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Congratulations to Matthew
Lucas, Mark Robertson & Chris Young, our 3 man team who competed at the
Tour de Cabonne at Orange on 18 & 19 May 2002.
Three RBCC members entered the
race - Mark "Slapper" Robertson (Club Captain & domestique), Matthew Lucas
and Under 19 rider, Chris Young. All competed in D grade.
The following account kindly supplied by Matthew Lucas:
The race was run over 3 stages -
1st stage 48 km, 2nd 38 km, 3rd 30 km.
The first stage saw us link up with riders from Easts and try to get off the
front many times. None of the breaks lasted but it did serve to break up the
bunch, especially when I went and split the group up a hill with about 10 km
to go and I then tried again with about 5 km to race. The sprint back into
Molong was fast and downhill with the last 2km being more like Heffron Park
with tight corners which suited us well. I finished 2nd in the sprint and
Mark placed just outside top ten.
The second stage saw the third place getter from the first stage try to
attempt a few solid breaks. Mark and I did a lot to help chase down these
breaks along with the Yellow jersey wearer from Armidale CC. Finally I got
away with the rider attempting the breaks, which saw me get 2nd KOM and some
valuable GC points. Coming into the final stage about 5 riders bridged over
to us and saw us contest a long sprint where I once again came second.
This saw me wearing the leaders jersey into the final stage back to
Molong. Mark helped me defend my position as I only had a few points over
two other riders who were in contention for the GC. We had chased down
everything these other two riders had tried on when finally an Easts rider
got off the front with about 3 km to go. Everything looked as though it was
going to be ok as I was pretty happy with my sprinting form all day and had
the measure of the other two riders. There was a short sharp pinch
just as we got back into town which saw one of my rivals attack.
Unfortunately after 120 km racing my legs decided they didn't want to go up
hills and started to cramp. I just tried to limit the damage as much as
possible but he managed to bridge over to the Easts rider and had about 100m
on us. Hence the other Easts riders didn't want to chase and Mark was pretty
shot after all the work we had done earlier in the stage.
I tried to bridge across in the last few hundred metres but to no avail and
ended up 5th across the line with both rivals beating me. This relegated me
to third on GC. Disappointing not to win but a good result at the my second
open road race.
Also it was extremely cold - we never got out of arm warmers and leg warmers
all day and I was thankful for the yellow jersey to wear simply because it
was another layer to add warmth. A long cold cold day on the bike but loads
of fun and good competition.
Matt Lucas
For full results of the Tour de Carbonne,
Click Here
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