Before the team takes on the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, the Men’s program was back for some mid-week racing at the first edition of the Surf Coast Classic. Even with some topographical challenges along the way, it turned out to be a controlled day on the bike. The last riders of the five-men breakaway were caught within the final five kilometres and it came down to a bunch sprint in Torquay, where Emils Liepins sprinted into a solid ninth place for the team.
Speaking after the stage Liepins said: “The race started with a climb and some teams wanted to get into the breakaway and made it a hard start. It was five riders that made it into the breakaway and the race was quite controlled since most of the teams wanted a bunch sprint. The pace stayed quite high all day and it also became a fast finish. They guys did a really good job and we were in a good position, but in the last corner there was almost a crash ahead of Sean and me and we had to break. There we lost our spot and had a small gap to the very first riders. I came out of the last corner around 20th position, started my sprint with 250 metres to go, and ended up in ninth position. It was just a little bit of bad luck in the end, but the legs are there and the team is working really well together and I believe a really good result will come soon.”
