‘Moneyball, game theory’: crash chaos dents Vine’s Tour
Roger Vaughan |
Jay Vine’s procession to his second Tour Down Under title has taken some blows in Willunga’s heat, wind, dust and crash chaos.
While the Australian cycling star remains the strongest rider in the race and retains a healthy overall lead, Vine will be two teammates down for Sunday’s testing last stage in the Adelaide Hills.
Rivals, especially the Australian Jayco AlUla squad, have the slightest whiff of hope.
Vine’s UAE Team Emirates colleague Jhonatan Narvaez crashed early in Saturday’s shortened stage – it was apparently an innocuous incident – and was taken to hospital.
It is a significant blow. Narvaez is the defending Santos Tour champion and was second overall after he and Vine torched their rivals on stage two.
Vine’s comments post-stage also suggested Narvaez might be out of action for some time because of his injuries.
Later in the 131km stage, Norwegian teammate Vegard Stake Laengen also crashed out.
He and Narvaez were among 10 riders who failed to finish the stage, which was shortened from 176km to 131km and went ahead without the iconic Willung Hill climb because of bushfire fears.
The temperature nudged 40C and a stiff northerly had teams trying to use crosswinds to break up the race.
But it came down to a bunch sprint and British rider Ethan Vernon (NSN Cycling) won, after his team also lost two riders during the stage.
“It’s mixed feelings because I was looking forward to a Willunga Hill climb … this stage really turned into a stressful day for no real gain,” Vine said.
“(There are) actually major losses for our team – not only for today, but possibly many, many weeks or months to come for Jhonny.”
In a race twice decided on countback, Vine retains a whopping one minute and three seconds lead over Jayco AlUla’s in-form Swiss strongman Mauro Schmid.
But the Australian knows he will need to be careful throughout Sunday’s last stage on the testing Hills circuit at Stirling.
“I can afford to be very smart and play the Moneyball, game theory style of racing – let the right break go and then hopefully let someone else chase a threatening move for their GC (general classification) position,” Vine said.
It was a morale-boosting day for Jayco AlUla, who have endured a tough start to the year.
Luke Plapp has worn much of the blame for Jayco AlUla’s botched finish at the Australian road championships in Perth, with Patrick Eddy exploiting the situation brilliantly and outsprinting him for the win.
Plapp went into Saturday’s three-rider break and rode well.
As team director Mat Hayman noted, the best form of defence is attack, and they also asked good questions of UAE Team Emirates in the crosswinds.
“We don’t need other people to fall off their bikes – we’re not celebrating that at all,” Hayman said.
“(But) it changes the dynamic a fair bit. We had a good day.
“Plappy was given a little bit of a green light – it was orange, but he made it green. It was good to be out there.”
In a nice touch during Saturday’s stage, Australian cycling great Richie Porte was given a police escort as he rode up the finishing straight.
Porte, nicknamed the King of Willunga Hill after winning on the climb six years in a row, was inducted this week into the Tour’s Hall Of Fame.
AAP
