Shepparton’s Trent Stevenson outsprinted his rivals to win the Merv Dean Memorial Tour of Bendigo.
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With the general classification title up for grabs going into Monday afternoon’s final stage, Stevenson produced a well-timed finish to win the 74km stage at Bagshot and clinch overall honours.
The stage victory and time bonus gave Stevenson an 11 second win over Shepparton clubmate Liam Edwards, with Castlemaine’s Nic Simpson a further 17 seconds behind in third place.
Edwards and Simpson and Brad Norton were in the stage five sprint finish with Stevenson, but couldn’t hold the tour leader off in the concluding stages.
Norton finished fourth overall, one minute and 47 seconds behind the winner.
Shepparton-based Norton was left to rue a slow start on day one.
He roared back into podium contention when he won Monday morning’s fourth stage – a criterium at the Huntly Livestock Exchange.
Norton, Castlemaine’s Dylan McKenna and Bendigo young gun Connor Sens broke away from the field in the 42-lap event.
Norton had the legs to win the sprint to the finish and the trio held a one minute, 16 second advantage over the peleton.
Bendigo’s Brendan Schultz went into the day in second place, just five seconds behind Stevenson.
He remained five seconds behind after the criterium, but the fifth stage at Bagshot proved his undoing.
He couldn’t go with the leaders and finished three-and-a-half minutes off the pace.
That result saw Schultz slip down to ninth in the general classification.
The top-ranked Bendigo rider overall was Julian Thompson, who finished sixth, 3.27 behind Stevenson.
The B-grade tour was taken out by Bendigo’s Chris Drew, who edged out clubmates Peter Cavallaro (five seconds back), Aidan Hamilton (six seconds) and Chris Landvogt (18 seconds).
Echuca’s Clint Flanigan won the C-grade tour, 16 seconds clear of Albury-Wodonga’s Julie Nixon and 31 seconds in advance of Bendigo’s Emerson Julian.
