Our U19, Elite and Masters cyclists tackled the hot weather and mountain climbs last weekend in the Tour of Bright.

The tour consisted of 3 stages: two mountain top finishes and an undulating time trial.  Some highlights of the weekend included:

• Munro Boydell rode really well in the new uphill finish to Stage 1, coming in 7th (Bright to Tawonga Gap 100km).
• Will Allen contested the Sprint Series, finishing 2nd overall.  Michael Hale helped lead him out in the Harrietville sprint and managed to stay with the lead bunch for half the Hotham ascent after this lead out effort.
• Brad Wills conquered Mt Hotham for the first time as did Monica Kelly and Will Allen.  Both Monica and Will are looking forward to being back on the boards at DISC next week for the Senior State Track Titles.
• James Cummings climbed well and finished in the mix each day.
• Clement Boydell stayed with the front group on Stage 3 until the final 1km of the Hotham climb.  He finished the stage in the top 15.  A stomach illness on day 1 (stages 1 and 2) put him out of GC contention so this performance in Stage 3 was good to see.
• Mark Cummings rode well against his peers, finishing in the top half in most stages and even rode back to Bright with his son James, after climbing Mt Hotham, to get a few ‘extra km’s’ in their legs.  The lunch and dinner they both consumed after the Mt Hotham stage was impressive to say the least.

Mechanical issues plagued a few athletes during the weekend:

• Hayden Eynaud’s gear cable snapped during Stage 1, resulting in him being stuck in the 11 cog for the Tawonga climb.  He climbed at only 40RPM  for over 30mins for this 6km climb.  (certainly good strength work for him!!)
• Monica Kelly got a flat during Stage 1 and had to chase for several km’s to get back on.  The effort took its toll up the final climb.
• Munro Boydell dropped his chain during the flatter middle section on the Hotham ascent, resulting in grease all over his handle bars and kit.  He was in the front group until this point and wasn’t able to rejoin them after this mishap, but finished strongly in the chase group.

Detailed results can be found on the CSV results website.

A collection of photos from the weekend show the hot conditions endured by the cyclists.