Rookie Euride team triumph in inaugural Adelaide Tour road cycling race

SOUTH Australia's rookie Euride Racing team stormed to a shock victory in the inaugural Adelaide Tour yesterday.

CYCLING - ADELAIDE TOUR

SOUTH Australia's rookie Euride Racing team upstaged Australia's best domestic cyclists to storm to a shock victory in the inaugural Adelaide Tour yesterday.

Euride and Central Districts teenager George Tansley claimed the yellow jersey in the National Road Series event as the SA youngsters defended the lead they built in Friday's opening-stage team time-trial.

Search2Retain's Neil Van der Ploeg won yesterday's 82km kermesse on the streets of Newton in a sprint to the line from Scott Law (GPM Data#3) and Jack Beckinsale (Huon-Genesys).

But rivals were unable to pull back the buffer built by the Euride tyros including Tansley, 19, who is also the defending SA kermesse champion.

"We are a new team and to come out and win only the third tour we've raced in, especially in our home town as well, is amazing,'' Tansley said.

"We did a lot of recon for this course because we knew this was our best opportunity to win a tour this year. We had a lot of pressure on our shoulders but everyone really lifted to the occasion.''

"I think the biggest thing was that we needed to believe in ourselves. When we are up against the big teams we can get a little bit intimidated but it all came together. This jersey sits on everyone's shoulders.''

In the women's race, Canberra rising star Rebecca Wiasak claimed the final stage while Tasmania's Amy Cure secured the overall victory.

Former triathlete and track runner Wiasak (Suzuki-Bontrager) made an audacious break early into the 60km kermesse and held on to win in a thrilling sprint to the line ahead of Sydney's Ashlee Ankudinoff (Target Trek) and Cure (Team Polygon Australia).

"I really really wanted to win, I haven't won a race that is not a time trial or a pursuit, so it was pretty special,'' Wiasak said.

"I was worried I wouldn't be able to stay away as I was really hurting, but I gritted my teeth and it's amazing to come away with the win, particularly in front of my family.''

Cure and her team chipped away at Wiasak's lead to ensure the yellow jersey stayed with them.

"It's fantastic to be able to ride as a team in an Australian tour and pull off the win,'' Cure said.

"Of course our main focus was to just make sure we held on to that jersey and the whole team contributed equally once again.

"Any race is a nervous race when you are trying to protect the leader's yellow jersey and when the break got up to 39 seconds, we knew that was enough to lose the yellow jersey.

"So we just worked together as a team to bring it back to a more comfortable time gap and it is fantastic to have your plan all pay off to walk away with the jersey.''

The next stop on the National Road Series calendar is the Santos North Western Tour in NSW from June 19 to 22.