October 14, 2008 – Stuart O’Grady’s appetite for victory was feed today when he rode into Warragul on his own to claim stage two of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, while Canada’s Will Routley took third.

After having spent 60 kilometres off the front of the race on yesterday’s opening stage, the 35-year-old’s ability to bounce back and go on the attack, yet again, has stamped his authority on the race as he also moved into the overall race leader’s yellow jersey.

The victory marked O’Grady’s first win in Australia’s oldest stage race since 1997, a year in which he collected the champagne of three occasions. Today’s victory marking the fourth win in his three sojourns around Victoria.

“My last win was Paris-Roubaix. I only win the big ones,” O’Grady said with a smile after the stage.

“It’s been a long time. Pretty much every other race, like Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, I ride for a teammate. Even in the last couple of days I’ve been working for the little wiper snapper in Gossy (Matt Goss) but it’s nice to be out there and going hard and to win.”

The 118km stage from the picturesque beach-side town of Inverloch to Warragul made it three wins in three days for the CSC Saxo Bank team, following the back-to-back victories of Goss.

Ridden in ideal conditions, an aggressive start to the race was lead by countless attacks from Jack Bobridge of the South-Australia.com-AIS team.

The 19-year-old Beijing Olympian was in almost every break for the first 80km of the stage but with limited wind to break-up the peloton none of the moves survived.

Inside the final 25km a serious break of 14 riders formed at the front led by O’Grady with his CSC Saxo Bank teammate Lars Bak, Ben Day (Toyota-United), Portuguese climber Hugo Sabido (Barloworld) and Richie Porte (Praties).

The group got out to a 40 seconds when, despite having Patrick Shaw in the break, the Virgin Blue Australian national team led the chase as their team leader Will Walker had missed the vital move.

As the peloton was closing in, O’Grady attacked again with only Will Routley (Bicycle Superstore Canada) able to respond.

O’Grady dropped Routley with less than a kilometre to go to finish six seconds clear to collect his fourth career stage win in the race.

Routley was caught right on the line, by the remnants of the breakaway group with Japanese rider Kazuhiro Mori (Aisan) taking second with the Canadian having to settle for third.

“I called upon all my experience today to go for the win and it paid off,” O’Grady said.

“We thought we’d take the tactics a little bit differently. There was a lot of tactics. It was a constant chess game. A few times we got in trouble but then we’d go on the offence and in the end everything worked out perfect.”

The main peloton was led home by Dale Scarfe (Panasonic) 36 seconds down on the South Australian who is now among the favourites for overall honours.

“I’ve gone pretty deep the last couple of days. I think we’ll just take it day by day from now,” O’Grady said of his chances to hold onto the yellow jersey.

Importantly for the five-time Olympian he has put time into other pre-race favourites including defending champion Matt Wilson (Team Type-1), his teammate Glen Chadwick, Will Walker and 2002 winner Baden Cooken (Barloworld).

The Make it Happen in Provincial Victoria U23 category leader’s jersey changed hands as Simon Clarke (South-Australia.com-AIS) was in the breakaway group and finished eighth on the stage. Clarke won the U23 category in 2007.

The Cyclismo Bendigo King of the Mountains jersey moved across to Hugo Sabido, who is also in contention for overall honours as he currently sits in sixth place overall just 20 seconds down.

O’Grady will start stage three with a 14 second buffer over Mori and also leads the Budget Forklift sprint points classification.

Jack Bobridge was awarded the Volvo most aggressive rider on the stage.

Results

1. Stuart O’Grady (Aus) CSC-Saxo Bank 2:38.22
2. Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan 0.06
3. Will Routley (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada
4. Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld
5. Stuart Shaw (Aus) Drapac Porsche
6. Lars Bak (Den) CSC-Saxo Bank
7. Chris Jongeward (Aus) Panasonic
8. Benjamin Day (Aus) Toyota-United
9. Simon Clarke (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
10. Richie Porte (Aus) Praties 0.11
11. Patrick Shaw (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia 0.19
12. Craig Mccartney (Aus) Savings & Loans
13. Glen Chadwick (NZl) Team Type 1 0.21
14. Dale Scarfe (Aus) Panasonic 0.36
15. Scott Lyttle (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand
16. Jason Rigg (Aus) Praties
17. Baden Cooke (Aus) Barloworld
18. Joel Pearson (Aus) Savings & Loans
19. Mitchell Docker (Aus) Drapac Porsche
20. Rob Britton (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada
21. Dominique Rollin (Can) Toyota-United
22. Michael England (Aus) Budget Forklifts
23. Leigh Howard (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia
24. Daryl Impey (RSA) Barloworld
25. Gene Bates (Aus) Drapac Porsche
26. Brad Huff (USA) Jelly Belly
27. Lasse Bochman (Den) CSC-Saxo Bank
28. Matthew Goss (Aus) CSC-Saxo Bank
29. Nic Sanderson (Aus) Jelly Belly
29. Ben Mather (Aus) Praties
31. David Pell (Aus) Savings & Loans
32. Jeremy Yates (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand
33. Ben King (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
34. Ben Grieve-Johnson (Aus) Praties
35. Daniel Braunsteins (Aus) Drapac Porsche
36. Marco Corti (Ita) Barloworld
37. Daniel Holt (USA) Team Type 1
38. Cameron Wurf (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia
39. Will Walker (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia
40. Dylan Newell (Aus) Praties
41. Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Aisan
42. Gordon Mccauley (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand
43. Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Type 1
44. Cameron Hughes (Aus) Budget Forklifts
45. Christopher Froome (GBr) Barloworld
46. Cameron Jennings (Aus) Budget Forklifts
47. Chris Luxton (Aus) Savings & Loans
48. Will Dickeson (Aus) Savings & Loans
49. Bernard Van Ulden (USA) Jelly Belly
50. William Ford (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
51. Anthony Chapman (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand
52. Jonny Clarke (Aus) Toyota-United
53. Matt Wilson (Aus) Team Type 1
54. Eric Wohlberg (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada
55. Shawn Milne (USA) Team Type 1
56. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Team Type 1
57. Andrew Randell (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada
58. Bruno Langlois (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada
59. Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
60. Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan
61. Chris Jory (Aus) Panasonic
62. Mark O’brien (Aus) Drapac Porsche
63. Peter Herzig (Aus) Panasonic
64. Angus Morton (Aus) Drapac Porsche
65. Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) Panasonic
66. Peter Ladd (Aus) Budget Forklifts
67. Daniel Furmston (Aus) Praties
68. Peter Mcdonald (Aus) Drapac Porsche
69. Hilton Clarke (Aus) Toyota-United
70. Eric Boily (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada
71. Caleb Manion (Aus) Toyota-United
72. Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Aisan
73. Adam Semple (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
74. Jason Hegert (Aus) Panasonic
75. Kenichi Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan
76. Tim Roe (Aus) Savings & Loans
77. Heath Blackgrove (NZl) Toyota-United
78. Richard England (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia
79. David Kemp (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia 2.30
80. Jonathon Lovelock (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia 3.42
81. Jack Bobridge (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS 4.45
82. Bradley Mcgee (Aus) CSC-Saxo Bank
83. Malcolm Rudolph (Aus) Budget Forklifts 14.13
84. Jason Allen (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand
85. Nicholas Reistad (USA) Jelly Belly
86. Jack Anderson (Aus) Budget Forklifts
87. Tim Guy (Aus) Panasonic 16.01
88. Bryson Bowers (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada 21.44
DNF Nathan Clarke (Aus) Praties
DNF Darren Shea (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand
DNF Travis Meyer (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS

GC after Stage 2

1. Stuart O’Grady (Aus) CSC-Saxo Bank 12:52.10
2. Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan 0.14
3. Will Routley (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada 0.16
4. Benjamin Day (Aus) Toyota-United 0.20
5. Lars Bak (Den) CSC-Saxo Bank
6. Hugo Sabido (Por) Barloworld
7. Stuart Shaw (Aus) Drapac Porsche
8. Simon Clarke (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
9. Chris Jongeward (Aus) Panasonic
10. Richie Porte (Aus) Praties 0.25
11. Craig Mccartney (Aus) Savings & Loans 0.33
12. Patrick Shaw (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia
13. Glen Chadwick (NZl) Team Type 1 0.35
14. Matthew Goss (Aus) CSC-Saxo Bank 0.37
15. Leigh Howard (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia 0.43
16. Baden Cooke (Aus) Barloworld 0.44
17. Brad Huff (USA) Jelly Belly
18. Dominique Rollin (Can) Toyota-United 0.45
19. Gordon Mccauley (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand 0.48
20. Will Walker (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia 0.49
21. Joel Pearson (Aus) Savings & Loans 0.50
22. Mitchell Docker (Aus) Drapac Porsche
23. David Pell (Aus) Savings & Loans
24. Michael England (Aus) Budget Forklifts
25. Gene Bates (Aus) Drapac Porsche
26. Nic Sanderson (Aus) Jelly Belly
27. Lasse Bochman (Den) CSC-Saxo Bank
28. Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Aisan
29. Scott Lyttle (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand
30. Ben Mather (Aus) Praties
31. Daryl Impey (RSA) Barloworld
32. Jason Rigg (Aus) Praties
33. Jeremy Yates (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand
34. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Team Type 1
35. Dale Scarfe (Aus) Panasonic
36. Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan
37. Cameron Wurf (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia
38. Marco Corti (Ita) Barloworld
39. Matt Wilson (Aus) Team Type 1
40. Bernard Sulzberger (Aus) Panasonic
41. Hilton Clarke (Aus) Toyota-United
42. Cameron Jennings (Aus) Budget Forklifts
43. Ben King (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
44. Bernard Van Ulden (USA) Jelly Belly
45. Daniel Braunsteins (Aus) Drapac Porsche
46. Cameron Hughes (Aus) Budget Forklifts
47. Daniel Furmston (Aus) Praties
48. Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
49. Daniel Holt (USA) Team Type 1
50. Andrew Randell (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada
51. Chris Luxton (Aus) Savings & Loans
52. Eric Wohlberg (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada
53. Richard England (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia
54. Christopher Froome (GBr) Barloworld
55. Dylan Newell (Aus) Praties
56. Anthony Chapman (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand
57. Shawn Milne (USA) Team Type 1
58. Peter Mcdonald (Aus) Drapac Porsche
59. Bruno Langlois (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada
60. Jonny Clarke (Aus) Toyota-United
61. Caleb Manion (Aus) Toyota-United
62. Angus Morton (Aus) Drapac Porsche
63. Mark O’brien (Aus) Drapac Porsche
64. Heath Blackgrove (NZl) Toyota-United
65. Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Aisan
66. Jason Hegert (Aus) Panasonic
67. Rob Britton (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada 1.10
68. Adam Semple (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
69. David Kemp (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia 2.44
70. Jonathon Lovelock (Aus) Virgin Blue Australia 3.56
71. Bradley Mcgee (Aus) CSC-Saxo Bank 4.59
72. Jack Bobridge (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
73. Malcolm Rudolph (Aus) Budget Forklifts 14.27
74. Jack Anderson (Aus) Budget Forklifts
75. Jason Allen (NZl) Yes Optus Shop New Zealand 14.47
76. Ben Grieve-Johnson (Aus) Praties 16.22
77. Fabio Calabria (Aus) Team Type 1
78. Will Dickeson (Aus) Savings & Loans
79. William Ford (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS
80. Peter Ladd (Aus) Budget Forklifts
81. Chris Jory (Aus) Panasonic
82. Tim Roe (Aus) Savings & Loans
83. Kenichi Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan
84. Peter Herzig (Aus) Panasonic 16.42
85. Eric Boily (Can) Bicycle Superstore Canada 23.51
86. Nicholas Reistad (USA) Jelly Belly 29.59
87. Tim Guy (Aus) Panasonic 31.47