Rogers surprises in Gippsland

Rogers finished ahead of Daniel Mcconnell (Bass Coast Shire) and Kane Walker (Apollo Bicycles) in a mass sprint at the end of the 134km stage.

Originally from Palmerston North, Rogers is the surprise package in the 160-man field with his 2 stage wins.

He represented New Zealand four times at the world mountain bike championships before switching to road racing about three years ago and basing himself in Europe.

However the Kiwi has lived in Fitzroy, Victoria for the past 12 months and entered the Tour of Gippsland on the advice on his coach William Walker, the 2004 Scody Cup winner, whose international career was recently cut short through a heart ailment.

Rogers, who expected to be competitive in only the CreditCollect criterium category on the Gippsland tour, was in equal second place after the Warragul stage, only one second behind overnight leader, Tasmanian Ben Grenda.

Alongside Rogers in second position are his Budget Forklifts team-mate Cameron Jennings, of Queensland, and the rapidly improving young Victorian Patrick Lane (Jayco Skins) who is also leading the King of the Mountains championship.

Grenda’s tour leadership appeared shaky after he punctured 40km into the Warragul stage but he was assisted back to the peloton by strong riding from his Genesys team-mates.

He finished 6th in the stage. In second place was Beijing Olympian Daniel McConnell, with Warragul hometown boy Kane Walker third.

Tomorrow’s racing will feature a 39km morning criterium at Newborough, followed by an 85km road race from Morwell to Maffra

Stage 3: 134km, Warragul.

1 Rico Rogers (Team Budget Forklifts) 3:20:07, 2 Daniel Mcconnell (Bass Coast Shire), 3 Kane Walker (Apollo Bicycles), 4 Lachlan Norris (Drapac Professional Cycling), 5 Patrick Shaw (Virgin Blue RBS Morgan), 6 Ben Grenda (Genesys Wealth Advisers), 7 Richard Lang (Team Jayco Skins), 8 Brendan Brooks (Shortis.com.au), 9 Alex Carver (Team Jayco Skins), 10 Anthony Diacoppo (Plan B Racing).

General classification:

1 Ben Grenda (Genesys Wealth Advisers) 5:42:38, 2 Cameron Jennings (Team Budget Forklifts) 0:00:01, 3 Patrick Lane (Team Jayco Skins), 4 Rico Rogers (Team Budget Forklifts), 5 Joseph Lewis (Drapac Professional Cycling) 0:00:04, 6 Patrick Shaw (Virgin Blue RBS Morgan) 0:00:06, 7 Lachlan Norris (Drapac Professional Cycling), 8 Adiq Othman (Drapac Professional Cycling) 0:00:12, 9 Gordon Mccauley (AAL Hyster-Rush Racing), 10 Alex Carver (Team Jayco Skins) 0:00:13.