10th January 2011 - Australian National RR Championships
The 2011 Australian National Road Race Championship is set around the town of Buninyong, located north of Melbourne, Victoria.
Taking in the same course as the 2010 Championships, the undulating route will favour a climber or a hill specialist rather than an out and out sprinter, and just like with the Time Trial 4 days early, it may come down to who is the fittest at this early stage of the season.
10th January 2011 - Australian National RR Championships
O'Grady strongest in the final Sprint
Stuart O'Grady gave Leopard-Trek their first ever victory after becoming the Australian Road Race Champion for 2011.
The 14 time veteran of the Tour de France was the strongest of 8 riders, beating Commonwealth Champion Allan Davis of Astana and Casey Munro of Rapha Condor, who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Over the next 10 kilometres, the gap stayed fixed at the 2'30" mark, but it was at moment Stuart O'Grady made his move. With over 80km til the finish, he attacked, and was followed by Baden Cooke (SaxoBank-Sungard), Allan Davis and Peter MacDonald (Fly V Australia).
Joining up with the four escapees up the road injected a new pace into the break, and it soon went up to 4'17". It was at that time, and with 60km to go, Garmin turned up the gas on the peleton, and soon it began to diminish in size. But it seemed the chase may have come too late.
With 10km, and one lap left of the Buninyong circuit, there was still 1'12" between the break and the Garmin led Peleton, and things where looking tight.
With the finish quickly appearing, O'Grady made his move, and could only be tracked by Davis and an impressive Munro, who showed no sign of fatigue despite a full day in the breakaway. Behind there was still no move from the favourites, who seemed more concerned with each other than the riders up the road.
As the 3km mark appeared, it was HTC-Highroad who showed their hand first, as Mark Renshaw hit the front, leading out Matt Goss. But this was too late. As the peleton turned the final bend, O'Grady was already celebrating his victory on the finish line, ahead of a dejected Davis and a very tired Munro.
@Sergi77: I have just used the stats from the PCMDaily 2011 db. I have not changed anything at all. And i think the stats are ok for him. I agree that he won the tt and finished 3rd in vuelta, but he has never had those results before then, and the stats can not be based just on one race.
12th - 18th January 2011 - Pre-season training camp (Sydney, Australia)
Following the National Championships in Australia, the whole team got together for 6 days and a spot of pre-season training in Sydney.
There was nothing too vigorous was planned for the training camp, just a few gentle rides to build the riders fitness and endurance in preparation of the Santos Tour Down Under, and also it gives some time for the guys to get to know the new recruits signed in the off season.
roturn wrote:
Pity that you couldn`t win the Aussie Championship.
I also like his stats as they are He has similar stats in my career and is very successful there.
I have to admit I got it wrong at the national champs. I was more worried about evans and rogers and porte, and completely missed the breakaway containing o'grady and davis
14th January 2011 - HTC-Highroad again add to squad with
Big Italian Coup
We are thrilled to announce the addition to the squad of the Italian Climber Franco Pellizotti.
Following his release from Liquigas-Cannondale at the end of the 2010 season, Pellizotti was available as a Free Agent, and is free to ride after all the charges against him for Doping were dropped by the UCI. Franco insists he is, and always has been, a clean rider and now has the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France as his main focus for 2011.
17th January 2011 - Additional Sponsor Announcement
After two weeks of negotiations, we can finally announce our final additional sponsor for 2011.
The final company we can announce as additional sponsor is Nike. The American Sports Company have offered 34,800€ in monthly payments, and additional payments of 36,000€ for a Top 5 finish at the World Championships Road Race in Copenhagen.
As the first event on the UCI Calendar, the Santos Tour Down Under kicks off a long hard season for the riders in the UCI WorldTour Peleton.
Based in and around the city of Adelaide, Southern Australia, the Santos Tour Down Under has slowly grown in popularity with fans and riders alike, from across the globe. Originally run in 1999, the TdU has grown to UCI WorldTour status, becoming the first of its kind outside Europe.
Seen in recent years as a stage race for a sprinter, the climb over Willunga Hill on Stage 5 can make or break a rider's Tour. If you can survive the climb over Willunga, you will hope you are in a good position to take the Overall Victory.
HTC-Highroad Tour Down Under Squad
HTC-Highroad head into the event with a squad aimmed at taking victories in the Mass Sprints. Mark Cavendish will lead the squad in the sprints, with his right hand man Mark Renshaw ready to launch him to the line. Aiding with the lead-out train will be Bernie Eisel, and making his first appearance since signing is Markus Fothen.
Matt Goss and Tejay Van Garderen will lead the team over Willunga Hill, and depending on how Cavendish feeling, look for the victory in the Overall Standings. Matt Brammeier will look to get in the breaks on the stage, targeting the Skoda King of the Mountains Jersey where possible.
GC Favourites
This year's peleton will be one of the biggest in terms of names at the Tour Down Under. Quick-Step have sprinters Tom Boonen and Gert Steegmans at their disposal, whilst Leopard-Trek will test their sprint potential with Daniele Bennati and new Australian Road Race Champion Stuart O'Grady on their squad.
Add Team Sky, with Greg Henderson, Chris Sutton and Ben Swift, and also SaxoBank-Sungard, with Baden Cooke and J.J. Haedo, to the mix, and it looks like we are going to experience the best sprint showdown in the event's history.
19th January 2011 - Santos Tour Down Under Stage 1 (Mawson Lakes-Angaston)
Stage 1 of the Santos Tour Down Under takes from Mawson Lakes to Angaston over a course which should not offer any difficulty to the riders.
The Skoda King of the Mountains classification comes quite early in the stage, so expect there to be a number of attacks from the start, as teams will look take points for one of the Jerseys on offer.
The stage finishes with a 2 lap circuit around the town of Angaston, with the run-in at the end on a slight incline. This should not be too steep to cause any big upsets, but with the question of early season fitness looming above the peleton, who will take the victory is anybody's guess.
Over the course of the stage, the lead slowly increased to 4'58", and the Jayco Sprint points were not contested by the riders. Instead they continued to press on, until the gap was at 5'48".
That was the moment for Quick-Step to hit the front, and with both former World Champion Tom Boonen and the Belgian sprinter Gert Steegmans in their squad, they would be looking for a good finish today.
As the course entered the finishing circuit around Angaston, the gap was down to 3'25", and it continued to fall at a quick rate. With 9 kilometres to go, the peleton was all back together, and it was set for a mass sprint.
The lead-out trains began to form, and it was HTC-Highroad and OmegaPharma-Lotto who looked the strongest. New HTC signing Markus Fothen won the fight with OmegaPharma train, and put Bernie Eisel in the perfect position.
The uphill finish had its effect on Cavendish's finishing kick, and it was now down to Hushovd to hold on for the win. And he could... just! The half of a bike's length separating the four riders at the finish!
20th January 2011 - Santos Tour Down Undder Stage 2 (Tailum Bend-Mannum)
Stage 2 of the Tour Down Under is a 145km stage from Tailum Bend to Mannum. Considered by the race organisers as a flat stage, the peleton will still have to contend with a small amount of climbing. However, with a finish on a flat run-in, and also a fast downhill decent, this will look to be a sprinter's stage yet again.
Thor Hushovd took the victory in Stage 1 with the uphill finish in Angaston, and he will look to make it two victories out of two stages. However, with a finish as close as it was in Angaston, there will be many riders wanting to take the win instead.
20th January 2011 - Santos Tour Down Undder Stage 2 (Tailum Bend-Mannum)
Ferrari races to Tour Down Under Glory
Androni Giocattoli's Roberto Ferrari won stage 2 of the Santos Tour Down Under today, with a well executed sprint finish ahead of his fellow breakaway companions. The Italian finished ahead of Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel - Euskadi) and J.J. Haedo (SaxoBank), who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The breakaway was started just 10km into the stage, when Former Dutch Road Race Champion Niki Terpstra (Quick-Step) attacked off the front, opening a gap of around 1'10". Other riders tried to follow the Dutch rider, but were immediately pulled back by the peleton, who at this stage where being led by Leopard-Trek.
It was Terpstra who took the maximum points available at the 2 sprint points on the stage, first the Jayco Sprint after 51km and then the Skoda King of the Mountain Sprint at 65km. Just after the climb, the 9 chasers joined up with a very tired looking Quick-Step rider, and as a group of 10 built up a lead of 8'24".
With 50km to go, and as the pack passed through the second Jayco Sprint point of the day, there was still a gap of 4'36", and it looked again like it would be a tight finish for the break and peleton. Off the top of the Hills, Leopard-Trek took over the chase, as they looked to set up sprinter Daniele Bennati for the finish.
But the decent would work in the break's favour, and they opened the gap back open, and as the break reached the 10km mark, they still 2'30" over the peleton behind.
As the finish neared, many of break felt that they would need to attack in order to take the win. First, Rosseler attacked, carefully being tracked by the others, and this was followed by Terpstra, who seemed to find the energy from nowhere.
This disorganisation put the ball back in the Peleton's court, and with 5km to the finish, the gap was at 1'05" and the HTC-Highroad train was going at full steam. They certainly had not given up hope of taking something from the Stage.
Sadly, it was too little too late, and as the peleton caught the break, Ferrari was already crossing the line with his hands in the air. Amazingly, he had held off the challenge from Urtasun and also Haedo, who looked odds on favourite to take the win as the break hit the last kilometre.
21st January 2011 - Santos Tour Down Under Stage 3 (Unley-Stirling)
Unley to Stirling is the route for Stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under. Again, it is classified as a flat stage by the Race Organisers, but it will be a difficult finish for the riders, as they enter the finishing circuit around Stirling.
The stage will no doubt be dictated by a breakaway, and following the success of yesterday's escape, there will be a hope amongst the teams in the peleton thinking of making an break, that another just might succeed yet again today.
As for the finish, it is situated on an uphill finish, with a very difficult undulating run-in, so it could be anyone's guess who will take the win today.
He has similar stats in my career and is very successful there.
