From: mrd@dar.csiro.au (DIX Martin)
Subject: Australian tour results
Organization: CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1992 01:13:48 GMT


There are two major tours in Australia at the moment, both with a large 
number of international riders.

The Commonwealth Bank-Pacific Power tour is an amateur race in New South 
Wales. It runs from Saturday Oct 17 to Sunday Oct 24. More details on this
after it starts.

The VicHealth Herald-Sun Tour is a professional race in Tasmania and 
Victoria from the 16th to the 24th. It's the biggest pro race in Australia
and has been running for about 25 years (until recently just called the Sun
Tour). Unfortunately timing and international commitments mean that
Australia's best riders can rarely compete. For example, I don't think that
Phil Anderson has ever ridden the race. The main sponsors are the Herald-Sun
newspaper and the Victorian Health Promotions Fund. The race has 50 riders 
in 10 teams, each of which has a local sponsor.

Pre-race favorites included Steve Swart (NZ), Zenon Jaskula (Poland),
Christophe Lavainne (France) and Denis Roux (France). The race has $100,000
of prizemoney and 270 FICP points. 

Teams (Australian unless noted).

Abom-Mt Buller (Ski resort)
F. Baldato (It.), P. Eros (It.), Z. Jaskula (Pol.), P Marcucci,
D. Solari (It.)

Australian Bananas
M. Burns, T. Jamieson, C. Lavainne (Fr.), R. Le Clerc (Fr.), P. Rugari.

Bendigo Building Society
B. Bowen (US), M. Carter (US), B. Namvedt (Norway), P. Willerton (US),
C. Zamana (Pol.)

Goanna
B. Bodsworth, P. MacCauley, J. Mueller (Ger.), J. Siemons (Ger.), R. Smith

Knox Towerpoint (Shopping Centre)
D. Casey, W. Morgon (NZ), P. Parsons, D. Roberts, M. Wust (Ger.)

Medibank Private (Health Insurance)
D. McFarlane, G. Parsonage, D. Roux (Fr.), W. van Moorsel, D. Whiteford.

Quit (Stop smoking - VicHealth)
G. Clarke, T. Hughes, R. McCraig, S. Steward, S. Swart (NZ).

Mazda
J. Flood, M. Kulas (Poland), R. McKorkell, C. White, A. Wolhuter (S. Africa) 

Tibaldi Smallgoods
J. Bogaert (Belg.), M. Crowe, E. Salas, M. Southard (US), M. Van Unen

SEC (State Electricity Commission)
P. Besanko, R. Crowe, D. Dekker (Holland), H. McMurdo, C. Neate

Stage 1: Fri 16th. Cradle Mountain to Stanley. NW Tasmania, 190km
This was a hard hilly stage. Kulas provoked a break of 17 riders with 70km 
to go. Several of the favorites missed the break. The stage was won by the
Italian sprinter Baldato. According to the newspaper he's one of the best 5
road sprinters in the world and is unbeatable on an uphill finish. I've
never heard of him and I doubt there's much room in the top five with
Abdujaparov, Cippolini, Jalabert, Museeuw, Ludwig, Van Poppel, Kelly etc.
I suspect the newspaper is hyping the quality of the field as much
as possible. Most of the European riders are really just battlers from minor 
teams hoping for a few dollars and a few points (although Jean-Francois
Bernard rode two years ago as part of his Toshiba-Banesto transition and
mid-career crisis).

Stage Results
1   F. Baldato (It.)
2   C. Zamana (Pol.)
3   M. Kulas  (Pol.)

Overall 
1   Kulas   5:06:29 (leads because of intermediate sprint bonuses)
2   Baldato       3s
3   Le Clerc      5s
4   Zamana       10s
5   Wust         18s
6   Salas        33s
7   Parsonage    37s
8   Jamieson     39s
9   Dekker       40s
10  Bogaert      41s
11  Eros         st
12  Hughes       st
13  Bowen        st
14  Steward     42s
15  Crowe        st
16  White        st
17  Morgan     2:07
18  Roux       5:13
19  Jaskula    5:17
20  McMurdo    st

Today's stage 147km from Burnie to Launceston.

Martin Dix
mrd@dar.csiro.au