October 19, 2007 – A momentary lapse in judgement by Joost Van Leijen’s Netherlands national team has seen the lead in this year’s Jayco Herald Sun taken away from him and the yellow jersey regained by former Tour number one, Unibet.com’s Matt Wilson.

After puncturing 65 kilometres into today’s 110.9km stage from Mt Beauty to Wangaratta, the Dutchman, who had assumed the lead in the Tour overnight after a gutsy ride up to Falls Creek, was motor paced by his team car back to the peloton.

The UCI Panel of Commissaires, which had given notice earlier in the week that it deemed the practice inappropriate by issuing a similar penalty to another Tour contender, Astana’s Steve Morabito, was swift in applying the same sanction – a twenty second deduction from his elapsed time.

A shattered Van Leijen immediately retreated to the team vehicle after being informed of the decision, and whilst Wilson was delighted to be back in the yellow jersey he had worn from Monday evening until yesterday but did not hide the fact that he would have preferred to have regained it in different circumstances.

“It was not really the way you would want to get back the jersey. I’ve got mixed feelings about it. I’m hesitant to comment (about the decision) – I don’t know what to say.

“It’s better to be seconds in front, than having to make them up, but it would have been better to have won them than to get them by someone else being penalised.”

The drama almost certainly took some of the gloss of what was otherwise a tactically brilliant stage for Wilson’s Unibet.com outfit. Starting the day with an eight second deficit, the team plan was obviously to try to claw back the lead in small steps, ahead of Saturday’s individual time trial around Melbourne’s Kings Domain.

And it worked brilliantly, seemingly outwitting the Dutch team, which failed to get Van Leijen any bonus seconds during the stage’s three opportunities whilst Wilson won both the intermediate sprints to gain six seconds and reduce the overall lead to just two.

But the unexpected bonus which shot Wilson back into yellow by 14 seconds over Morabito, and relegated Van Leijen to third another four seconds further back, came soon after Cameron Jennings (DFL-Cyclingnews) had led the 75 rider field across the line in Wangaratta.

On his arrival at the finish, Canadian based Chief Commissaire Wayne Pomario, immediately advised race organisers of the decision against Van Leijen, which he said was a clear breach of cycling rules and one which he and his colleagues had applied consistently throughout the Tour.

The Netherlands team appealed but their protest was quickly dismissed, creating a frenzy of activity around the team vehicles and the Tour’s media scrum.

Wilson, who says openly that it is a long time since he has ridden a time trial in anger, was positive about the day and his chances for the remainder of the race, “There was not a lot of wind today, which could have made a big difference. But then everyone attacked really well and put the pressure on the Dutch.

“I’m not ordinarily confident going into a time trial but everything’s going really well. So we will see what happens.”

For Jennings, a 28-year-old Queenslander who had been forced out of last year’s Tour with a broken collar bone, the stage victory was an unexpected personal triumph, “I can’t believe it really. I’ve grown up a fair bit watching this race, watching the likes of McKenzie and other great Australian cyclists of the past winning stages.

“This is my third time doing the Sun Tour and the first three times I suffered along a bit. It’s a relief for all the hard work I do – I don’t count myself as a really talented cyclist – just one of those guys who plugs away.”

Van Leijen gave the impression he thinks his run is now over, but the reality is that there is less than thirty seconds between the first five riders on general classification going into the last two stages, both of which are in Melbourne.

Former world junior mountain bike champion Trent Lowe (Jayco Australia) who has spent the last year with Lance Armstrong’s Discovery Channel team, and Morabito’s Astana team mate, Julien Mazet complete the top five at 24 and 29 seconds respectively.

Amongst all the drama, some finality was achieved when Bernie Sulzberger started an excellent day for DFL-Cyclingnews by sealing the contest for the Savings and Loans King of the Mountains blue jersey.

The 23 year old Tasmanian rider, who hails from Flowery Gully near Beaconsfield, won the Tour’s final climb up Happy Valley Road between Tawonga and Myrtleford earning six crucial points to break the deadlock between he and Morabito. The two had been tied on 30 points after Sulzberger had dominated the early climbs and the Swiss rider the big ascent up to Falls Creek.

Sulzberger, whose younger brother Wes had won the second stage of this year’s Tour into Mansfield, was very happy to be back in the blue top, which he will retain simply by finishing the rest of the race. “I can’t thank my team enough – they did an excellent job. There was lots of
pressure on my shoulders. I’m glad to have the weight off now.”

That weight did not disappear until the last moment, with the Astana squad bringing Morabito up to contest the climb with just 400 metres to go, after the DFL boys had done much of the tempo work up front for the preceding 35 kilometres.

Wilson on the other hand was obviously so focussed on the overall classification, that he thought he had been given a special favour when he was also presented with the Portfolio Partners red jersey for the leading sprinter to date following today’s racing.

But his two wins during the day had not only given him the bonus seconds he was seeking overall but twelve sprint points to draw level with DominiqueRollin (Bicycle Superstore – Canada) in the battle for red – a fact which was quietly drawn to his attention by the Chief Commissaire after the Tour leader had expressed his surprise in receiving it.

With further solid efforts by Morabito, Mazet and Bundaberg’s Aaron Kemps, Astana retains its lead in the ‘Go for your Life’ team classification, whilst Simon Clarke (South Australia.com) was again untroubled to stay well clear in the Provincial Victoria white jersey race for the best under 23 rider.

Clarke’s unassuming team mate, Gene Bates was given the honour of being nominated as the stage’s most aggressive rider, and the right to wear the Volvo orange jersey during stage six tomorrow.

The 26 year old who was given a late call up to rider the 2007 Tour, was pleased with his efforts, “I had a rough first couple of days but finally found my legs today. But I don’t know how I will go tomorrow – maybe I will pop up again on Sunday.”

The Tour now relocates to Melbourne for its climax – the individual timetable on Saturday and a criterium on Sunday as part of the Melbourne Cycling Festival.

Saturday’s stage is an individual time trial over 8.6 kilometres in the environs of Melbourne’s Kings Domain and Botanical Gardens. The riders with the exception of the top ten, will begin at one minutes intervals from the start line on St Kilda Road – the first rider to be sent off at 2.00pm. The top ten riders on general classification will be the last ten to begin, doing so at 2 minutes intervals, with race leader, Matt Wilson likely to start around 3.20pm. The finish line is in Linlithgow Avenue.

Results (brief)

1. Cameron Jennings (Aus) DFL Cyclingnews Litespeed 2.30.40 (44.203 km/h)
2. Peter Herzig (Aus) FRF Couriers-NSWIS
3. Jeremy Vennell (NZl) DFL Cyclingnews Litespeed 0.08
4. Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Nippo – Meitan Latrobe 0.26
5. Benjamin Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell-Priority Health 0.35
6. Patrick Shaw (Aus) Jayco Australian National Team
7. Gene Bates (Aus) South Australia.com – AIS
8. Jimmy Casper (Fra) Unibet.com
9. Christian Leben (Ger) Wiesenhof-Felt 0.39
10. Aaron Kemps (Aus) Astana

25. Dominique Perras (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team 1.41
38. Dominique Rollin (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team
39. Eric Wohlberg (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team
42. Zachary Bell (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team
62. Ryan Anderson (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team

GC after Stage 5

1. Matthew Wilson (Aus) Unibet.com 16.08.14
2. Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana 0.14
3. Joost Van Leijen (Ned) Netherlands National Team 0.18
4. Trent Lowe (Aus) Jayco Australian National Team 0.24
5. Julien Mazet (Fra) Astana 0.29
6. Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 1.51
7. Simon Clarke (Aus) South Australia.com – AIS 2.02
8. Dominique Perras (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team 3.53
9. Cameron Wurf (Aus) Bissell-Priority Health 4.05
10. Eric Wohlberg (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team 4.25

23 Dominique Rollin (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team 17.05
56. Zachary Bell (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team 54.55
72. Ryan Anderson (Can) Bicycle Superstore-Canadian National Team 1.07.16