Road: Weightman leads BSCC clean sweep at Meredith

Updated: not only did the Geelong CC put on a smoothly-run event on Sunday, but their web site has a very complete report of the event, including photos.  Click here to see it.  You'll read all about Lewis Piccoli's win in C grade too! 

Andrew Weightman led Damien Keirl and Scott Keating to a clean sweep of the A-grade podium at the first round of the Tri Series road races involving Ballarat-Sebastopol, Geelong and Colac cycling clubs at Meredith.  In cold, overcast conditions with light wind, Weightman pulled off the hard man's ride that is his trademark.  He attacked a mere 2 km from the start, and joined forces with Geelong's Marcus Wettenhall, brother of BSCC's Will (who is currently racing in Belgium!).  Together the two rode away from the main field.  Relentless pressure from Weightman on the rolling circuit eventually cracked his break-mate, so Weightman rode the last of three laps solo.  Behind him, his club-mates Phil Orr, John Polkinghorne, Doug Garley and Melbourne to Ballarat star Tony Mirabella shut down attempts to chase Weightman, and looked after gun sprinters Keirl and Keating.  Fueled by his disappointment after last week's close call in the Melbourne to Ballarat, Keirl made no mistakes on the slightly uphill finish and led the main field home by a Cavendish-like margin (check out the photo), with a resurgent Keating just behind him to complete BSCC's clean sweep of the podium. 

This is a very encouraging set of results for BSCC.  The super-talented Keirl's motivation is the highest it has been for many years, and surely a big win is coming his way soon.  Weightman, too, is showing all the right signs.  Another ride like today's would give him a fighting chance of a win at the Australian Masters Road Championships at Miners Rest in September.

In the B grade race, BSCC was represented by the in-form Charles Martin, Thayne Turley, Charlie Stebbing, Aaron Blomeley and Jonathan Lacey.  Martin was under orders from coach Keirl to give himself a hard ride, and the entire field agreed that he succeeded.  Martin attacked a number of times, was in a dangerous break with another of the strongest riders in the race for much of the last lap, and then skipped off the front again with strong man Turley and one other on the tough run back to the finish.  Despite Turley and Martin holding nothing back, their group was collared inside the last kilometer, and Martin still found enough to finish a close 4th in the sprint, won by Geelong's Simon Masters.  The other BSCC riders all finished in the front group, not far behind Martin.  Aaron Blomeley's ride was particularly impressive: he finished ahead of a number of far more experienced and more highly-credentialed riders in a finish that, on paper, does not suit his talents as a climber. 

Check out the Geelong CC site for C grade results and report.  Congratulations Lewis!

BSCC C-grade riders, if you're willing to give us a Ballarat perspective on the C-grade race, please send it to the 119,101,98,32,108,97,99,107,101,121. 

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The Tri Series, three road races involving Ballarat-Sebastopol, Geelong and Colac cycling clubs, starts this coming Saturday, July 24, with races at Meredith, thanks to the Geelong CC.  Please see the on-line calendar or the downloadable road race fixture, at the top of the calendar page, for details.  See you there! 

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