Stage win for Hungary: Márton Blazsó victorious at Skybury Coffee Plantation (127km / 1300m)
The longest stage of the 2014 Crocodile Trophy took it’s riders from the historic mining town of Irvinebank to the picturesque Skybury Coffee Plantation near Mareeba. The reigning Hungarian National Marathon Champion is in his element in the hot Outback temperatures and wins today’s stage ahead of Cory Wallace (CAN) and Greg Saw, who again defends his leader jersey. Imogen Smith, the Elite Woman, braves the tough conditions and finishes in mid-field.
Stage 7 Start
The MacLaughlin family welcomed the Crocodile Trophy racers and supporters today at their beautiful Skybury Coffee plantation near Mareeba and joined the camp for the winner’s celebration. As riders praised the delicious coffee, the super-sweet bananas and juicy papayas that are grown on their property, organiser Gerhard Schönbacher called Skybury a “paradise of a stage finish”. Skybury is Australia’s oldest coffee plantation and its largest exporter of home grown coffee.
Breaking away from a strong lead group and racing solo towards the finish at Skybury, past lush papaya and banana fields, the Hungarian National Marathon Champion Márton Blazsó crossed the line as the winner in 4h11:26.60. “This is the biggest success in my mountain bike racing career for me”, he beamed at the finish line at Skybury Coffee Plantation today and added that the hot temperatures were ideal racing conditions for him. He explained further that his hometown Szeged was located in the Great Southern Plain of Hungary and that due to the high number of sunshine hours annually, Szeged was often called “City of Sunshine”. The 34-year old added that he had trained over summer in and around his hometown and the heat had prepared him for racing conditions like today in Tropical North Queensland.
Martin Blazso
Greg Saw has iron grip on overall lead
The stage win today pushes Blazsó up into fifth overall position – he lies just under an hour behind the overall leader Greg Saw. With a gap of 1:39 Cory Wallace and Greg Saw came in as second and third today. Wallace is chasing the overall leader jersey hard, but Greg Saw is putting up a fight, still holding on to it by 8:55 minutes.
“I’m not giving up yet”, said Cory Wallace today. “There are two more days to go – two more days to race hard”, he added. Greg Saw was cautiously optimistic, but still wary of the many mechanicals and tough conditions for bodies and bikes on the race track. “I’m just grateful that today everything went to plan. That gives me a lot of confidence and energy”, he said.
Great result by the Czech rider Jiri Krivanek, who came in fifth today behind Milton Ramos (ESP), who moved into third position overall, trading places with Ramses Bekkenk (NED) who had mechanical problems today and finished with a gap of over 24 minutes today as eleventh.
Elite Woman Imogen Smith finished well today and currently sits in 53rd position overall in the almost 90-strong racing field. “There are 20 really good elite guys and another 20 strong amateurs in front in the generall classification. In the midfield I have a few in mind that I still want to beat overall and that’s a great motivation to keep for another two days”, she explained her racing strategy for the remaining two days.
Imogene Smith
Tomorrow’s stage will see the Crocodile Trophy travel onwards to the Wetherby Station, which is a cattle station established around 1878 and promises an authentic Outback experience.
Top Results Stage 7:
Elite Men
1. Márton Blazsó (#7) / Szeged, HUN / HUN19800526 / Kross Hungary / 4:11:26.60
2. Cory Wallace (#2) / Jasper, CAN / CAN1984071 / KONA Factory Team / 4:13:06.27 +00:01:39.67
3. Greg Saw (#21) / Kongsberg, NOR / NOR19770416 / iHus-Spiuk Norge / 4:13:06.48 +00:01:39.88
4. Milton Ramos (#71) / Sabijanigo, ESP / ESP19791212 / Intense-TowCar / 4:17:52.21 +00:06:25.61
5. Jiri Krivanek (#3) / Znojmo, CZE / CZE19851105 / Prestige Hotel / 4:18:32.08 +00:07:05.48
Elite Female
1. Imogen Smith (#30) / AUS19810203 / Subaru-MarathonMTB.com / 5:12:14.32
Remaining category winners:
Amateur 1 (<30 yrs): Jindra Knot (#54) / Sydney, AUS / 4:39:15.40
Amateur 2 (30+): Silva Tiago (#68) / Loures, POR / 4:17:53.31
Amateur 3 (40+): Max Lelli (#11) / Milan, ITA / 4:17:18.04
Amateur 4 (50+): Davide Cassani (#12) / Milan, ITA / 4:49:06.24
Amateur Female: Sandra Starkey (#119) / Melbourne, AUS / 5:38:42.09
