October 17, 2009 (Melbourne, Australia) – It may have poured all week during the 2009 Jayco Herald Sun Tour but after today’s final stage on Lygon Street it was Bradley Wiggins’ turn to reign, in the company of his talented accomplices from the Garmin Slipstream team. The team’s display during the 61.5 kilometre circuit race that brought this year’s Tour to a close was nothing short of emphatic.

But their strong riding at the front of the field didn’t stop Fly V Australia’s Jonathan Cantwell from claiming the final stage.

For the Englishman, Wiggins, the emotion finally showed after playing it low key for the rest of the Tour. “I could have been in London today, the amount of people that were cheering for me,” he said post race.

“It didn’t really kick home to me until today. Very few stage races around the world finish like this with so many people around an area like Lygon Street. Shows how big cycling is here.

“And then you look at the roll of honour on the trophy Gerry (Ryan of Jayco) presented to me. The names are so good. It’s brilliant to be on there.”

Wiggins also acknowledged the importance of the team, and gave some idea of the process they went through in dealing with the dilemma of whether to go with him or Chris Sutton for the overall win.

“We had a few beers last night trying to decide what to do but CJ really made his mind up deciding to give it to me and that was it really. But even then we were still umming and ahring with two laps to go whether Chris was going to do the final sprint,” Wiggins said. “And the boys – they were amazing.”

For Cantwell, it was clearly a matter of getting as much out of the final day as possible, a task he fulfilled admirably. “I knew I couldn’t catch Chris Sutton or Bradley Wiggins on GC so we had other plans. First was to get on the podium for the Tour, second was to win the points jersey and the third was to win the stage,” Cantwell said.

“We weren’t sure of what the Garmin tactics were going to be but we got all three, so I guess we did okay. The team has been brilliant all year, especially today.

“The green jersey’s not bad but I’d prefer yellow. It’s a bit of a strange feeling me being on the stage for the GC podium, being just a sprinter. I couldn’t be more happy.”

Sutton was also content with his lot, acknowledging that he had surpassed both his and his father, 1984 winner Gary’s expectations with his three stage victories.

The team’s sporting director, Matt White, who had to direct his troops through the quandary of the previous 24 hours, was understandably more than happy with the outcome.

“With four stages, the general classification, the king of the mountains (Tom Peterson) and the team win it’s been a successful week. The boys should be very proud,” said White, who can now turn his attention to the arrival of his first child with wife Jane Saville in coming days.

The Tour also produced some fine performances by the next generation of Australian stars, led by 19 year old Leongatha rider, Nick Aitken who convincingly held onto the white jersey for the best under 23 rider, in finishing eleventh overall. It was an impressive effort from the tall Jayco Australian team man, who only got the call up for duty at the last minute as a replacement for Baden Cooke.

Equally impressive amongst the younger riders were Mitchell Pearson (Prime Estate) who picked up a couple of top ten stage finishes, Michael Matthews (Jayco AIS) who added a second placing on the final stage to some fine break away efforts earlier in the week and his team mate, Rohan Dennis, who mixed it with the best of the older riders to take fourth in the individual time trial on Friday.

Results

1. Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Fly V Australia 1:26:57
2. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco AIS
3. David Tanner (Aus) Rock Racing
4. Aaron Kemps (Aus) Rock Racing
5. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) LeTua
6. Jonny Clarke (Aus) Jelly Belly
7. Rhys Pollock (Aus) Drapac Porsche
8. Darren Rolfe (Aus) Fly V Australia
9. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin-Slipstream
10. Bernard Van Ulden (USA) Jelly Belly
11. Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 0:00:04
12. Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan
13. Chris Sutton (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream
14. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jayco AIS
15. Dean Windsor (Aus) Drapac Porsche
16. Nick Aitken (Aus) Jayco Australia National
17. David Mccann (Irl) Prime Estate
18. Frank Pipp (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling
19. Dean Downing (GBr) Rapha Condor
20. Peter Latham (NZl) Bissell Pro Cycling
21. Philip Zajicek (Aus) Fly V Australia
22. Kiel Reijnen (USA) Jelly Belly
23. Jai Crawford (Aus) Savings & Loans
24. Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin-Slipstream 0:00:07
25. Matthew Wilson (Aus) Jayco Australia National 0:00:10
26. Lachlan Norris (Aus) Prime Estate
27. Richie Porte (Aus) Jayco Australia National 0:00:13
28. David Pell (Aus) Savings & Loans
29. Michael England (Aus) Budget Forklifts 0:00:15
30. Ricardo Van Der Velde (Ned) Garmin-Slipstream 0:00:18
31. William Clarke (Aus) Praties
32. Cameron Jennings (Aus) Budget Forklifts
33. Simon Richardson (GBr) Rapha Condor
34. Tim Roe (Aus) Savings & Loans 0:00:20
35. Matthew Rice (Aus) Jelly Belly 0:00:24
36. Mitchell Pearson (Aus) Prime Estate 0:00:51
37. Dylan Newell (Aus) Praties
38. Paul Mach (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 0:00:54
39. Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Aisan 0:01:05
40. Herz Serge (Ger) LeTua 0:01:11
41. Luke Fetch (Aus) Prime Estate 0:01:19
42. Mitchell Docker (Aus) Jayco Australia National 0:02:15
43. David Kemp (Aus) Fly V Australia 0:03:02
44. Trent Lowe (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream 0:03:05
45. Darren Lapthorne (Aus) Rapha Condor 0:03:11
46. Joel Pearson (Aus) Savings & Loans
47. Brett Tivers (NZl) Prime Estate 0:03:35
48. Nathan Earle (Aus) Praties
49. John Anderson (Aus) Budget Forklifts 0:03:39
50. Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Aisan 0:04:03
51. Tom Peterson (USA) Garmin-Slipstream 0:04:27
52. Kristian House (GBr) Rapha Condor 0:05:06
53. Cody O’reilly (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 0:06:06
54. Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan 0:07:06
55. Jason Rigg (Aus) Praties
56. Adam Semple (Aus) Jayco AIS
57. Thomas Nankervis (Aus) Jayco Australia National
58. Benjamin King (Aus) Fly V Australia
59. William Dickeson (Aus) Savings & Loans
60. Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Bissell Pro Cycling
DNF Joshua Chugg (Aus) Praties
DNF Kyle Marwood (Aus) Praties
DNF Stuart Shaw (Aus) Drapac Porsche
DNF Lars Pria (Rom) LeTua
DNF Jeremy Yates (NZl) LeTua
DNF Omer Kem (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling
DNF Will Routley (Can) Jelly Belly
DNF Andrew Roe (Aus) Savings & Loans
DNF Stephen Cunningham (Aus) Savings & Loans
DNF Peter Ladd (Aus) Budget Forklifts
DNF Malcolm Rudolph (Aus) Budget Forklifts
DNF Tom Southam (GBr) Rapha Condor
DNF Benjamin Day (Aus) Fly V Australia
DNF Alex Howes (USA) Garmin-Slipstream
DNF Kenichi Suzuki (Jpn) Aisan
DNF Mitsuhiro Matsumura (Jpn) Aisan
DNF John Cornish (Aus) Prime Estate
DNF Nic Sanderson (Aus) Rock Racing

Final GC

1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin-Slipstream 15:51:27
2. Chris Sutton (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream 0:00:11
3. Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Fly V Australia 0:00:20
4. Svein Tuft (Can) Garmin-Slipstream 0:00:48
5. Bernard Van Ulden (USA) Jelly Belly 0:01:43
6. Matthew Wilson (Aus) Jayco Australia National 0:02:05
7. Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 0:02:08
8. Aaron Kemps (Aus) Rock Racing 0:02:12
9. Philip Zajicek (Aus) Fly V Australia
10. David Tanner (Aus) Rock Racing 0:02:23
11. Nick Aitken (Aus) Jayco Australia National 0:02:31
12. David Pell (Aus) Savings & Loans 0:03:04
13. David Mccann (Irl) Prime Estate 0:05:28
14. Peter Latham (NZl) Bissell Pro Cycling 0:05:47
15. Simon Richardson (GBr) Rapha Condor 0:06:26
16. Kiel Reijnen (USA) Jelly Belly 0:06:47
17. Mitchell Pearson (Aus) Prime Estate 0:06:48
18. Jai Crawford (Aus) Savings & Loans 0:06:50
19. Paul Mach (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 0:06:55
20. Cameron Jennings (Aus) Budget Forklifts 0:06:56
21. Ricardo Van Der Velde (Ned) Garmin-Slipstream 0:07:56
22. Tom Peterson (USA) Garmin-Slipstream 0:10:01
23. Darren Lapthorne (Aus) Rapha Condor 0:10:17
24. Michael Matthews (Aus) Jayco AIS 0:13:22
25. Rhys Pollock (Aus) Drapac Porsche 0:13:54
26. Darren Rolfe (Aus) Fly V Australia 0:14:54
27. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jayco AIS 0:24:19
28. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) LeTua 0:26:38
29. Masahiro Shinagawa (Jpn) Aisan 0:30:00
30. Trent Lowe (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream 0:30:10
31. Kristian House (GBr) Rapha Condor 0:31:43
32. Takumi Beppu (Jpn) Aisan 0:32:45
33. Tim Roe (Aus) Savings & Loans 0:35:28
34. Dylan Newell (Aus) Praties 0:40:20
35. Jonny Clarke (Aus) Jelly Belly 0:43:19
36. Mitchell Docker (Aus) Jayco Australia National 0:43:37
37. Frank Pipp (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 0:45:11
38. Taiji Nishitani (Jpn) Aisan 0:47:23
39. Michael England (Aus) Budget Forklifts 0:49:33
40. Dean Downing (GBr) Rapha Condor 0:49:47
41. Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Bissell Pro Cycling 0:50:30
42. Lachlan Norris (Aus) Prime Estate 0:50:59
43. Nathan Earle (Aus) Praties 0:54:04
44. Dean Windsor (Aus) Drapac Porsche 0:55:26
45. Adam Semple (Aus) Jayco AIS 0:55:33
46. Kazuhiro Mori (Jpn) Aisan 0:56:41
47. Benjamin King (Aus) Fly V Australia 0:58:24
48. David Kemp (Aus) Fly V Australia 1:01:52
49. John Anderson (Aus) Budget Forklifts 1:02:52
50. Richie Porte (Aus) Jayco Australia National 1:03:47
51. Matthew Rice (Aus) Jelly Belly 1:07:49
52. Cody O’reilly (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 1:09:58
53. Joel Pearson (Aus) Savings & Loans 1:12:13
54. Brett Tivers (NZl) Prime Estate 1:16:23
55. Luke Fetch (Aus) Prime Estate 1:21:27
56. Herz Serge (Ger) LeTua 1:24:14
57. William Dickeson (Aus) Savings & Loans 1:27:21
58. Jason Rigg (Aus) Praties 1:28:51
59. William Clarke (Aus) Praties 1:30:46
60. Thomas Nankervis (Aus) Jayco Australia National 1:42:50