The 6th edition of the Tour in 2009 introduced the first year of Teams Racing in the Tour of the Southern Grampians, and 58 riders spread across 10 teams turned up to a cold but sunny Coleraine, ready for a weekend of pain and suffering. The clear pre-race favourites were the strong South Australian Team of Savings and Loans (S&L), with talented climber Tim Roe their main drawcard. However, S&L weren’t to have it all their way, faced with competition including a young, up & coming VIS team, Budget Forklifts, Panasonic and Total Rush.

Stage 1

Stage 1 was a 119km course featuring 4 KOM climbs and narrow roads. S&L were well represented all day with Joel Pearson, Tim Roe and Will Dickeson all making the initial 9-man break. With 50km to go, a chase group of 12 riders came across and in the following counter-attacks, Pearson rode away with team-mate Andrew Roe and 6 other riders including Shaun McCarthy (Panasonic), Damien Turner (Total Rush), Craig McCartney (Budget Forklifts), Michael Gallagher (VIS) and Pat Lane (2XU) .

Tim Roe then used his climbing skills to jump across on the infamous 'Zig-Zag climb'. With 6km to go, Tim Roe attacked the group and was able to hold on to a small gap of 21 seconds to the finish. Winning the sprint for second place was Shaun McCarthy and Ballarat landscape gardener Turner rounded off the podium.

Stage 2

With Tim Roe in the Yellow Jersey and 3 riders in the top 8, S&L had plenty of cards to play in the 46km evening criterium with 5 intermediate sprints with lots of bonus seconds up for grabs. Much of the field had lost a lot of time in the morning stage, so attacks were going from the opening lap. A 9-man break quickly established with Dickeson playing the 'policeman's' role for S&L. Lane and Gallagher were also in the move after finishing in the front group in the morning stage, as well as Hamilton local Brendan Schultz (R.A.C.E), former Giro D’Italia rider Tom Leaper (Brightstar), Reece Stephens (Prime Estate Buyer Agents) and South Australian Tristan Jones (Total Rush).

Jake ‘Kermit’ Sutherland (Total Rush) rode a gutsy race to bridge the gap to the breakaway, but Russell Gill (S&L) and Steve Robb (S&L) pulled some big turns to bring things back and with 6 laps to go it was back together.

With 3 laps to go, Dickeson launched a solo move that looked promising. The VIS train hit the front of the peleton in a desperate bid to bring him back, with the gap hovering at 3-4 seconds for the closing 3 laps. However a desperate sprint from Trevor Griffiths (VIS) in the dying metres of the race was enough to steal the victory for the young cyclist from Shepparton, with Dickeson relegated to 2nd by half a bike length. It was one of the most exciting sprint finishes in the criterium since its inception.

S&L brought home the rest of the peleton with Pearson 3rd, Gill 4th and Tim Roe 5th. This meant that Tim Roe would retain his yellow jersey, with team-mate Pearson moving up into second position (10 seconds down), and Shaun McCarthy hanging onto 3rd (22 seconds down).

Stage 3

The final 125km stage of the Tour of Coleraine turned out to be a tough day, with rain and strong winds. It also included 2 monster KOM’s that would certainly test everyone in the field. S&L played the tactical game early, allowing a 7-man break of riders to get away. All 7 were well down on the General Classification so were giving some leeway.

Robb, Gill and Dickeson spent the next 90km on the front, keeping the break to a manageable 2min 30sec and the chance of another stage win in mind. The fast pace being set as S&L ‘put the hammer down’ took its toll, with several riders shelled out the back in the strong crosswinds.

However it was South Australian Rhys Gillett (Ballarat Cycle City) who rode away from the remnants of the break for a sensational solo stage win holding off the entire field for the last 30-40km. John Cornish (Prime Estate Buyer Agents) gained a small gap to claim second place 43 seconds down. Pearson brought the bunch home for another 3rd place 59 seconds down, ahead of Stuart Smith (2XU) and Shaun McCarthy. Yellow jersey wearer Tim Roe was tucked safely in the bunch.

This was enough to give Tim Roe the Tour win by 3 seconds from Pearson, in a 1-2 finish for S&L. Shaun McCarthy held on for 3rd place (18 seconds down), ahead of Lane (27 seconds), Turner (34 seconds) and Craig McCartney (37 seconds).

Andrew Roe also placed 8th overall to give S&L a commanding win in the Team's Classification, 9:03 minutes ahead of 2XU, with Total Rush in 3rd place (14 minutes down). Happy Days.

In the KOM competition, Shaun McCarthy did enough to take out the win, ahead of Smith and Turner.