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The rain stayed away until after the podium presentations for Stage 3 of the Geelong Tour. The threat of 'weather' though, kept the conditions more tolerable than in previous years. It was cooler and the humidity helped...

As always on this stage, things stayed together in the first third of the distance. There were some crashes with casualties ranging from bikes to riders. Jessie Maclean was forced to retire after problems with her seat pin left her without a saddle. In addition, also prior to the climb, Annaliese Heard was also forced to retire after suffering a problem with her chainset and cranks. Marina Duvnjak was taken to hospital with a suspected dislocated shoulder in a crash on the run-in which involved 6 riders.

Another rider who suffered in a crash was Miho Oki (Menikini), whose leg was cut and whose front derailleur was stuck on the 53 ring. She managed to climb Mount Wallace on that big ring....

The breakaway which topped the climb and looked like it might succeed to the finish was swallowed up in the final 20km of the race. This meant that a large bunch were left to fight out the sprint. T-Mobile's train went into action, with Judith Arndt and Kate Bates leading out Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, whilst fellow sprinter, Oenone Wood was nominated 'sweeper' to keep Teutenberg's rear wheel clear of others wanting a wheel to follow to the line.

The German sprinter was easily able to take the stage, coasting over the line with a victory salute, whilst Wood was overjoyed with her team-mate's win and sat up, applauding the victory. Wood took second and Rochelle Gilmore (Menikini) took third.

The Raleigh Lifeforce Creation team were active from the gun, ensuring that they covered any attempts to break away for race leader, Nicole Cooke. The tactic meant that there were 2 Raleigh riders in the breakaway, although Emma Rickards was called back to the bunch as the rest of the team worked to keep the gap low and then bring back the leaders in the closing kilometres.

Cooke finished safely in the bunch to protect her lead.

Young Rider competition leader, Kate Nichols (Australia AIS) was active in the sprint and finished towards the front of the bunch, thus protecting her lead too.

The sprint competition lead transferred to Ina-Yoko Teutenberg after two intermediate sprints on the stage.

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Post Race Comments

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg : "We tried to get into the leader’s jersey but Raleigh did a pretty good job getting that break back and then there were a lot of attacks in the last ten ks (kilometres)," said Teutenberg. "There are lot of contenders on G.C. (overall) but nothing really went and then I found Kate (Bates) and Judith (Arndt) with 800 metres to go to the finish."

"Kate took me to 300 metres then Judith took over and I did the rest," she said of her team's lead out to the finish. "You know there are other people in there and we have to watch out a little bit because there’s only one day rest between the Tour and the World Cup (Saturday March 3)."

"We had a really challenging climb mid-stage and a breakaway went away as well so we had a lot of things to deal with," said Cooke. "My team was really strong today, every single rider was doing a fantastic job and we closed the breakaway down, then it was just a case of controlling the sprint and making sure none of my rivals got away and got some bonuses."

Nicole Cooke : "I think we’re in a good position to hold the leader’s jersey and it’s so much easier to defend than to gain it," said Cooke who if she wins the Geelong Tour will be the first non-Australian in the event's five year history. "I didn’t know, I’m just doing it for myself rather than against the Aussies."

"I’ve really enjoyed my time that I’ve been in Australia, it’s the second time I’ve been here and it’d be awesome to be the first international winner," she said. "There’s still one day to go so I won’t start getting too carried away yet. We have to wait and see."

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Results - Top 3

1 Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (T-Mobile)

2 Oenone Wood (T-Mobile)

3 Rochelle Gilmore (Menikini)

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General Classification Top 5

1 Nicole Cooke (Raleigh Lifeforce Creation)

2 Larrisa Kleinmann (GER) +0:07

3 Dotsie Bausch (Colavita) +0:08

4 Judith Arndt (T-Mobile) +0:17

5 Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (T-Mobile) +0:20

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Photos Click on any image to enlarge >>

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