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Cantwell takes final stage, Wiggins wins overall title at Sun Tour
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The mystery surrounding Garmin-Slipstream’s tactics for the final stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, a 62km circuit in Melbourne, was solved Saturday evening as the team committed to defending the lead of yellow jersey Bradley Wiggins, rather than triple-stage winner Chris Sutton, who sat second overall by just five seconds.
Fly V Australia’s Jonathan Cantwell won the stage in front of large crowds ahead of Michael Matthews (Jayco AIS), bookending the tour following his win in the opening preface criterium.
Cantwell’s win solidified his third-place overall finish. Wiggins also crossed the line with his arms aloft, taking his first-ever pro stage-race win.
“Words can’t express how happy I am to take this stage win,” Cantwell said. “I just want to express my appreciation for my teammates, who dragged me through the week, and today’s stage, as well as my director, Henk Vogels, my team manager, Chris White, and the sponsor of our team, Virgin’s Richard Branson.”
With intermediate time bonus available twice as well as at the finish, both Wiggins and Sutton were potential overall winners of the 58th annual Sun Tour.
Team director Matt White said the team had decided that Wiggins, who began the day five seconds ahead of Sutton, would try to win both the first and second intermediate sprints; three seconds at each would have landed Wiggins 11 seconds ahead of Sutton, and with a maximum of 10 seconds in time bonuses in the final sprint, Wiggins would have had a lock on the overall even if Sutton won the sprint.
Garmin controlled the race from beginning to win, however the team plan changed when Wiggins finished second in the first intermediate sprint behind Cantwell, earning only two seconds instead of three.
Because of that, Garmin did not contest the second intermediate sprint or the final sprint, won by Cantwell.
Wiggins finished the race with an 11-second lead over his teammate when Sutton rolled across four seconds in arrears, and a full 20 over Cantwell.
The fact that the Sun Tour was Wiggins’ first career GC win no doubt played a role in the team decision on which rider should take the overall win.
“Chris did the gentlemanly thing and let me take the overall,” Wiggins said. “It was never going to be any easy decision, but it wasn’t hard, either.”
Wiggins, 29, who has six world titles and three Olympic gold medals on the track to his name, took the race lead by winning Friday's 10km time-trial.
Both Sutton and Wiggins were willing to cede the overall to the other rider, White said. Though he wouldn’t go into details, he said the team meeting was a bit tense but also straightforward.
“In order for Chris to win the overall, we would have had Bradley leading out Chris to win the stage but lose the overall,” White said. “That’s not how it works. Bradley rode all week for Chris, led him to three stage wins, and proved he was the strongest man. You don’t roll your teammate, especially when he’s put in that much work for you.”
The back-story behind this race was as fascinating as the dilemma Garmin faced heading to the stage. Wiggins’ father Gary, a turbulent Australian racer who died last year under mysterious circumstances, rode the Sun Tour as one of his final races. Sutton’s father, also named Gary, won the Sun Tour in 1984, the year the Garmin sprinter was born, and his uncle Shane — Wiggins’ coach — won the race in 1983.
Both men wanted the win, but both riders, who rode together at Cofidis, Garmin, and are rumored to race together at Sky in 2010, were conflicted about how to approach the final stage.
“The way I was raised, you always respect your elders,” Sutton said. “Bradley has always been there for me, he’s led me out to three stage wins, and he was the strongest man in this race. It wasn’t a hard decision. I’ll be back to win this race next year, and for years to come.”
In the end, Garmin leaves with four stage wins, first and second overall, the KOM jersey (Tom Peterson) and the team classification.
Cantwell’s win was a solid consolation prize for Fly V Australia, which took his two stage wins, his third overall and his points jersey, but were left wondering what could have been after the team’s star rider, recent Tour of Tasmania overall winner Bernie Sulzbeger, was taken out by a TV motorbike on the first stage.
“It’s huge for us to win in Melbourne, on live TV, on a prestigious stage like this,” team director Henk Vogels said. “There’s no question losing Bernie, our strongest, most on-form rider, hurt us, and changed the dynamic of the race. But we put it to Garmin, I think more so than the results show. But hats off to them, they rode an exceptional race, and Wiggins proved that he really is a world-class rider.”
Asked on the podium the predictable questions about the 2010 Tour de France, Wiggins was coy, saying he hadn’t had time to think about it, and hadn’t even yet digested his first overall GC win.
“My plan for the 2010 Tour is to come out strong and beat Lance Armstrong. Lance,” he said, “you don’t scare me.”
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