This weekend we had Angus Calder down in Victoria for the VRS Tour of East Gippsland, a three stage race with a time trial and two rolling road stages.
Stage two, the first road stage, began with some serious attacks from just about everyone in the bunch, but nothing was gaining more than 5 seconds as Isowhey Sports - SwissWellness and Drapac Pat’s Veg patrolled the bunch, each with a solid lineup. With an hour of racing done, a pair of riders drifted away from the bunch, gaining around a 30 second advantage and including Angus and an AnchorPoint SouthCoast rider.
Before long it was Ethan Berends of Mobius Future Racing that bridged up the break and kept things ticking over. It was not to be, and the peloton brought them back around the punchy circuit in Metung. Another small group snuck away shortly after, only to be brought back with five hundred metres remaining before the bunch sprint with Angus safely in the front group.
Stage three was another rolling circuit of 90kms with an uphill drag to the finish and a few long exposed straights with some crosswinds. The race didn’t explode as much as expected in the crosswinds, but the short hills really took their toll over the course of the race.
Angus made a small break on the first of four laps with Drew Morey of Pat’s Veg, but the bigger teams were set on controlling the race to protect their GC riders. After numerous attempts to split the bunch on the rolling terrain and in the wind, a bunch sprint awaited, with Angus coming home in 16th place.
A solid weekend of racing against some of Australia’s best made the long drive worthwhile.