Graeme Frislie wins stage 2 of Bay Crits and jumps into top spot overall

Graeme Frislie (CCACHE x Par Kup) moved up to the top step of the podium on stage 2 of the Citroën Bay Crits in Geelong, Australia, powering past Craig Wiggins (ARA Skip Capital) to claim not only stage victory but also the yellow jersey of the race leader.

Rounding out the podium was Wiggins' teammate Blake Agnoletto while Frislie’s teammate Kurt Eather snatched fourth ahead of stage 1 winner Brenton Jones (Bayside Citroën) in what was a chaotic finish where Jones squeezed through the inside beside Wiggins on the final corner. 

That fifth place put Jones four points behind Frislie in the overall points tally, with the stage 2 winner heading into the final stage with the yellow jersey and a tally of 22 points.

“That was pretty awesome. It was really good fun out there,” said Frislie after doing a final lap around the Eastern Gardens circuit to cool down in what was now a fresh evening breeze, with a cool change having swept through early in the race. “It was pretty hard with that wind every lap but the legs came good in the end. It was a bit hairy there in that finish with BJ (Jones) and Wiggins coming together but I managed to get a good run at the end and I’m pretty happy with that.”

Wiggins had come through that final corner on the inside and was quickly at the front, opening up the sprint, but he couldn’t hold off the accelerating Frislie.

“I figured I would try and go around the outside, stay out of the wind as much as possible,” said the 21-year-old. “I knew everyone was going to be diving to the inside so I figured if I got a good line around the outside it would probably be pretty clean, that I might lose a bit of length but I should be able to get through there fine.”

Frislie, who had come second on stage 2, had been contemplating giving stage 3 a miss, to concentrate on the rapidly approaching Australian Road National Championships, but with the yellow jersey at stake, he'll now be lining up for the final day of racing on a hot-dog circuit which takes in Geelong’s Ritchie Boulevard.

How it unfolded

The second of the two days of racing on the 1.9km Eastern Gardens circuit, running for 50 minutes plus three laps, was switched to run anti-clockwise, therefore introducing the climb and sharp bend on the final run into the line.

The pace was high from the beginning, and while the attacks kept coming no one was given much room to move through the first 20 minutes. It wasn’t until Connor Sens and James Whelan leapt out that a serious gap opened and was maintained for more than part of a lap. This time, though, after one lap the move had stretched rather than being swallowed back up. By their second lap, the break had more than 20 seconds. Even with road national champion Luke Plapp on the front and trying to pull back the gap for his Bayside Citroën teammates, they weren’t prepared to fold.

Then as they continued to hold ground, and even push out beyond 30 seconds, a group worked their way into the gap, initially four but falling to three – Ben Hill (Novotel Prestige Jayco), Jack Aiken (Novotel Prestige Jayco) and James Moriarty (CCACHE x Par Kup).

Though as the laps ticked down that group in the middle was reeled in first but Sens and Whelan stayed out the front right until just before the bell was rung for the final lap. Just as that catch occurred Simon Clarke and national criterium champion Cameron Ivory – both racing for the Novotel Prestige Jayco composite team – took advantage of the momentary lull. Then it was Clarke alone who held out for just a little longer.

However, with the pace picking up along the final run along the waterside the field was all back together. The set-up for the sprint and dash to be well-positioned for that all-important final corner began.

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