Change of guard on day three – overall leader jersey for Alan Gordon
Alan Gordon
Change of the guard on Day 3: third place today and the new overall race lead for Alan Gordon (SAF) with +3:38min. Second stage win for Bart Classens (NED) in 3h22:04 ahead of Spain’s Brandan Marquez Fernandez (+2:49min). Australia’s Michael England finishes in fourth (+6min) and drops to second overall. Detailed overall gaps to be confirmed as we rest at Wondecla on the Atherton Tablelands our home for the next two nights. The leading woman Angelika Tazreiter (AUT) spectacularly finishes as 10th outright on the 74km marathon in 03:59:07,4.
The third stage of the Crocodile Trophy 25-year Anniversary edition featured the Herberton Range National Park and its popular Atherton MTB Park.
With a strong race and a successful attack in the Herberton Range National Park the experienced mountain bike stage racer Alan Gordon from South Africa who says that long climbs suited him, takes over the overall stage lead with a gap of 1:56min to the Australian Michael England in Wondecla on day three. “I don’t know anyone here and so I sort of had an aim to finish in the top-three but I wasn’t sure if that was feasible. (…) The overall victory is definitely a goal”, he added and that he had been looking for a different kind of challenge. “It’s my first time in Australia and while plenty of my mates have spoken about doing the Croc, I decided to actually sign up. It seemed like a really cool race to do”, he explained.
The local community has played a big role in the event’s delivery and the support by the local MTB Clubs and businesses makes a real difference to the organisation of this international event. The Crocodile Trophy event this year also receives the very ‘active’ support by a group of five local E-Bike riders who accompany riders out on course as race marshals.
Angelika Tazreiter
Tomorrow’s Queen Stage, the 98km marathon with 3,200vm of climbing which will feature the infamous “Stairway to Heaven” ascent in Atherton MTB Park. Start and finish will be at Wondecla.
