Cycling Australia

Canberra cyclist Oenone Wood outsprinted her rivals to claim victory overnight in stage one of the Tour de l'Aude. The 24 year old Team Nurnberger rider put herself in the prime position in the tricky final kilometre to cross the line first after the 114km stage out and back from Lezignan Corbières in south east France.

Wood, who is currently ranked number one in the world, has moved into third overall and now sits five seconds off the leading time of Austrian Christiane Soeder whose Univega team mate Karin Thurig (SUI) is second at three seconds.

Australian National Team rider Amy Gillett, 29, (VIC) is fourth overall at ten seconds after her strong showing in the opening prologue on Friday where she finished third behind Soeder and Thurig. Gillett's team mate Alexis Rhodes, 20, (SA) placed fourth on the prologue.

Wood leads the points jersey classification and with stage 2 predicted to also end in a bunch sprint the 2004 World Cup Champion is tipped to again perform well and possibly take over the tour lead.

McEwen scores second stage win of 2005 Giro

Queensland's Robbie McEwen picked up his second stage win of this year's Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) on Friday night claiming the sprint at the end of the 153km sixth stage from Viterbo to Marina di Grosseto.

McEwen's win came after the lead out train of Italian sprint star Alessandro Petacchi came off the rails on a right hand corner three kilometres from the finish. The demise of the Fassa Bortolo line up gave the Davitamon Lotto team the chance to make their move and it came through West Australian Henk Vogels who attacked two kilometres from home. His move forced the other teams to chase and as Vogels' lead dwindled McEwen struck to ensure the team a win. Vogels placed fifth while Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), who is riding back into form after a mid season break, was sixth.

For further information please contact:
Gennie Sheer, Sheer Rhetoric - Media Manager, Cycling Australia
Mobile: 0418 863 533
Email: gennie@compuserve.com

For rider profiles please visit the Cycling Australia website - www.cycling.org.au