Miguel98 wrote:
God, I love your previews Malkael. I don't know many people, who are even commentators for cycling, who write like that. Congrat's, and thanks for the previews.
+1
Outstanding stuff Malkael!
Absolutely. You could have your own cycling blog with that stuff, a bit like Inner Ring but then more previews
baseballlover312 wrote:
Yeah, that jersey looks so good. NOT. It is still disgusting.
It's better than any of the older Gamin jerseys
No, its worse than literally all of them, except maybe the most recent version they were using for the past year or two. But even then I'd argue Black and Lime green are never a good combo, as its reminds me of those knockoff "glow" jerseys you can get online instead of the "real" jerseys (for north American sports)
In terms of teams with good jerseys, Garmin and Liquigas/Cannondale always had some of the better ones, and the one they have now that they've merged is awful.
Atleast if they wanted to use the Black/Lime green colour scheme they could have done something closer to the Cannondale cyclocross team which has a much better jersey.
Spoiler
Completely agree. I remember the 2012 Garmin Jersey and 2009 one being the finalists in the PCM Daily's favorite jersey.
That says more about the taste of the PCM Daily community than the quality of the jersey because the 2009 one was godawful
Maybe it's more of your opinion than the true quality because your opinion is isolated compared to the many people who voted.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
Riis123 wrote:
Rohan Dennis is such a weird rider. Most of the time he seems like a TT-specialist who cant climb at all, and then sometimes, he climbs extremely well.. Of course its in Australia and its so early in the season, but still.
Well he is still only 24 so I guess he is still working himself out, I doubt he will ever be a GT contender but could see him developing into a 1 week stage race type of rider.
Rohan's also just generally a cool guy. Very level headed, and always looking to improve himself and looks out for others. Great guy to ride with.
I think it'll be interesting seeing where he goes from here, especially with his hour record attempt on the horizon. His interview post race gave good insight into the strategy for BMC yesterday too; will be interesting to see what they do. Unfortunately, the tv station that's covering the TdU this year has exclusive rights to that interview, and hasn't hosted it anywhere that I can find
When you can't decide between two options, flip a coin. Not because the result of the coin will choose for you, but because, in that split second before the coin lands, you'll know what side you want it to fall on.
Breakaway caught by Orica - GreenEDGE, it looks like they do indeed plan to race this stage aggressively for the bonus seconds. Still the two intermediate sprints to come, so everything up for grabs for Daryl Impey in the GC.
Three bonus seconds down, 13 more up for grabs. Stage one of the plan going to plan for Orica - GreenEDGE as Daryl Impey wins the first intermediate sprint.
Wham, bam, thank you mam! Team Movistar achieving splits in the peloton thanks to the fierce tempo being set. About 8-10 riders look to have fallen off the back so far, not sure if any sprinters have been caught out.
Marcel Kittel officially distanced from the peloton and is in one of the two groups that has been split off by Team Movistar's fierce tempo.
Edit #1: Group Kittel is about 4'00" behind the peloton reportedly, meanwhile Nathan Haas has is in the second group about 10" behind.
Edited by Malkael on 23-01-2015 04:26
Lars Boom attacks for Team Astana with L.L. Sanchez in his wheel! Team Movistar have sent a rider across to mark them. Just 7.5 kilometres remaining...
Edit #1: L.L. Sanchez is joined by Gorka Izaguirre!
Edit #2: The move has been neutralised by the teams of the sprinters.
Edited by Malkael on 23-01-2015 04:38
Steele Von Hoff of UniSA - Australia wins Stage 4 of the 2015 Tour Down Under ahead of Daryl Impey of Orica - GreenEDGE and Wouter Whippert of DRAPAC Cycling.
This site acts a little bit like nobody knows anything about cycling, but they are the only one to report it so far (I have to bear with it the whole race )
With just 15 seconds separating first from tenth in the General Classification, the Queen Stage of the 2015 Tour Down Under will once again be assuming its role as kingmaker. After letting overall victory in slip through their fingers in 2014, will BMC Racing taste success in 2015?
Beginning once again in McLaren Vale for another year, Stage Five of the 2015 Tour Down Under retraces the same parcours ridden in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Similarly, the wind could once again play a role in the stage with current weather forecasts predicting west-north-westerly winds between 19 and 26 kilometres per hour.
Before climbing Willunga Hill the peloton must first complete three laps of a circuit that begins in McLaren Vale; heads south towards Willunga township; then turns westwards towards the coast and passes through Aldinga Beach, Snapper Point and Port Willunga; and back inland in McLaren Vale. It is during this stretch along the South Australian coastline that the peloton will be the most exposed to the threat of crosswinds.
(Click image to enlarge)
Afterwards the peloton will begin the first ascent of Willunga Hill and a circuit which will bring them back around to Willunga township for the second and final ascent up Willunga Hill. Once again, the second ascent should be the where the winners and losers of the stage and overall race are decided.
Last year the climb up Willunga Hill was influenced by a headwind buffeting the riders and making it difficult to attack out of a group and establish a gap. This year the riders could be looking at a wind assisted ascent up Willunga Hill due to predicted west-north-westerly winds, which could result in a cross-tail or tailwind around 24 kilometres per hour or higher.
(Click image to enlarge)
Although last year's stage was won by a daring solo attack from Team Sky's Richie Porte, the prevailing trend since the race added the summit finish on Willunga Hill is for two riders to contest the stage victory in a sprint finish. So with the final 150 metres flattening out even further, it will be important to be the first rider around the left-hand bend that arrives with just 50 metres to go.
Stage Contenders
After winning last year's stage by a margin of ten seconds, Richie Porte will be the crowd favourite for today's stage in the absence of Simon Gerrans. However, the Team Sky rider has a difficult task ahead of him as he seeks to claw back the 16 seconds needed to ensure snatching the Ochre Jersey from Rohan Dennis.
Speaking of the current Ochre Jersey wearer, BMC Racing will be in a predicament heading in to Stage Five after seeing their plan to win the race with Cadel Evans complicated by Dennis' victory on Stage Three. My feelings are that BMC should push aside any sentimentalities for Evans and fully support whoever the strongest rider is on the day. Regardless of what happens, BMC should have several different tactical options available to them come the climb.
The dark horse for the stage victory appears to be Giant – Alpecin's Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, who will be looking to claw back 10 seconds to ensure control of the Ochre Jersey heading in to the final stage. After showing he could deal with the steep irregular gradients of Torrens Hill Road, Dumoulin could find the longer but gentler climb of Willunga Hill more suited to his time trial speciality.
While Daryl Impey seems a long shot for the overall victory in spite of the bonus seconds that will be in play during the stage, there are five other riders level on time with Richie Porte who could steal the spotlight if given too much freedom. So it will be important for the overall race favourites to keep an eye on the quartet of Jack Haig, Maxime Bouet, Ruben Fernandez and Domenico Pozzovivo.
Based on Thursday's third stage to Paracombe featuring the climb up Torrens Hill Road, Etixx – Quick-Step's Maxime Bouet would appear to be the greatest threat to those above him in the General Classification.
Epilogue
Time to look forwards to yet another year of going twice up Old Willunga Hill, which will be eager to show Torrens Hill Road that no upstart is going to be dethroning this old classic just yet.
Similar to 2014, live coverage of the stage begins from 11:30am AEDT, or 12:30am UTC\GMT.
