The last stage of the tour was by far the hardest. 130km starting and finishing once again at Stomlo Forest Park. The weather was perfect. A little cold before the sun came out but once that happened it was a great day. No wind to speak of. I was not feeling great for the first hour of racing. The previous day as described above seemed to be taking its toll. Running out of water with 30km to go and doing yesterdays stage on only two bottles was not wise. Many riders seemed to have forgotten what they had been told the day before regarding the road rules. The race was stopped for another friendly reminder after about 20km. With a fast downhill section just after that it was not a good idea to be on the wrong side of the road with the possibility of cars and / or other races coming the other way.

After about 40km of ups and downs the course had got rid of quite a few riders and the lead bunch was down to about 60 guys. Unlike the day before there was no interest in letting 30 guys just roll off the front. Several small groups tried and failed to get away at various points. Fellow Uni rider Peter Herzig was very aggressive and featured in several of these attempts. Luckily I started to feel better and better as the stage went on. It was a very similar course to the same stage in 2010 except for a 10km climb which had been removed from last years edition. With that climb missing it was always going to be a less selective course with a larger group coming to the finish. I’m very grateful for the help of my hosts for the weekend with Jason driving to the middle of nowhere to be in the feedzone for me. This was perfect and I took on board two bottles which I certainly needed to get through the last 50km or racing.

The ‘3 sisters’ was the hardest section of the course and included a very tough climb coming with roughly 40km still to race. Here the bunch got smaller again. Several riders went straight out the back as soon as the climb started. It was not super long but enough to hurt lots at the speed we were racing and at this stage of the race. I went just of the back of the lead group here and climbed it at my own pace. With two other guys at the top it didn’t take us long to get back to the front group on the descent. There was a bit of rest for 10km or so before the one remaining hard section, funnily enough, another climb with 20km to go. 50 riders made it over this climb together and this was the group which went to the finish. I was feeling better now than at the start which is a promising sign for the season ahead. With several riders from some of the big teams in this group it was inevitable that it would be a sprint finish and nothing would be let slip off the front. The last couple of kilometers was pretty hectic with guys all trying to move up and get good position while the police were constantly on the horn trying to keep people on the correct side of the road. Not being a sprinter I did not feel any desire to get involved in any of this. I was happy to role across the line 12 seconds after the stage winner. Tour over.

Given the efforts of the day before I was happy with this stage. Had I been more attentive on Stage 2 things could have been better but this is racing. Overall I finished up 35th on GC. As was the case last year it was a good experience and I’m looking forward to and hoping to get some starts at many similar races this year. I’d like to give a huge thanks to Jason, Toni and Tara who took me in for the weekend. Your hospitality was amazing and you were a great help with everything.

Thanks.

Aidan