Spoke 'n Word Edition #4

Burnie To Latrobe & Criterium, Saturday, March 2

What A Finish

We are in for a great finish to the Skilled Tour of Tasmania with only 32 seconds separating the top six riders. Rio Coffee rider Luke Roberts snatched the tour lead after the Burnie to Latrobe stage and maintained it after the Latrobe Criterium.

With just the 11 km individual time trial remaining, Roberts holds a slender 3 second lead over Simon Gerrans (Jayco U23), followed by early tour leader Russell Van Hout (Rio Coffee) at 13 seconds, Tasmanian Sean Sullivan (TIS) at 21 secs; David Pell (Jayco U23), 25 secs and Jeremy Yates (New Zealand), 32 secs. There are another four riders at 44 seconds behind. Its unlikely many riders outside the top 12 have a realistic chance of winning.

The Law V Race Director

Race Director John Trevorrow nearly found himself spending a night in jail after an incident at the Country Club Casino.

A housemaid was busy cleaning John's room when she noticed something amiss. She quickly notified security who confronted Mr Trevorrow and queried as to why he would leave a revolver lying in his room. Thankfully it was all innocent enough, as the revolver was simply John's starting pistol, he has been using on the tour.

Numbers & Name Tags

All team managers are notified that all riders' saddlecloth numbers and tour personnel name tags must be returned to Karin Jones on Sunday. Riders' licences will not be returned unless the saddlecloths come back and it is extremely important the name tags are also returned. Contact Karin on 0408-375-238

Shades Of The Tour De France

We won't mention any names, but memories of Belgium rider Tommy Steels and the famous bottle-throwing incident from the Tour de France were repeated in the Latrobe Criterium. One international rider hurled his water bottle at another international rider. Read the last page of the results to find more details.

Kom & Sprint Ace

Internationals, Jeremy Yates (New Zealand) and Mike Tillman (America) have won the respective KOM and Sprint championships on offer this week. Yates entered Stage 4 with a commanding 9-point lead and although it was reduced to 6-points, he won handsomely from Tasmanian Sid Taberlay.

Tilman had to work hard, by picking up points in the criterium after Nathan Clarke had wrestled the green jersey off him from Burnie to Latrobe. The Sprint title came down to the very last intermediate sprint of the tour, a fitting finale.

Support The Tassie Juniors

On this the last day of the tour, there is still a chance you can show some support to Tasmania's junior cyclists, who are heading to this month's Australian Track Championships in Alice Springs. Media Director Rod Morris still has some fundraising chocolate left. So if you're sitting on the side of the road watching the time trial and feel like a snack - give Rod a call on 0401-760-912 and have some chocolate delivered to you.

Latrobe Wedding

Race Director John Trevorrow wishes to thank everyone concerned with the tour for not providing too many hassles at the criterium for the wedding party at nearby St Patrick's Church. As soon as the stage finished, we all moved to the church to wish Matthew and Melissa Chilcott happiness in their new life together.

Thank You

As the 2002 Skilled Tour of Tasmania draws to a close, its appropriate to thank everyone concerned with the race for helping to make it such a success.

It would be grossly unfair to individualise anyone, but on behalf of Race Director John Trevorrow, Chief Commissaire Russell Miller, Tasmanian Cycling Federation President Greg Nunn and race administrators, Paula Leishman and Karin Jones, along with the Tasmanian Government, Tasmanian Police and major sponsors Skilled Engineering - thank you to everyone. We hope to see you all back here next year.