Whilst I am not a Road TT rider myself many riders train for this event and have specailised bikes for this form of racing. It is great to see this opportunity being given not only to the road tt racers but the road racers as well.
Depending on my circumstances I would like to get down there that weekend possibly to help out in some way or watch.
Will see but great news for our racers and those from other clubs who take part.
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( 3 / 5 )That sprint finish in last night's stage was quite spectacular and was good to see everyone got over the line in tact. The Green Jersey points comp may turn out to be very close with a number of classy sprinters who could possibly win. Interesting listend to David MacKenzie last night saying how hard it is for these sprinters to remain up there all the time. HTC-Colombia don't appear as dominant this year and Mark Cavendish does not appear to be in as good a form at present. Hopefully Robbie McEwen can win a stage this year and he is still amazing how he can place himself right up front.
David did mention how well the old blokes are sprinting and Petacchi's two win with such a powerful jump were fantastic.
Will watch some again late tonight if I can stay awake okay.
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( 3 / 5 )With Beth going into Box Hill Hospital by Ambulance I have been out of action since yesterday. Hopefully we will find out tomorrow how she is when they do a procedure on her.
I did not see the Tour de France last night for obvious reasons but did see the half hour segment tonight. Whilst the stage was exciting for viewers and those watching on the roadside it certainly was not for the riders.
Hearing Jens Voigt interview he said the stage was ridiculous and I think that coming from one of the most experienced riders in the race, says it all. If Armstrong or one of the top contenders complained you would have a whole host of uninformed people saying 'oh he is just complaining'.
For mine the Tour Directors need their backside kicked for putting the hardest 3 week stage race over a one day classic course. Look, the traditions of the Classics is that they race on these back cobble roads, they are one day events. To see Frank Schleck and others fall on those back roads is very sad and should have been avoided.
From interviews before the stage top riders were not looking forward to that stage and I am amazed these top riders are not consulted when the years race plan was being set up. By all means go outside of France but don't put the riders over a Donkey Track like that when there is three hard weeks to race.
I am not big on militant unionism but people have every right to be represented by a body working in their interests, in my view. The sooner the top cyclists have a common voice on matters concerning their well being the better. Their choice of profession is dangerous by the nature of what they do but unnecessary and foolish danger should not be tolerated and the top riders could have a strong voice in these matters.
As I stated earlier the Classics have cobbles as part of their tradition and are one dayers but it was not fair to the riders to put them over such crappy roads with the high risks of bad injuries.
By all means start outside France but on suitable roads, Holland was fine but hard and some of those fall were rider error not crappy road surfaces. Theré not MTBikers or cyclocross riders and deserve a fair go. Also they are not circus animals.
Looking forward to tonight and bad luck for Frank Schleck.
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( 3 / 5 )It look's like the main focus for the top contenders in the tour is keeping out of trouble. Perhaps the course today was not suitable then these roads are used for plenty of other races. Maybe the riders have to ride according to the conditions at the time.
As Robbie McEwen explained from the previous day, they were each given a little map of the course. If riders go into a hairpin bend at nearly 70 k's per hour then falls must be expected.
Then conditions on wet roads do change a lot. Hopefully no more riders are knocked out like Adam Hansen from avoidable falls.
Safe riding this week and at least Melb is dry.
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( 3 / 5 )Talking to Col Rourke today he was told by David Sturt about the 100 k's Victorian Championship yesterday. David said there were only about 30 riders left at the finish yesterday and one of those riders was Gerard Donnelly. Gerard is now Masters 5 yet to see him race you would still think him a youngster. David Sturt told Colin that he was very impressed with the ride by Gerard.
By the way David is not too bad himself, he is very classy.
Don't know how any other CCCC riders went as I can't really follow the results other than the first three placegetters etc. etc.
Gerard will give a very good account of himself in the Australian Road Titles in September and although there are some gun interstate guys, he will be right in there and a good chance to win.
David 'Steggles' will go okay himself anyway.
safe riding all.
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