By Hamish Heard
THOUSANDS of spectators lined Williamstown’s streets last week to cheer on some of the world’s best cyclists as they competed in the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic.
Race director John Trevorrow said an enthusiastic Williamstown crowd had combined with gutsy cycling performances to produce the best opening day of the criterium race’s 20-year history.
“The quality of the racing and the enthusiasm and size of the crowd just made it the best first day since it began,” Mr Trevorrow said.
He estimated about 5000 spectators lined the course, starting in Nelson Place and weaving through Cecil, Cole and Thompson streets before finishing near the starting line.
However, Mr Trevorrow said race organisers would be having words with Hobsons Bay City Council about improving a hazardous roundabout in Nelson Place before next year’s series.
“The riders have to go around it clockwise but we want them to be able to go around it on the other side,” Mr Trevorrow said.
“The cobblestones make it tough to do that so we need some temporary work done before next year’s race.”
But the roundabout was no deterrent to the two day-one race winners as they set a blistering pace befitting the event’s billing as the world’s fastest criterium series.
Baden Cooke, the winner in 2004, kicked off his 2008 season with an emphatic victory in the men’s while Alexis Rhodes, a dual stage winner in last year’s event, stamped her authority over her female rivals with an equally impressive stage-one win.
The pair went into the second stage at Portarlington on the Bellarine Peninsula wearing their yellow jerseys.
