Race Torquay 2020 [FULL RACE]

January 30, 2020

Race Torquay 2020 – Torquay – Torquay : 133 km

Race Torquay is a one-day cycling race held annually in Australia since 2020. It is rated as a 1.1 event on the UCI Oceania Tour.

Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won the men’s Race Torquay evening race in Victoria, Australia, on Thursday, as riders warmed up for the weekend’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.

The Irishman got an excellent lead out from teammate Michael Mørkøv to beat Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) and Alberto Dainese (Team Sunweb).

A strong attack by Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) and Dries Devenyns (Deceuninck-QuickStep) was caught with a lap to go and the sprinters’ team chased down a solo attack by Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) to ensure a high-speed bunch sprint.

“It was a hard race, but at one point I asked the guys to make it a bit harder for everyone else, and they did exactly that, and did the perfect job,” Bennett said after taking the win.

“It was tough, being the first effort after the Tour Down Under, and it was a very hard course,” he continued. “But it was a really good distance, as being only 130km made it aggressive.”

How it unfolded

The earlier women’s Race Torquay – won by FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope’s Brodie Chapman – had raced in temperatures in the high 30 degrees Centigrade, but things had cooled a little, to the low-to-mid 30s, by the time of the men’s race in the late afternoon.

The race’s early five-man breakaway – made up of Nick Schultz (Mitchelton-Scott), Neilson Powless (EF Pro Cycling), Sunweb’s Rob Power, Hermann Pernsteiner (Bahrain McLaren) and Clément Chevrier (AG2R La Mondiale) – might have been expected to stay away for longer than it did, but it was clear that the sprinters’ teams weren’t willing to take any risks, with the quintet being reeled just before the end of lap six of the 10-lap race.

On the tougher, more undulating first third of the 13.3km circuit on lap seven, Lotto Soudal’s Caleb Ewan dropped off the back as a result of the ever-quickening pace, perhaps preferring to keep his powder dry for Sunday’s race.

It was the cue for Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Dries Devenyns and Mitchelton-Scott’s Daryl Impey to try their luck, and the duo built up a small lead over the chasing pack over the next three laps.

The bunch, led by Israel Start-Up Nation for their sprinter André Greipel, had brought the gap down to around 20 seconds with two laps to go, but seemed to realise that they’d been a little too hasty, and would have two laps to try to control things, and so left the pair hanging a little longer.

Heading into the last lap, NTT – for Nizzolo – and Cofidis, riding for European road race champion Elia Viviani, helped Israel Start-Up Nation bring it all back together, and NTT’s Dylan Sutherland led the bunch across the line for the penultimate time.

Various riders attempted to escape on the last lap – including Lotto’s Adam Hansen – but were never given much rope. Pavel Sivakov (Team Ineos) was the next to attack, with around five kilometres left to race, and got a good gap, attempting to time-trial towards the finish.

It was all together again going into the final kilometre, however, with the sprinters’ teams winding up the speed to ensure that no more attacks could go clear, and a crash that brought down Team BridgeLane’s Jensen Plowright with 150 metres to go couldn’t affect the frontrunners.

Bennett took the victory from Nizzolo and Dainese with relative ease after a lead-out from Danish road race champion Mørkøv, which surely now elevates the Irish road race champion into the category of favourite for Sunday’s race.

Results :
1 Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck – Quick – Step 3:01:26
2 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Pro Cycling Team
3 Alberto Dainese (Ita) Team Sunweb
4 Kaden Groves (Aus) Mitchelton – Scott
5 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck – Quick – Step
6 Marc Sarreau (Fra) Groupama – FDJ
7 Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek – Segafredo
8 Andrea Vendrame (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
10 Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
11 Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) EF Pro Cycling
12 Marco Haller (Aut) Bahrain – McLaren
13 Francisco Jose Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) CCC Team
14 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora – Hansgrohe
15 Nicholas White (Aus) Team Bridgelane
16 Martin Laas (Est) Bora – Hansgrohe
17 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Groupama – FDJ
18 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek – Segafredo
19 Simone Consonni (Ita) Cofidis
20 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Pro Cycling Team
21 Rob Power (Aus) Team Sunweb
22 Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start – Up Nation 0:00:07
23 Joseph Rosskopf (USA) CCC Team 0:00:09
24 Lawrence Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
25 Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Bel) CCC Team
26 Benjamin Hill (Aus) Team Bridgelane
27 Samuel Jenner (Aus) Team Bridgelane 0:00:11
28 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain – McLaren
29 Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain – McLaren
30 Elliot Schultz (Aus) Australia
31 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
32 Godfrey Slattery (Aus) Australia
33 Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale
34 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Pro Cycling Team
35 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek – Segafredo
36 Geoffrey Bouchard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
37 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) Groupama – FDJ
38 Carter Turnbull (Aus) Australia
39 Jay Mc Carthy (Aus) Bora – Hansgrohe
40 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora – Hansgrohe
41 Lukasz Wisniowski (Pol) CCC Team
42 Neilson Powless (USA) EF Pro Cycling
43 Max Kanter (Ger) Team Sunweb
44 André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start – Up Nation
45 Kenneth Vanbilsen (Bel) Cofidis
46 Shane Archbold (NZl) Deceuninck – Quick – Step
47 Juan Pedro Lopez Perez (Spa) Trek – Segafredo 0:00:21
48 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Trek – Segafredo
49 Owain Doull (GBr) Team Ineos
50 Simon Geschke (Ger) CCC Team
51 Tom Scully (NZl) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:24
52 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora – Hansgrohe
53 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama – FDJ 0:00:26
54 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton – Scott
55 Simon Philip Yates (GBr) Mitchelton – Scott
56 Fabian Lienhard (Swi) Groupama – FDJ
57 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned) Team Ineos
58 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Cofidis 0:00:29
59 Dion Smith (NZl) Mitchelton – Scott
60 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain – McLaren 0:00:33
61 Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain – McLaren 0:00:35
62 Luke Rowe (GBr) Team Ineos 0:00:38
63 Rick Zabel (Ger) Israel Start – Up Nation 0:00:41
64 Miles Scotson (Aus) Groupama – FDJ 0:00:49
65 Jonas Rutsch (Ger) EF Pro Cycling 0:00:52
66 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb
67 Ian Stannard (GBr) Team Ineos
68 Alastair Christie-johnston (Aus) Team Bridgelane
69 Koen De Kort (Ned) Trek – Segafredo
70 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
71 Ayden Toovey (Aus) Team Bridgelane
72 Thomas Benton (Aus) Australia
73 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
74 Jens Keukeleire (Bel) EF Pro Cycling
75 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Deceuninck – Quick – Step
76 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Pro Cycling Team 0:00:54
77 Lachlan Morton (Aus) EF Pro Cycling
78 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck – Quick – Step
79 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck – Quick – Step 0:01:03
80 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora – Hansgrohe
81 Pavel Sivakov (Rus) Team Ineos 0:01:06
82 Tosh Van der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:09
83 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton – Scott 0:01:24
84 Mitchell Docker (Aus) EF Pro Cycling
85 Samuele Battistella (Ita) Pro Cycling Team 0:01:42
86 Ide Schelling (Ned) Bora – Hansgrohe
87 Asbjørn Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 0:02:23
88 Mihkel Räim (Est) Israel Start – Up Nation 0:02:35
89 Jonathan Dibben (GBr) Lotto Soudal
90 Christopher Lawless (GBr) Team Ineos 0:03:26
91 Adam James Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:03:38
92 Rasmus Tiller (Nor) Pro Cycling Team 0:04:56
93 Blake Quick (Aus) Australia 0:05:43
94 Alexander Cataford (Can) Israel Start – Up Nation 0:06:06
95 Nathan Haas (Aus) Cofidis 0:08:19
96 Josef Černý (Cze) CCC Team
97 Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton – Scott
98 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start – Up Nation 0:08:21
99 Dylan Sunderland (Aus) Pro Cycling Team 0:08:22
DNF Mattia Cattaneo (Ita) Deceuninck – Quick – Step
DNF Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal
DNF Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNF Matthew Holmes (GBr) Lotto Soudal
DNF Samuel Bewley (NZl) Mitchelton – Scott
DNF Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain – McLaren
DNF Axel Domont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Mickael Delage (Fra) Groupama – FDJ
DNF Alex Dowsett (GBr) Israel Start – Up Nation
DNF Mathias Le Turnier (Fra) Cofidis
DNF Marco Mathis (Ger) Cofidis
DNF Jensen Plowright (Aus) Team Bridgelane
DNF Steele Von Hoff (Aus) Australia
DNF Conor Leahy (Aus) Australia
DNF Tyler Lindorff (Aus) Team Bridgelane