to chase with the help of Andy and Matt. For more than 35km Condy, Andy and Matt chased hard to try to get across to the front group. Unfortunately Matt punctured close to the end, which broke the momentum of the chase and allowed the front group to stay away.

In the end, it was all about getting Condy into the points to maintain his lead in the Masters Category. As such, Matt and Andy did a good lead out to ensure Condy won the sprint for 30th and take some valuable points.