2011 Bay Crits #4 – Williamstown

Well that concludes the 2011 Jayco Bay Crit series and I’m disappointed that I missed it. Thanks to the talented photographers, Leigh Schilling, Jarrod Partridge, Leanne Cole and James Broadway, I still got to witness a piece of the action and make a few blog posts to make it look like I was there.

Bike racing in Australia is just getting warmed up though. Tomorrow is the Australian Open Criterium Championships, Saturday is the U23 and Women’s Open Road Race, and Sunday is the Men’s Road Race National Championships. And for some reason that doesn’t make much sense to me, the National Time Trial titles are held on Tuesday, Jan 11. I guess the organisers are trying to get a more competitive field to shoot for the ITT.  Coverage of the National Titles may be scarce on CyclingTips as I will be in transit back to Australia over the weekend.

Here are a few facts about the Jayco Bay Crit series that I probably should have written about before the race began:

The race is run by John Trevorrow who also designed the 2010 Geelong World Championships course. He’s a former Australian Road Champion, 1970, ’78 ’79,’80. Three times winner of the ‘Sun Tour, ’75, ’77, ’79. He competed in the 1970 Commonwealth Games, collecting Bronze in the road race and competed in the Munich Olympics in ’72 riding in the road race and team time trail. He also raced pro in Europe for three years including completing the Giro d’ Italia in 1981.

Bay Crits Honor Roll

Cost to enter a team in to the Elite Category: $5,000. However teams like SKY and Garmin-Cervelo most likely had their entry fee waived (this is unconfirmed, but often the way it works so that the organisers can draw bigger teams).

PRO riders receive appearance money anywhere between $2000 and $8000 to race the series. The upper end of this scale is limited to a dozen top riders or so (guys like Renshaw, Cooke, Gerro, etc). Many of the conti and pro conti riders will have their sponsoring team pay the fees, but not any appearance money. Many will get hotel and meal expenses paid as well as have a mechanic and soigneur on staff (many of which are volunteering).

The team budget for a team in the Bay Crits including a couple of big name ProTeam riders and a few continental riders is about $30k. This includes paying the riders, some domestic airfare, accommodation, meals, staff, kit, and other miscellaneous expenses.

Riders often don’t wear their regular season team kit unless their trade team decides to enter. For example, Team Sky and Garmin-Cervelo entered a team this year and you saw the riders wearing their regular season kit.

Riders who aren’t riding on their trade team who wear their race sponsor’s jersey are usually required to wear their trade team’s knicks.

Prize money awarded for a stage win:

Men: 1st $300, 2nd $200, 3rd 100…10th $20

Women: 1st $100, 2nd $60, 3rd 50…10th $10

Prize money awarded for the overall win:

Men: 1st $4000, 2nd $1400, 3rd 800…10th $100 ($7970 total for overall)

Women:  1st $2000, 2nd $1000, 3rd 600…10th $700  ($4570 total for overall)

Here are some fantastic photos of the race last evening courtesy of James Broadway.

Elite Men Stage 4 and Final Results

1.Matthew Goss (E3/Pure Tasmania)
2.Allan Davis (Bikebug.com)
3.Michael Matthews (Urban)
4.Chris Sutton (Team Sky)
5.Bernie Sulzberger (E3/Pure Tasmania)
6.Leigh Howard (Jayco VIS)
7.Tom Scully (Garmin Cervelo)
8.Jonathon Cantwell (Lowe Farms/Boomaroo Nurseries)
9.Nick Walker (Fly V Australia)
10.Matt Hayman (Team Sky)

Jayco General Classification – FINAL after Stage Four

1.Matthew Goss (E3/Pure Tasmania)
2.Michael Matthews (Urban)
3. Bernie Sulzberger (E3/Pure Tasmania)
4.Allan Davis (Bikebug.com)
5.Chris Sutton (Team Sky)
6.Greg Henderson (Team Sky)
7.Leigh Howard (Jayco VIS)
8. Wesley Sulzberger (E3/Pure Tasmania)
9.Simon Gerrans (Team Sky)
10.Baden Cooke (Lowe Farms/Boomaroo Nurseries)

ELITE WOMEN Stage Four Results

(sorry, no photographs today)

1.Judith Arndt (Unattached/GER)
2. Rochelle Gilmore (Honda)
3.Chloe Hosking (TDT/Race/BikeForce)
4.Kirsty Broun (Virgin Blue)
5.Jess Allen (Jayco VIS)
6.Lauren Kitchen (Jayco AIS)
7.Melissa Hoskins (Honda)
8.Peta Mullens (Honda)
9.Tiffany Cromwell (Honda)
10.Katherine O’Shea (Vetta Pasta)

Women’s FINAL after Stage Four

1.Rochelle Gilmore (Honda)
2.Judith Arndt (Unattached/GER)
3.Kirsty Broun (Virgin Blue)
4.Peta Mullens (Honda)
5.Chloe Hosking (TDT/Race/BikeForce)
6.Tiffany Cromwell (Honda)
7.Lauren Kitchen (Jayco AIS)
8.Jess Allen (Jayco VIS)
9.Belinda Goss (Vetta Pasta)
10.Nicole Whitburn (Unattached/Vic)

Support Men Stage 4 and Final Results

(sorry, no photographs today)

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the names of the riders racing the support race, all of these guys in the top 10 or 20 could hold their own in the Elite category. Every one of them are gun riders and it would have been an unbelievably competitive race.

1. Paul Van Der Ploeg
2. Nathan Earle
3. Steele Von Hoff
4. Scott Liston
5. Neil Van Der Ploeg
6. Evan Hull
7. Angus Tobin
8. Mitchell Codner
9. Michael Curran
10. Edward Bissaker

Jayco General Classification – FINAL after Stage Four

1. Steele Von Hoff
2. Nathan Earle
3. Angus Tobin
4. Mitchell Codner
5. Paul Van Der Ploeg
6. Neil Van Der Ploeg
7. Nathan Haas
8. Jack Beckinsale
9. Evan Hull
10. Scott Liston