Nathan Haas – 2011 Tour of Gippsland (image courtesy jxpphotography) Former winners, New Zealander Gordon McCauley and Ballarat?s Patrick Shaw head a monstrous 170-rider field to contest the eighth Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland, to be held from August 1-5. The evergreen McCauley, a time trial bronze medallist at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, will spearhead a New Zealand invasion for the 490km tour, with a record 15 Kiwis in the nine-stage event. The chirpy McCauley, 40, is on the comeback trail after a two-year hiatus from international races. He won the inaugural Gippsland tour in 2005 and five years later captured the Caterpillar Underground Mining Tour of Tasmania before he represented New Zealand at his fourth Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. McCauley will captain the four-man Lakes Oil team in the tour, which will start next Wednesday at 11am with a 40km closed circuit street race (criterium) in San Remo. Shaw will captain the powerful Genesys Wealth Advisers team which blitzed all four SCODY Cup races last year. Shaw, the Gippsland tour and SCODY Cup winner in 2010, won the Tour of the Murray River last year. His teammate Nathan Haas took the Tours of Gippsland, Geelong and Tasmania. SCODY Cup director John Craven described the field for the Tour of Gippsland as the biggest and the best. “There are 30 riders in the field who could win without surprising,” he said. The other stars include: Darren Lapthorne, VIC (Drapac): Australian open road champion, Buninyong, 2007. Anthony Giacoppo, WA (Genesys): Australian criterium champion, Ballarat, 2012; Shipwreck Coast Classic winner, 2011. Joel Pearson, NSW (Genesys): Dual Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic winner, 2009 and 2011; Tour of the Murray River champion, 2010. Darren Rolfe, QLD (RBS Morgans-ATS): Winner of Tour of Geelong, 2009. Mark O?Brien, VIC (Budget Forklifts): Winner of opening three Subaru National Road Series races, 2012. William Walker, VIC (Drapac): Winner SCODY Cup, Tour of the Murray River and Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic in 2004 as an 18-year-old. Rhys Pollock, NSW (Drapac): Winner of 2010 Melbourne to Warrnambool Classic. Stuart Shaw, ACT (Drapac): Bronze medallist Australian criterium championship, Ballarat, 2011, winner Victorian 200km championship, 2006. Edward Bissaker, SA (Jayco Honey Shotz): Victorian open road champion, 2011. Malcolm Rudolph, QLD (Drapac): Australian representative at world under 23 road championship, 2010 For the first time, the Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland will feature a stage on the world-renowned Phillip Island Grand Prix motorcycle racing circuit on the opening day. It will then navigate its way through places such as Moe, Morwell, Yinnar, Sale, Maffra, Dargo, Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance and Metung. The tour wraps up Sunday, August 5, with the traditional grand finale criterium at Paynesville on the stunning Gippsland Lakes. The event is supported by Tourism Victoria and four municipal councils ? Bass Coast, Latrobe City, Wellington and East Gippsland. The 2012 SCODY Cup also consists of the inaugural Budget Forklifts Tour of the Great South Coast (August 15-19), the Tour of the Murray River (September 2-9) and the Caterpillar Underground Mining Tour of Tasmania (October 2-7). The tours are part of Cycling Australia?s Subaru National Road Series.
