Cyclists injured at Bay Classic

A year after Megan Dunn became the youngest winner of the Jayco Bay Classic she
learned a brutal lesson about road cycling.
The 17-year-old defending champion was left in tearful agony on Sunday, nursing a
broken left collarbone and bloodied nose, following a four-rider crash during round
three of the criterium series at Geelong.
Dunn and fellow New South Wales rider Kate Finegan were hospitalised after the
mishap on the tight corner at the end of the home straight on the Eastern Beach
circuit.
A six-rider crash on the same corner during the elite men's race put Tour de France
star Baden Cooke out of action.
Finegan was conscious as she was taken to hospital on a stretcher, wearing a neck
brace, and her injuries were not thought to be serious.
It was unclear Cooke would be fit to contest round four on Monday at the coastal
town of Portarlington.
Both Sunday's races were held up for several minutes because of the crashes.
But Dunn's NSW Institute of Sport team manager, Athens Olympian Olivia Gollan, was
philosophical about riders still taking the tricky corner about 50 km/h after the
accidents.
"It (road cycling) is fast, it's complex, it's tactical, you've got to be strong and
fast and powerful - and you've got to be skilful," she said.
"Unfortunately you crash sometimes and sometimes you crash on your collarbone, and
you break it."
On a dramatic afternoon of racing, unheralded mountain bike specialist Rowena Fry
won the women's race and Will Walker signalled his comeback from illness with
victory in the men's.
Fry, who hopes to compete in mountain biking at the London Olympics, is also
returning to competition after six months off with glandular fever.
A bout of Bell's Palsy wrecked last year for Walker and the 23-year-old switched
teams to ProTour outfit Fuji Servetto.
He already knows about the harshness of road cycling - three years ago, he crossed
the line first at the national road titles, but under race rules he could only claim
the under-23 championship.
"It just marks the start of a comeback and hopefully it can continue," Walker said
of Sunday's win.
He and Dean Windsor broke away after the crash and finished several seconds clear of
the field.
Graeme Brown took fourth to claim the overall series lead, three points ahead of
Windsor.
Previous leader Joel Pearson was also involved in the crash and finished out of the
points, dropping to fifth overall.
Kirsty Broun is the sole women's series leader after her third place on Sunday.
She shared the lead after race two with Josephine Tomic and Rochelle Gilmore, but
Broun now leads Tomic by three points.