Stage Three of the 2009 Jayco Herald Sun Tour was the longest one, at 164 km. It also included a Cat 2 and a Cat 1 climb: challenging to the pack that had already been climbing for hundreds of miles during the past three days on Australia’s cool and breezy coast.
“The boys did well today over the Cat one climb,” said Team director Danny van Haute. “Matty, Johnny and the rest of the boys took care of Bernard.”
Van Haute explained that they kept Jelly Belly rider Bernard van Ulden at the front of the group and out of the wind so he could save his energy for the final climb and the final meters; all in an effort to keep him rising the ranks of the GC.
On the second climb big attacks kept opening up the front of the peloton. Once again the Jelly Belly boys took care of their teammate. Johnny and Kiel protected Bernard and put him in the front group, where he was able to claim a 13th place finish which put him in 10th in the GC after the third stage.
In the fourth stage the team held on. With the team director at the helm, the boys have steered the team to a 5th place in the overall team standings. Jelly Belly rider and Australian Matty Rice rode into 10th place in this stage, followed closely by Bernard in 16th.
The fifth stage consists of the 10km ITT. Van Haute believes van Ulden has a good chance tomorrow to move up at least a few places in the CG. Van Ulden is 10th overall heading into the ITT.
-Molly Saunders
PR Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team
