Irish international Felix English is just beaten into 2nd place in Geelong by Zak Dempster (Photo - Michelton Bay Classic)
Brian Canty
Former Irish national criterium champion and Rapha Condor JLT rider, Felix English has gotten 2014 off to a great start with a brilliant second place in the Ritchie Boulevard Crit, the opening event of the Bay Classic series in Australia.
The 21-year-old sprint specialist was narrowly beaten by Pro Continental rider Zak Dempster who was guesting in the colours of the South Australia Sports Institute but is a fully contracted NetApp-Endura rider.
Dempster — who rode the Vuelta a Espana last year — just pipped English to the line today after both had been part of a strong seven-man break that dominated the race in front of huge crowds in the town of Geelong outside Melbourne.
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While English was a mere half a length from taking the win, he had the consolation of claiming the green jersey for the points classification in the series.
Points are awarded for the intermediate sprints held in each of the three crits and on the basis of his sprinting today English will certainly be in the running to win that classification.
The overall winner of the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic series will be the rider with the most points awarded at the finish of all three races.
From the gun today, all eyes were on emerging Australian youngster and 19-year-old defending champion Caleb Ewan who has attracted the attention of the world’s biggest teams. But he didn’t enjoy the best of days, missing the decisive split after a period of furious early attacking.
English had no such troubles however, and the Irish international has learned the knack of making the decisive splits, like he did throughout the Tour Series in the UK last year.
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Among those in the break were Dempster’s teammate Harry Carpenter and Orica-GreenEDGE duo Matt Goss and Luke Durbridge. But the former did too much to drive the break and Durbridge faltered in the sprint, leaving Dempster to outsprint English for the win, with local rider Brenton Jones (Procon) in third.
English’s Rapha Condor JLT team mate and fellow Irish international Jack Sadler raced in the supporting event, coming home as part of a group.
(See photos and results below advertisement)
Jan 2nd: Ritchie Boulevard Crit, Geelong
Stage 1: Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic
| 1 | Zakkari Dempster (SASI) | 0:58:01 | |
| 2 | Felix English (Rapha Condor JLT) | ||
| 3 | Brenton Jones (Procon Telematics') | ||
| 4 | Luke Parker (Jayco VIS) | ||
| 5 | Luke Durbridge (Orica GreenEDGE) | ||
| 6 | Matthew Goss (Orica GreenEDGE) | ||
| 7 | Harry Carpenter (SASI) | 0:00:08 | |
| 8 | Leigh Howard (Orica GreenEDGE) | 0:00:58 | |
| 9 | Graham Briggs (Rapha Condor JLT) | ||
| 10 | George Tansley (SASI) |
(There were 33 finishers of 54 starters)
English is tucked in in third place and away from a crash as the breakaway pulls clear (Photo - Michelton Bay Classic)
English (left) on the podium with winner Zak Dempster and 3rd placed Brenton Jones (Photo - Michelton Bay Classic)
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