Meyer and Semple Compete in International Thuringen Tour
WAIS-AIS cyclists Travis Meyer and Adam Semple have completed the U23 International Thuringen Tour in Germany as part of the Australian Institute of Sport’s Team AIS.
South Australian cyclist Jack Bobridge starred for Team AIS winning two stages for a third overall general classification finish as well as winning the points and best young rider titles.
Overall honours went to Austrian rider Stefan Denifl who clocked 23hr00min59sec at the end of 949km raced over seven stages. He was two seconds ahead of second placed Dutch rider Steven Kruijswijk with Bobridge third at 1min24sec.
In the best young rider rankings Bobridge finished on top, 56 seconds ahead of Australian Matthias Brandl, and in the battle for the points classification Bobridge claimed 82 points to win by a 12 point margin over Andreas Stauff (Team Kuota).
“The last couple of stages were pretty hard and they (Deifl and Kruijswijk) weren’t out climbing me and I wasn’t out climbing them so there wasn’t really a chance to make up any time on them,” explained Bobridge. “Still I’m happy to come away with two stage wins and two jerseys.”
Bobridge’s Team AIS team mates Leigh Howard , who won the opening stage of the Tour, placed third overall in the sprint jersey classification.
Team Manager for the race, David McPartland, says he’s very impressed with the improvement shown by the likes of Borbridge and Howard in this year’s event.
“Last year was a real learning experience for them but this year they are out there winning stages and jerseys,” said McPartland of the team of youngsters. “They were in the race to win from the start and tactically they were excellent and did what they had to do when they had to do it.”
The oldest member of the team in Thuringen was Travis Meyer who celebrated his 20th birthday during the tour in Germany.