@sutty: Yeah, true Don't know if that was miggi133's intention, but it looks quite cool.
@Miguel: He better should. This has to be HIS season!
Rhys Gillett - Philip Island GP, best is yet to come
Yes, I'm back for another year of blogging! I've been a bit lazy - or busy with preparing for the new season (sounds better, hm? ..) - but now I'm here. I'll focus on writing short recaps from the Victorian Road Series, like in 2013. After finishing 3rd overall last year, I think I'm ready to grab the title now!
The Philip Island GP may be the only event in the VRS, where I'm not expecting anything though. Too flat, too many good sprinters.. I didn't make the breakaway, too: 6 riders went early, including Josh Prete (Budget) and Nick Katsounis (Charter Mason)..
Heavy crosswinds made for a tough day and the peloton struggled to pull the escapees back.. we from African Wildlife Safaris tried to bring our sprinter Tyler Spurrell in position, but with less than 2km to go, two riders - Prete and Stephan (Data#3) - held on to a small gap!
The bunch really tried - including me, I had good legs today.. but the two early escapees kicked the sprint off with still a nice gap. Stephan looked way stronger than Prete, who better should go for mountainous races ...
And they made it to the line! Maybe the biggest win for both Andrew Stephan and his Data#3-team in a year or so.. Prete hang on for a great 2nd ahead of the bunch, where Copp (ProTeam DU) completed the podium ahead of top-favorite Johnson (Charter).. I did actually quite well as 16th, but no points for our team this time. The next events should suit us more though, so stay tuned for my blog!
He did great to attack in this flat classic to take the lead in the rankings, yes. He actually does have a good chance to be in the mix for the VRS-contention now, as he is a decent climber and most of the remaining events are quite mountainous!
So, i don´t know and can´t see either where is the problem with Budget Forklifts as some seem to say(see)... they are in 2nd in Team Rankings, Anderson is doing good too, now we have Prete... i think the manager did a great job here.
Great screens mate, i´m sure we will see more from this.
@baia: Budget is doing well, but no GC-win so far, that's the only problem yet. Of course the season is still young, so no major issue indeed.
And thanks for the words on the screens, mate! As always appreciated
@all: Sorry for the rather slow pace of updates, but a good friend is visiting me the whole weekend, so less time to play PCM. Will try to get a first preview for the next event online today though!
@all: So after a rather long break or slow pace of updates, I will be back with the next NRS event! I may post a second preview, too, so get back on track with the NRS, guys
Adelaide Tour
The 2nd edition of the Adelaide Tour is soon to be kicked off. The three stage event will be part of the Subaru National Road Series (NRS). The Cycling Australia and Cycling South Australia endorsed Tour will be raced in the Campbelltown City Council area and Adelaide Hills region.
All three stages are rated as flat, while the 2nd stage will definitely hurt some pure sprinters' legs. The short but steep climbs (10% max) could even favour a strong finishing puncheur. Given the flat road races won't be as selective as hilly stages, the opening TTT may be crucial for the overall: if a teams manages to dominate here, it can expect a points haul.
Results 2013/
1
Aaron Donnelly
Huon Salmon-Genesys
5h28'51
2
Nathan Earle
Huon Salmon-Genesys
s.t.
3
Jack Haig
Huon Salmon-Genesys
s.t.
4
Alex Clements
Huon Salmon-Genesys
s.t.
5
Paul Van der Ploeg
Satalyst Giant Racing Team
+ 11
Donnelly took out the inaugaral edition of the Adelaide Tour, thanks to his team Huon winning the TTT and no major splits/gaps in the two flat, but tricky road races.. Of course the TTT is expected to be crucial again, but maybe we will see more changes in the GC afterwards this year.
More impressions from 2013/
Satalyst Racing in the opening TTT..
Local team Euride couldn't deliver in 2013, but looks stronger now.
Paul took out the second stage ahead of brother Neil Van der Ploeg..
Top-sprinter Luke Davison took out the final crit in Adelaide!
@Ian: Definitely! Last year, it was a close decision in that stage and splits are definitely possible and pure sprinters may struggle..
@sutty: With the TTT being crucial for the GC, something like that may (!) happen again..
..let's check the first report (I decided to skip the second preview of top-favorites, as the opening TTT may tell "this story" anyway)!
Adelaide Tour (Stage 1, TTT, 20km)
The opening TTT of the Adelaide Tour can already be the crucial stage here: given that the two remaining stages are rated as flat (with some difficulties though), a dominating team is likely to get at least most of their riders in a great GC-position - like Huon did in 2013!
As decided to skip the second preview with the startlist this time, here's at least an overview of the most notable names missing on the startlist:
Neil Van der Ploeg, Bayly (search2), O'Brien (Euride), Anderson (Budget), Semple (Satalyst), Norris (Jayco), Lapthorne, Walker (Drapac), Wurf (Subway).
So several big guns skipped this race, while Huon decided to bring both NRS-leader Earle and Haig! An interesting startlist..
Budget Forklifts hits the road early! With the likes of Horgan, Kerby or Vink, the team is considered as a top-favorite for both the TTT and the GC. With young sprinter Kerrison on board, the team will also hope for him to add bonus seconds later on.
new BT: 26'14", this may be the time to beat!
And just as a short note: Huon won this TTT with a time of 28'32" last season! So obviously better conditions today, but still a great time.
Jayco is the next promising team here, with riders like Finning and especially Morgan, they hope for a decent start into the race:
new 2nd with 18" behind Budget! Not bad at all.
Huon Genesys of course wants to repeat last year's success, where they crushed the opponents by 18 seconds in this TTT.. defending race-winner Donnelly, Cooper and also Haig make for a brilliant TT-squad and it's a fast performance again:
new BT! Beating Budget by 2"! A close one this time..
Last promising team will be local team Euride, which dominated the TTT in the recently held Tour of Toowoomba. Their knowledge of the roads here is therefore just another reason to believe in the team's strength.. anyway, just like last year, Euride can't really take advantage of it:
Finish: 3rd with 13" in arrears. Not bad, but no win either.
Like in 2013, it's Huon on the top of the podium in the opening day here in Adelaide! An important step towards a great GC-result, will the team again manage to finish with 4 in Top-4?
Kiwi Joseph Cooper crossed the line as first, slipping into the lead for at least one day.. Donnelly 3rd with Haig and Earle completing the Top-5.
Budget is only 3" behind, so it's an open race for at least those two teams. Also Euride may hope for someone like Edmondson to score bonus seconds.
Sutty mate, i didn´t meant you mate, even if it seems, sorry for that. Like tsmoha said, no need to be sorry mate, you are my best mate here.
Sorry tsmoha for this, i wish to say it´s kind of sad victory seems so close but at same time looks so far...
Huon is really strong in TTT, Budget brought a strong squad for this TTT but didn´t worked out. Euride did good, 13" is only a stage win away, so they can still do it.
You are my mate too, mate.
Huon just doing what they do do now... winning! Budget rand them close and must be wondering what exactly it takes to beat the orange machine.
This will have a decent impact on the rankings, allowing Earle and Haig to gain advantage over the likes of O'Brien and VdP who are missing the race. The title, i feel, will not be about just scoring, but scoring when the others do not. This race being a prime example.
Still that second stage looks as though it could cause problems. But the number of teams interested in a sprint finish should negate breakaways. Will be interesting to watch, as that third stage really should be a simple sprint day out.
Thanks, guys! Haven't time to answer all your quite interesting comments right now, but your feedback is always appreciated I totally agree with Manx: Haig and Earle possibly taking "easy" points here could be crucial for the NRS, but of course it's too early to say.
@baia: speaking of bonus seconds - it's not the usual system in the NRS. Here in Adelaide, it's 6-4-2-1 bonus seconds for the Top-4, so not 20 seconds for a win
Adelaide Tour (Stage 2, Flat, 155km)
The 2nd day of the Adelaide Tour and the racing continues with the Stuart O'Grady Road Race, starting and finishing at "Bird in Hand Winery". While the stage is rated flat, one may notice that it's quite a tricky one. With a slightly ascending finish and some climbs on the 3-laps-circuit, there's definitely stuff for some unexpected action!
5 riders in the break of the day and with Rhys Gillett (African Wildlife, GC + 0.34) we see a well known name here:
The group established a gap up to 4 minutes, but 20km before finish, this advantage is down to only 45" with the bunch chasing hard.
Also bad for Gillett, who crashed out of the leading group. Tough luck, but he can continue.
And so the escaping group was caught a few minutes later.. but at least one rider won't wait for a bunch sprint:
Alex Wohler (Budget) attacks the pack with 6km remaining! Last year's winner of the Shipwreck Coast Classic is known as great fighter since then..
No one else tried to follow and Wohler keeps fighting! 3km before finish, he's 24" ahead of the peloton, where teams like Drapac (for Davison) or Huon (race-leader Cooper) lead the chase..
It's looking extremely good for Wohler, who's holding on to his gap with less than a kilometre remaining!
This is also interesting news for the GC: Wohler is just 7" behind Cooper as 14th in the GC.
The bunch (reduced to 78 riders in the meantime) kicks off the sprint, with sprinters like Davison and Giacoppo (Huon) in the lead.
But no chance to pull Wohler back: he celebrates a great solo-victory and there's clearly a gap! So he's likely to grab the GC-lead as well..
17" behind Wohler, last year's winner Donnelly (Huon) and Edmondson (Euride) complete the podium, winning the bunch sprint for bonus seconds.
Only 55 riders finished within this main peloton, most notable names being dropped are Williams (Budget) or Martin (Pure Tassie)..
Alex Wohler takes the race-lead! A nice achievement and a promising 12"-gap on 2nd Donnelly and 16" on 3rd Cooper.
No more notable changes in the Top-10 though, as most of Huon's and Budget's riders finished safely in the main bunch. Tomorrow's criterium in Adelaide will be interesting again. Will Budget Forklifts finally grab it's first GC-win in 2014?
sutty68 wrote:
Great attach from Wohler and a well deserved victory
Nothing more to add A great move, maybe he took benefit from heavy crosswinds (45kmh), but who cares? Looks quite good for Budget now! Will post the final report for Adelaide soon!
Don't know if that was miggi133's intention, but it looks quite cool.
He better should. This has to be HIS season!
..) - but now I'm here. I'll focus on writing short recaps from the Victorian Road Series, like in 2013. After finishing 3rd overall last year, I think I'm ready to grab the title now!
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