‘Ups and Down’: Australian team racing for redemption
Roger Vaughan |
The heat is on the Australian Jayco AlUla team at the Tour Down Under.
Along with the blast-furnace conditions forecast for later this week, Australia’s only WorldTour cycling squad badly needs a good showing after their colossal blunder at the national road championships.
They have weathered plenty of criticism and scrutiny since two Sundays ago in Perth, when Patrick Eddy rode superbly to wrong-foot Jayco AlUla’s superiority in numbers and firepower at the finish of the men’s elite road race.
Eddy outsprinted Jayco AlUla star Luke Plapp, who has stayed away from social media after the barrage of criticism directed at him.
Publicly and privately, Jayco AlUla have since stressed they have learnt quickly from their mistakes in the last few kilometres of the road race, which looked theirs for the taking.
Plapp’s teammate Ben O’Connor, one of the favourites for the Santos Tour overall title, spoke carefully on Tuesday at the pre-race media conference when asked about the fall-out from the nationals.
“Any company, team, business has it’s ups and downs, right?” O’Connor said.
“So you have to go with those mistakes or problem, work through it, speak – it’s all about communication and relationships.
“Also it’s knowing what your job is. This is probably of first or second-most important race on the calendar.
“We have to make sure we get the job done.”
This will be the hardest route in the Tour’s 26-year history, with stage two featuring two climbs up Corkscrew Rd in the Adelaide Hills.
Saturday, when the temperature is expected to peak at 41, will have three circuits of the Tour’s iconic Willunga Hill climb.
But Spaniard Javier Romo (Movistar), second overall last year behind Ecuador’s Jhonatan Narvaez (UAE Team Emirates), said the last stage could be the most chaotic.
It will be nine laps of the Stirling circuit in the Adelaide Hills, with plenty of opportunities for attacks that could detonate the overall standings.
“I love the last stage, because it’s not easy for the GC leader to control – a lot of riders can attack,” Romo said.
“Someone can surprise on this stage.”
It is light years removed from the Tour’s origins as a paradise for sprinters such as Australian great Robbie McEwen and much-respected German fast man Andre Greipel.
Australian sprinter Sam Welsford, making his debut at Ineos Grenadiers, had joked earlier this month that he would have words with race director Stuart O’Grady.
After Tuesday night’s prologue time trial in the Adelaide parklands, the Wednesday stage at Tanunda in the Barossa Valley will suit fast men such as Welsford.
“At least he’s flipped the Tanunda stage around – because last year we went the other way and that was harder,” Welsford said of O’Grady.
“It’s good also to have a nice variance of stages in the Tour. For the GC guys, it attracts bigger riders if there are harder stages.”
Welsford added stage three could also suit his sprinting strengths.
“I can’t be too picky. It’s nice to share it around,” he said.
For all the annual concerns about the Adelaide heat, O’Grady noted non-Australian riders now come to the Tour well-prepared for the conditions.
Exhibit A is Swiss ace Noemi Ruegg, who successfully defended her women’s Tour title on Monday after the temperature hit the mid-30s on Sunday during the second stage.
AAP
