Tour Down Under
Stage 1
Brighton - Victor Harbor: 155.9km
Our group is preparing to head off on the journey from Brighton to Victor Harbor which should be a route designed for the sprinters. Our breakaway riders will most likely take the first mountain jersey of the race, assuming the pack does not try to form a catch before the final climb.
Our first attackers are Ballerstedt and Uhiriwe almost right from the gun. Ballerstedt started his attack from inside the peloton, so the initial gap remains around 15 seconds as the break forms. Schomber and Fisher-Black (Fastned) are the next folks to jump with about 25 seconds to both the peloton and the group.
As the first four begin to group, an attack from Rodriguez reignites the peloton’s desire to strengthen the breakaway.
The peloton is not exactly inclined to let Rodriguez breakaway with Sony - Force India and Kraftwerk Man Machine leading the peloton to keep him in tow. Eventually it is Sony - Force India who brings back Rodriguez and the gap immediately extends to the breakaway as the final breakaway of the day forms. They are Ballerstedt, Uhiriwe, Schomber and Fisher-Black and the gap is 2:00 after about 15km of racing.
As the breakaway approaches the first sprint point of the day, the gap is approaching 4:00. Schomber should be the strongest of the sprinters if he wishes to go for it.
The sprint starts with about 800m to the sprint point with Uhiriwe leading the group out. Schomber immediately gets to the front and Fisher-Black finds a strong burst to overtake Uhiriwe for the second spot.
The breakaway continues to grow its lead after the sprint point with the gap extending to 5:45 as its maximum lead around 115km to go and holds stable above 5 minutes for a significant period. Both the peloton and breakaway tackle the uncategorized climbs without issues. Behind, the peloton is still lead by Sony - Force India and Kraftwerk Man Machine who tried to control the early break, with the addition of Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska.
Heading into the 2nd sprint point around 85km to go, the gap has descended to 4:15 without many major addition of pace from the breakaway. As they sprint, the group has gone four abreast, which is not the best strategy for the weaker sprinters.
The results here are the same as sprint one, with Schomber proving to be the strongest again, followed by Fisher-Black and Uhiriwe. Ballerstedt will leave the stage without any sprint points or bonus seconds unless they make it all the way to the finish uncaught.
Heading into the 1st climb at Parawa Hill, the peloton briefly splits, but comes back together immediately. The pace is still pedestrian without any major change of tempo until the final 500m for the leaders. Fisher-Black led the group out and faltered in the final 100m before the line, allowing the group to cross the line as seen above. Uhiriwe is the strongest and shows himself well, while Ballerstedt finally earns points in a competition in 2nd. The gap after the hill is just above 3:30
It is 3:00 between the groups with 50km to go. The breakaway is clearly working and the teams at the front are still the same in the peloton. The peloton is making headway though and starting to make sure the breakaway knows a catch is likely.
For the third time in the stage, the peloton has fallen into 2 groups. The back group has approximately 60 riders, this time with important riders such as Lo Cicero, Russo, and Guardini for the stage and Mayer, Meurisse and Arndt for the potential overall. With the undulating nature of the final 40km, this group comes back without any major problems, but positioning issues could run rampant over the final kms.
While there may be some important figures near the back, team leaders are starting to assemble near the front. In no particular order, Bol, Demare, Walscheid, Haller and Habtom have all shown their face near the front to ensure they’re ready for the finish.
The start of the Nettle Hill climb comes at 24km to the finish and the gap has shrunk considerably with the breakaway holding only 1:08 on the peloton. Thankfully for the four leaders, there is only 1.8km to the top so they should still hold on to grab the points but no much else.
The climb goes similarly to the first where Uhiriwe jumps early and manages to gap the remaining breakaway riders although all four are pretty tired by the top. Schomber, Fisher-Black, and Ballerstedt take 2-3-4 with Hayter grabbing the final 2 points atop for 5th just by pacing the peloton.
Upon cresting the climb, the race has fallen into momentary chaos. Uhiriwe is alone at the front attacking away from Schomber and Fisher-Black, while Ballerstedt is 25 seconds back and likely seeing the front of the race ride away. Back in the peloton, a lead group of 28 has developed with a small gap to the remaining. Of the leaders with a 1 on their back only Vesely, Bobridge, Van der Sande, Kennett, Scully, Gesbert, Bol, Kiskonen, Spengler, Demare, and Habtom have found their way in front of the split.
The groups have reestablished themselves again and Ballerstedt is well within the field at this point. Uhiriwe, Schomber, and Fisher-Black are now all solo, each with between 15 seconds between themselves and the next chaser, and exactly 42 seconds between Uhiriwe and the peloton who is chasing hard. It is still Sony - Force India pushing the hardest at the front, but there’s reason to worry as Vesely is 2nd wheel. Fisher-Black and Schomber are picked up by the main group with 14km and 13km to go respectively.
The final rise of the day spells the end of Uhiriwe’s day at 11.5km and the group is all together. Well, that is except for Uhlig 4:00 off the back after being Kraftwerk Man Machine’s main pace person all day. The slight rise should not cause any serious gaps, but the early season excitement clearly has teams ready to go all-out for this first stage.
Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska leads the group, but the first significant lead-out train has formed 8km from the line with Kraftwerk Man Machine who have been working for Haller all day. The only other teams with any forms of support are Mudgway looking to protect Bobridge for Spark and Rickaert protecting Gesbert for Assa Abloy. Everyone else appears to be on their own while Demare appears in 20th wheel with Blume Levy as protection.
With 5km to go, there are two competing trains. Kraftwerk Man Machine works alone on the lefthand side while Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska is now riding with their final leadout for Lutsyshyn. Vesely has decided to jump behind Lutsyshyn and Bol is right on his wheel. Everyone else can’t decide which train to join and is simply riding between the two taking the wind. Gladysh starts to falter at 4.5km leaving Lutsyshyn alone on the front, but he slides over to hide behind Kraftwerk Man Machine. Demare has also found him on Haller’s wheel as a fantastic strategy given his subpar leadout.
Haller still has two leadout men at the front of the peloton and no one has even overlapped wheels with the Kraftwerk Man Machine sprinter. Van der Sande has popped out from nowhere to grab his wheel while Lutsyshyn is holding strong in on Van der Sande. Demare still sits behind Blume Levy almost adjacent to Lutsyshyn. In that same row are Van Asbroeck and Vesely to conclude the riders in the top 10 spots in the peloton. The remaining sprinters are attempting to find a gap through toward the front but are certainly ready if anyone falters.
Kraftwerk Man Machine still bring the peloton to the finish. It’s Rumac, De Buyst and then Haller biding his time. After a huge day of work, Haller would do well to deliver the victory. The order behind is the same, with Losch the only new sprinter to arrive into the top group. Matthews, Howard, and Walscheid are also now level with Demare about 7 wheels back, but taking wind while Demare is protected. De Buyst takes over final leadout duties at 1.5km, but no one else has launched yet.
The final turn of the race is here at 1.2km to go. De Buyst is hard at work at the front and Haller should have a clear view to the line once he jumps. Van der Sande sits 3rd wheel now and ready to jump Haller if he mistimes the finish. Losch has done amazing positioning work in these 300m to now sit on Van der Sande. Lutsyshyn is beside Losch.
Rumac is still sprinting at the front after allowing De Buyst to complete a leadout so Kraftwerk Man Machine are still 1-2-3 at 800m to do. Demare has jumped early and is trying to slide around the left hand side with no draft to pick up or any riders slowing in his way. Losch seems to be struggling . Van Asbroeck is also jumping and should be aiming to fall into Demare’s slipstream. Van der Sande and Lutsyshyn are still patiently holding onto the Kraftwerk Man Machine train and Haller has yet to show signs of jumping.
Haller jumps but De Buyst still leads! Rumac still holds 3rd on the inside rail and could pose an issue for those taking that route behind. Demare is the best of the rest with open room along his curb with Van Asbroeck nearby. Matthews has positioned himself well to take Van Asbroeck’s wheel. On the Rumac side, Van der Sande looks for a lane to the finish.
200m to go and the Kraftwerk Man Machine leadout train has finally fallen back, but Haller is still leading. Demare and Van Asbroeck are both catching up, with Van Asbroeck closing the fastest between the two. Matthews sits in 4th trying to make the go on the oceanside of the road. Howard and Vesely sit 5th and 6th at the moment ready to fly to the finish but it may be too little too late. Behind them, absolute chaos with about 10 others fighting for the remaining places.
Van Asbroeck could not close fast enough so Haller takes the win and the leader’s jersey. Demare fades to third with Matthews in 4th. Walscheid contests the duo of Vesely and Howard for 5th and 6th, but has to settle for 7th. Losch reappears after struggling around 800m to go to grab 8th with Wippert and Van der Sande closing out the top 10. Lutsyshyn’s 12th place will surely be a disappointment for Team Popo4Ever p/b Morshynska who put together some significant work throughout to control.
Haller takes the podium as the leader in general and sprint classifications. Uhiriwe takes the first mountain jersey, while Fisher-Black secures the young rider jersey after this trip in the breakaway.
