Report by Toby.
If you have ever considered making the trip over to Adelaide for the Tour Down Under, then let me tell you that you stop thinking about it and start planning for 2011!
I’ve been to a couple of TDU’s, including the inagural one way back in the late 90’s – being the good South Australian boy that I am – but this years edition was definately the best ever. Since it’s now UCI pro event and moreso since the big Mr. Armstrong has been showing up, the whole event has exploded. This year estimates are that nearly a million people lined the streets of Adelaide and beyond to cheer on the pros.
I won’t retell the story of how the race unfolded, as I am sure you’ve all been following SBS’s crappy coverage, but I will tell you what my personal highlights were:
1) Hill top finish Stage 3 at Stirling. Thanks to Mino, Dan and Tyson we managed to get a great spot on top of the hill, just 20m up from the finishing line. The riders came through three times in total giving us lots of photo ops. After the finish Mr. Armstrong cut a 90 degree turn and disappeared straight into his trailer. I got a video. Sweet.
2) Mutual Community Ride. Wow – what an event. Officially there were 8099 riders taking past. I did the full 160km with my cousin, departing Norwood at 6:30am. Stupid SA has daylight savings so we were in darkness for the first couple of hours in Norwood. Gorge Road is a s&#t of a hill and finishes off with some nice 12% sections. After that it was full blast all the way through to Strathalbyn. We were flying up until this point, but then the wind picked up. And boy did it pick up. At one point we had done a 10km stretch of road at about 13km/hr. Ouch. It was also hot. I went through about 10 bottles. There were plenty of drink stations along the way with water, Powerade and bananas on hand for exhusted riders. Despite the well catered event though plenty of people cracked. After about 120km we started counting the people on the side of the road calling the SAG wagon – we lost count – there were lots. There were also a heap of punctures and a couple of little bingles along the way aswell – nothing that you wouldnt expect. In summary it was long, hot, windy, hard and bloody awesome. Sign me up for next year.
3) Willunga Hill Stage 5. Its great to see the pros earning their money. I was on the inside rail about 600m from the top of the KOM. They were so close you could touch them. Preferring not to touch them I cheered and took photos. I just about lost my shit when Cadel came through solo off the front. Great to see the rainbow flying like that.
I have put some photos below, but Mino was there with some serious hardware so I might add some of his photos later.
In summary – if you havent’ been you have to go. It would be great to get a group over there next year – so book the annual leave now.
i like the “Cadel going over Stirling” shot. first time i’ve managed to see close up what his bike set up is like. nice rainbows all over it.