Team SASI will have an Olympic flavour to it during the Jayco Tour of the Murray River, with the young riders to be guided by a gold medallist and previous winner of the event.
Sydney Olympic Games madison champion Brett Aitken is team manager of the SASI outfit, which includes Australian London Olympic silver medallist Glenn O?Shea. As well as collecting gold, silver and bronze at the Sydney, Barcelona and Atlanta Games respectively, Aitken is on the Tour of the Murray River honour roll. He was champion in 1998 after narrowly finishing runner-up in 1997. “It was the Tour of Sunraysia back then,” he said. “It?s always been a really nice race and it?s been a great race for me ? I?ve got some good memories from it. “Now it?s grown even bigger. “It?s got a lot more stages and the quality of the field is phenomenal.” The addition of O?Shea, a London Olympic Games team pursuit silver medallist, has strengthened the field for the tour, which starts Sunday noon with a Yarrawonga waterfront criterium. The Adelaide-based Aitken believed Team SASI boasted a promising squad. “We?re a new team that?s come together this year and we?re just starting to get some sponsors on board,” he said. “Next week?s team is probably the best team we?ve assembled all year. “We?ve obviously got Glenn who is fresh from the Olympics, so that?s quite exciting. “He should still be in great form. “(He) will be a force to be reckoned with, then we?ve got a few other riders that are reasonably good on their day.” He stressed that the team was still developing. “We?re not expecting to go out and blitz everything overall,” he said. “They?re all still learning.” Aitken has taken on a mentoring role during the Cycling Australia Subaru National Road Series. He will offer the SASI riders valuable insights during the eight-day Jayco Tour of the Murray River. “I?m really just there to try and give my experience and tactics, especially in criteriums because I guess that?s one of my fortes,” he said. “I?ll try and help them with where to position themselves.” The triple Olympian is proof that the Tour of the Murray River can open doors. The SCODY Cup event has produced a stellar list of champions which also includes last week?s Tour of Spain stage winner Simon Clarke, dual Melbourne to Warrnambool victor Joel Pearson and former Australian road champion Peter McDonald. This year?s Jayco Tour of the Murray River will welcome 16 teams, with riders to contest 10 criteriums and four road stages during the wide-reaching 775.5km event. Other London Olympians in the field are Australian track representative Alex Edmondson (Jayco-Honey Shotz) and Malaysian Amir Rusli (Drapac Professional Cycling). The tour, backed by Tourism Victoria, will take in seven municipalities ? Moira, Campaspe, Murray, Gannawarra, Swan Hill, Balranald and Wakool. Swan Hill will create history by hosting the finale for the first time. The final stage is a 60km criterium on Sunday, September 9, starting at 12noon in McCallum Street. Following the Murray tour, the $130,000 SCODY Cup will culminate with the Caterpillar Underground Mining Tour of Tasmania (October 2-7). Leading the series is Genesys Wealth Advisers? Anthony Giacoppo (160 points), followed by Team Budget Forklifts? Luke Davison (108 points). All of the SCODY Cup tours feature in Cycling Australia?s Subaru National Road Series.
