Mersey Valley Tour

Australia's National Road Series 1 : Luke Durbridge wins Mersey Valley Tour

Luke Durbridge held on to win the Mersey Valley Tour. William Clarke took final stage glory

Luke Durbridge (Jayco Skins) held onto his overnight lead to win the 2010 Mersey Valley Tour in Sheffield today. In a race of attrition on the final stage it was Will Clarke (Genesys Wealth Advisers Cycling Team) showing he was the strongest rider on the day taking the stage win ahead of Ben Dyball (Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans) and team mate Nathan Earle.

The 116km stage featured four tough laps. At the end of every lap the head of the peloton reduced and heading into the final circuit there were approximately 15 riders in contention for the stage victory. It was from there that the fireworks started to go off.

With the five strongest riders of the tour; Luke Durbridge, Nathan Earle, Will Clarke, Cameron Peterson and Ben Dyball at the head of the race the attacks started to happen. Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans were the instigators launching attacks to wear down Durbridge. However, Luke held his nerve and hung on as the final climb approached.

On the climb, Dyball launched an attack and got an immediate lead on the group. Not long after Clarke attacked to chase him down. 4km to the finish, Clarke had him in his sights and caught Dyball in the final kilometre. Will used his sprinting strength to out-sprint his rival to claim a fantastic victory after coming second in the time trial on stage one. Nathan Earle crossed the line in third place with Peterson and Durbridge not far behind with the latter holding on to win the tour by several seconds.

This was Clarke's first victory in 2010 after a handful of podium finishes this year. He was happy to finally break through for a win but would have liked to have finished on the podium.

"To win on a tough course like that is great. I hung in there following the attacks and the last part of the climb I felt good and went for it. I caught Dyball and out-sprinted him for the victory," Clarke said.

"I wanted to take some time back today to try and get on the podium but it didn't happen. To come away with two podium finishes was great. The team were a bit upset with the stage yesterday but were pleased today," he added.

Genesys Wealth Advisers Team Manager Andrew Christie-Johnston was delighted Clarke got the win considering the team had just come back from a tough tour of Taiwan.

"The Tour was very tough and unfortunately the boys who just came back from Taiwan struggled all tour. They were certainly not at their best which was disappointing but that's just what can happen when you come back from an overseas stint."

"They were better on the last stage but still were lacking that real bunch they had over in Taiwan. Happy to get the stage win today, first win for Genesys after seven other podiums so far this year. Hopefully a sign of things to come," Christie-Johnston said.

For Durbridge, this win was brilliant and kick started the 18 year old's 2010 road campaign.

"It was a really hard day but I'm super happy to hold on. The Plan B team rode really well for the whole day so a big thank-you to them. I had good legs today and lost a bit of time but did enough to hold on," Durbridge said.

Despite not claiming the overall victory, Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans showed tremendous strength and sent a message out that they plan to dominate races in 2010.

In the Women's race, Alexandra Carle (ACT) claimed the overall victory. Joanne Hogan (Victoria) was runner up and Rowena Fry (Tasmania) rounded out the podium.

The next race in the National Road Series is the Canberra Tour beginning on the 30th of April and finishing on the 2nd of May.

Stage 3 Results
1. William Clarke (Genesys Wealth Advisers Cycling Team)
2. Ben Dyball (Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans)
3. Nathan Earle (Genesys Wealth Advisers Cycling Team)

Final Overall Classification
1. Luke Durbridge (Jayco Skins)
2. Ben Dyball (Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans)
3. Cameron Peterson (Virgin Blue-RBS Morgans)
4. William Clarke (Genesys Wealth Advisers Cycling Team)
5. Nathan Earle (Genesys Wealth Advisers Cycling Team

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