Race Overview

De Bortoli Tour

3 stages in 2 days, July 17^th - July 18^th

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Latest News - Monday 17:00hrs, 19 July 2004

Due to a power cut in the area, the WomensCycling.net office has been in darkness for most of the day - and its been cold too - the heatign was affected by the outage. The weekend was good training for the internal temperatures today!

Whilst it was intended that the remaining photos from the Tour would be up this evening, that is not now going to happen. You should be able to view them Tuesday, electricity and phone permitting.

Apologies for the inconvenience.

WomensCycling.net coverage of the De Bortoli Tour - photos update

We have just spent a weekend in the cold, windy and sometimes rainy Yarra Valley in Victoria's Wine Country. DeBortoli Wines was the generous title sponsor of this event for the second year. 

The first thing to say is that you would not imagine that this is only the second time the organisers have run an event on this scale - it was the work of experienced hands! From the marshals to the race convoys, to the scale of sponsorship, this is a superbly 'smooth' event.

So, to Damien and the team at Blackburn CC - thanks for a freezing cold weekend in the fresh air! 

The women's race was won by Caitlin Fraser, with Jenny Macpherson in second after winning today's stage. Kathy Watt, was third today and third overall too.

There were four men's races - for different categories and due to the way in which the races were run, it was easy to spectate these too.

The timekeeper and results man, Alan Burns was working hard through Saturday night to make sure that the Stage 1 and 2 results were accurate and will be sending a full set of results (including Stage 3) to WomensCycling.net as soon as he can. "Check back soon"

The prize list was impressive. In the picturesque grounds of DeBortoli's Winery near Yarra Glen, the riders and spectators were able to watch as Leanne DeBortoli and John Nicholson (President of Blackburn CC) presented the placed riders, King of the Mountains and other special awards to the winners. A Nexus X-3 race frame was donated by Team Alex and also given away in a rider raffle at the presentation, whilst club sponsor, Siemens also donated mobile phones to category winners.

Over 600 photos were taken in a little over 24 hours. Some were of the grass verge, or the sky, or a passing car which got between camera and riders. Some were blurred and no good, but the vast majority will provide entertainment and a pictorial record of this weekend in July. 

The photos will be posted here in batches over the next few days - so keep checking back. And if, you want to order a print, there will be instructions on how to do so (with an order form) with the photos. So, whilst riders relax after a tough weekend and officials and volunteers unwind with a glass of the sponsor's 'pinot', behind the scenes activity her at WomensCycling.net will be frenetic in an attempt to get the photos 'up' as soon as possible.

Please check back soon for photos and full results

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