After two stages of the Crocodile Trophy in Queensland, Irish rider Ryan Sherlock is sitting just outside the top ten. Urs Huber of Switzerland leads Sören Nissen of Denmark by 1’23” with Sherlock 20’48” down in 12th position.

The opening stage on Saturday which took place in hot conditions consisted of 5 laps around Smithfield MTB Park was won by Nicholas Pettina of Italy, with Sherlock finishing in 16th place, 11’47” behind.

The second stage took the riders from Cairns to Lake Tinaroo in the Atherton Tablelands over a distance of 62 kilometres (plus a 12-kilometre neutralised section) with total climbing of 1,500 metres.

Huber won the stage which enabled him to take the overall lead from Pettina. Sherlock finished in 10th place, 12’20” behind. Hiber has tasted success here before, having won overall back in 2010.

Afterwards, Sherlock said in a blog post: “Unlike yesterday, with the cooler temperatures and a days racing in the legs I felt a lot better throughout – not 100%, but getting there. As I closed in on the finish line I caught a French rider who had been in the group of seven finishing just a few minutes back on the bulk of the front riders. Happy enough but wishing I had eat a few less pies so I could have gotten over the steep climbs with the front guys!”

The race consists of nine stages in Northern Queensland with the longest stage being a mammoth 127 kilometres from Irvinebank to Skybury Coffee Plantation. The race finishes next Sunday.

The Crocodile Trophy was first run in 1995 and that first edition consisted of 17 stages for a total of 2,556 kilometres, and it was won by former PDM rider Harald Maier. Another well-known road cyclist who has won here is Adam Hansen who currently races with Lotto-Belisol.

The race continues tomorrow with a 59-kilometre stage from Lake Tinaroo to Atherton with 1,550 metres of climbing.

You can follow Ryan Sherlock’s progress through his blog: http://ryansherlock.blogspot.com.au/

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