National Road Series preview: Tour of Toowoomba

The Subaru NSWIS team will be lining up again this week in Toowoomba for another hard and hilly stage race midway through the season of the Men’s Subaru National Road Series.

The challenging course this week follows some tough racing at the Tour de Tweed, but being thrown in the deep end with the tough start is something Subaru NSWIS Directeur Sportif Ben Kersten feels will serve his team well, as they gain the experience they need at this early stage of the season. 

“For these guys it’s about survival and learning how to get through tough racing of this kind early on, get the exposure they need and then driving from there,” he said.

“They are holding their own for their age and experience, and I think they will do quite well here. The racing last week was hard and the kilometres added up, so they probably felt it more in the legs than the pros and older guys racing.  However the four riders we are sending to Toowoomba are our most experienced, so they can handle it,” he added.

Rider Nathan Bradshaw was also confident after last week. He feels the team are coming into the race with good legs and are motivated to get in and shake-up the racing. He predicts the wind will play a factor in the racing this week, after the more protected setting in the National Park for the Tour de Tweed. 

“This week it is a bit lumpier but it will be more about the wind and how open it will be that will affect the racing. Tomorrow will be the most demanding for that because of the changes in direction over the 30km loop, every time we change direction it will be different.”

Both Bradshaw and Kersten felt that Friday’s hilltop finish, which tops out over 1500m, would be decisive. 

“It’s a really lumpy course,” said Kersten. “Then the last 20 or 30kms of the course starts going up a bit and then they finish on a tough climb, so the legs get hammered leading into it and don’t get any rest.”

The addition of the Team Time Trial (TT) is an interesting one which Kersten said he was pleased to see.

“The TT is normally a very insular thing; the riders know their capabilities and ride to that, but here they will probably be pushed beyond that. They need to finish with all four guys so they will need to be quite cerebral and thoughtful of each other in the race. It is good exposure to this kind of racing while they are quite young, and it is good of the NRS to do that.”

Bradshaw felt the smaller team would suit the race. With the degree of difficulty, and the particular challenges, having just the four riders would make it easier for the team to move more easily around the bunch and use it to their advantage. 

Both Kersten and Bradshaw were positive about the state of the team.

“With the Battle of the Border being our first race together we didn’t have any specific goals there, but now we know what we can do we can start pushing the limit and see what we can get out of it; maybe get a top 20 on the general classification, get into some breaks and start being part of the race,” Bradshaw said.

“They are definitely capable of getting results; get in the early breaks get a bit creative,” added Kersten.

The Subaru NSWIS riders competing at the Tour of Toowoomba, from 22-25 May, are Ayden Toovey, Jordan Payne, Harry Carter and Nathan Bradshaw.