Tour Down Under

[Wayno]

excellent!

[Vee]

This is interesting.
The InterContinental has announced a new Bike Concierge and Bike Doctor service will be available for hotel guests during the Tour Down Under in Adelaide.
More:
http://www.etravelblackboard.com/articl ... l-adelaide

[Maximus]

Current road race world champion Philippe Gilbert confirmed.

Gilbert chooses Tour Down Under over San Luis
By: Cycling News
Published: November 29, 00:56

Philippe Gilbert will lead a "super strong" BMC Racing Team line-up at the 2013 Santos Tour Down Under in January, with the Belgian happy with what the Australian WorldTour event has on offer for him.

Gilbert had also been considering starting the season at the Tour de San Luis or Qatar.

It will be reigning World Champion's first appearance in Adelaide since 2008 when he was racing for Française des Jeux. That year he won the King of the Mountains classification. His first taste of Adelaide was actually four years earlier when he won a stage, along with the Young Rider classification to finish fourth overall.

more...

[Wayno]

Not TDU related, but SA achieving this status would be mostly due to how well we run the TDU.

CYCLING Australia has rubber stamped the new Adelaide Tour for elite men and women on the 2013 National Road Series calendar.

Adelaide Tour race director Max Stevens was ecstatic after the three-day event in May was made official after Cycling Australia announced SA as part of the growing national league of cycling.

"It's been a couple of years in the making," Stevens said.

"Wayne Fazzalari from Rendition Homes has put this together when he targeted sponsoring a cycling event at a higher level.

"We've had a very good relationship with Cycling Australia, and the Campbelltown City Council has also been keen to become a hub for cycling.

"We want to make this event the second biggest cycling event behind the Tour Down Under and we're getting plenty of support from Events SA."

SA cycling legends Stuart O'Grady, Patrick Jonker and Mike Turtur will have races named in their honour for the three-day event.

The Patrick Jonker team time trial makes its debut from Cudlee Creek before the Stuart O'Grady road race takes precedence in the Woodside region with recreational cyclists also having a chance to participate on the 50km circuit.

The Adelaide Tour cycling festival culminates with the Mike Turtur Kermesse which starts and finishes at the Thorndon Park Reservoir.

"We're attracting the best domestic cyclists to the Adelaide Tour," Stevens said. "It gives these riders better chances of furthering their careers on the bike."

Meanwhile, Cycling SA's Bowden Elite Teams Series Individual Time Trial up Norton Summit pedals off from 10.15 tomorrow.

About 100 riders will pedal up Norton Summit Road in an effort to beat Damien Howson's record of 11:29.42.

The Lightsview rider also claimed bronze at this year's UCI World U23 Time Trial Championships.

George Tansley (Euride Racing SA Elite) is currently leading the series.

Men's National Road Series - Tour de Perth (WA), Battle on the Border (Nth NSW), Tour of Toowoomba, Adelaide Tour (SA), North Western Tour, Tour of Gippsland (VIC), Tour of the South Great South Coast (VIC), Tour of the Murray River (VIC), Goulburn to Sydney (NSW), Canberra Tour (ACT), Tour of Tasmania, Melbourne to Warrnambool (VIC), Shipwreck Coast Classic (VIC), Grafton to Inverell.

Women's National Road Series - Mersey Valley Tour (TAS), Battle on the Border (Nth NSW), Adelaide Tour, North Western Tour, Miranda Tour of the King Valley (VIC), Tour of the Murray River, Canberra Tour (ACT), Shipwreck Coast Classic, Tour of the Goldfields (VIC).

[Maximus]

The Modbury race has a 'grass start'. Stoned riders?

It would seem not...

Tea Tree Gully Council bans smoking from Modbury Tour Down Under stage start
Erin Jones
Leader Messenger
December 13, 201211:43AM

SMOKERS will be forced to butt out at the Modbury stage start of next year's Tour Down Under.

Tea Tree Gully Council unanimously voted this week to ban smoking from the start of stage four of the tour at Civic Park on Friday, January 25.

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[Wayno]

Good news. The 2013 race will have extensive domestic TV coverage on 9/GEM.

http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/tv-coverage.htm

For the first time in the race’s history every stage of the Santos Tour Down Under will be shown LIVE on television on the Nine Network. Coverage will kick off with the People’s Choice Classic on Sunday, January 20, (90 minute delayed program) followed by Stages 1-6 of the Santos Tour Down Under from Tuesday, January 22.

As the world’s best road cyclists fight it out on the streets of Adelaide, cycling fans will see more action LIVE and in HD on GEM in 2013. The Nine Network, which is broadcasting the event for the second time, will showcase the thrilling final two hours of each of the first four stages on GEM as part of a two and half hour daily live package.

To cap off an intense week of cycling, the entire final two stages of the 2013 Santos Tour Down Under will be broadcast LIVE on Saturday at 11.30am AEDT and Sunday at 1.30pm AEDT, January 26-27, on Channel Nine.

[Wayno]

awesome atmosphere in the city yesterday afternoon & evening. love the TDU!

[Maximus]

With the TDU 'proper' starting today, here's further evidence of the high esteem in which our race, and the state, are held...

Eisel ready to race Down Under without Cavendish
By: Cycling NewsPublished: January 21, 22:01, Updated: January 21, 22:01

Bernhard Eisel (Team Sky) has been a regular at the Tour Down Under over the years. His appearance in 2013 is significant with the race experiencing another evolution, while the 31-year-old Austrian begins the next chapter of his career.

"The time for Andre Greipel to win this race is over," Eisel told Cyclingnews, referring to the hillier race route. The German sprinter took his second Tour Down Under title in 2010. The first major shift in the race occurred the year after- the last time Eisel raced in Adelaide - alongside Mark Cavendish with HTC-Highroad, meaning it was no longer an event tailor made for sprinters. Cavendish's debut at the Tour Down Under wasn't a happy one following a heavy crash on the opening stage but the experience didn't dampen Eisel's love for the race.

"For me it's still one of the best races in the calendar. It deserves to be WorldTour," he said, full of praise. "In a half an hour, you can reach everything. The hills, the beach, the vineyards - it is definitely nice here. I would move here."

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[Vee]

Loving the interest in, and coverage of, the Tour Down Under and the absolute buzz in the city and surrounds. The Tour Village and Bike Expo in Victoria Square are visible elements of the TDU and well attended.

If you haven't seen the Big Green Bike in the Square, this is one of the best pictures, posted on Twitter by @BJscotty.
http://instagram.com/p/UwzPN5Pob7/

Twitter is a great place to share information, comments and photos about the event. There is a lot of interest from interstate and overseas and the local Twitter updates from cycling groups and fans add extra information and insights to the livestream, TV coverage on GEM and fans around the circuit.

The big disappointment to date has been the replay highlights on Channel 9 each evening. They are far too short and cut out so much of the race. (Too many ads and infomercials eat into the time). Would be nice to have onscreen labels for towns too.

The replay is on far too late, particularly for the viewers on the east coast. (After some third rate American show after the cricket or whatever else Ch 9 is showing). Thank goodness, fans in Adelaide were better catered for.

The Tour Down Under is a great credit to the organizers and a great economic and social boon to the state.

Check out out the other great fan-sourced photos using the #tdu hashtag on Twitter.

[Wayno]

The big disappointment to date has been the replay highlights on Channel 9 each evening. They are far too short and cut out so much of the race. (Too many ads and infomercials eat into the time). Would be nice to have onscreen labels for towns too.

The replay is on far too late, particularly for the viewers on the east coast. (After some third rate American show after the cricket or whatever else Ch 9 is showing). Thank goodness, fans in Adelaide were better catered for.

yep, agreed. although the daytime live coverage on 9 GEM is excellent, and is australia-wide. Certainly a big step forward as compared to last year.

[Maximus]

Cross-quoting from the mining thread...

Don't worry Fairfax will wake up eventually, their journalists will be reading about it on other websites and the scramble to write an article has begun. Given the current situation at Fairfax (retrenchments to journalists and editors) its not surprising. Also doesn't help that Fairfax has no "presence" in Adelaide (as far as I know)

I was thinking it was a combination of certain owners, with a bit of the petty parochialism thrown in (also see their coverage of the TDU - even in the Sports > Cycling section, the only TDU stories are negative ones about the fees paid to Lance)

Yeah, the litany of stories in the past few days about Lance is quite unbelievable. Regardless of your views on the issue, it's starting to look like a personal vendetta against the race. Note that the journalist is Samantha Lane -- a self-styled cycling reporter who, IMHO, knows little about the sport. I also note that her father, Tim Lane, was (again IMHO) one of the biggest perpetrators of VIC-centric rhetoric when he commentated AFL for Channel 10. Perhaps I'm being too much of a conspiracy theorist, but you'll note the contrast with the other Fairfax cycling reporter, Rupert Guinness, who has covered cycling for over 20 years and definitely does know what he's talking about.

As for the coverage, yes the highlights are on too late, but they're 60 mins instead of the 30 mins they used to be previously. I reckon that's the perfect length of time to get a good re-cap of the stage and possibly attract viewers who wouldn't watch if they had to sit in front of the TV for any longer.

[crawf]

Great to see SA Tourism milking our state through the TV coverage, considering this is our best event to advertise Adelaide and South Australia. The TV coverage on GEM is great, the highlights package is okay but at least it's on a better time than 12 or 1am in previous years. Plus as others have mentioned, an hour instead of half n hour.

And last but not least but the aerial footage has been fantastic, tonight especially the Adelaide Hills looked stunning.

[Vee]

Great to see SA Tourism milking our state through the TV coverage, considering this is our best event to advertise Adelaide and South Australia. The TV coverage on GEM is great, the highlights package is okay but at least it's on a better time than 12 or 1am in previous years. Plus as others have mentioned, an hour instead of half n hour.

And last but not least but the aerial footage has been fantastic, tonight especially the Adelaide Hills looked stunning.

Yes, the Adelaide Hills looked great.
Note the earlier time for the Highlights package is for our state only. The eastern states have to wait until 11pm (after the high rating?? 2 Broke Girls) and this time can be pushed back to around midnight eg when the cricket finished late earlier in the week.

The big question we have is the renewal of the contract, post 2015. There are rumours that Victoria is eyeing it off. Given the growing expense of the Grand Prix and possibility they could ditch it, the TDU would slot nicely into their events program.

Tracey Gaudry, who replaced TDU Director Mike Turtur on the UCI, on ABC891 evaded answering the question about the future of the TDU (location-wise) post 2015. If you listen to the interview, she skirted around the issue and talked about a "bidding opportunity" and "track record" in generic terms. Hesitant pauses and evasive answers were telling in my opinion.
Interesting that she has not had time to catch up with Turtur while over here.
There was talk about an international cycling event for women.
http://www.news.com.au/sport/santos-tou ... 6561295024

Given the persistent rumours of a Victorian attempt to lure the event, the SA Tourism Commission needs to pull out all stops to secure the future of this excellent event in SA.

As an aside, is the event name "Tour Down Under" owned/trade marked by SA?

[Nathan]

Not only is the name "Tour Down Under" trademarked, the Tour Down Under itself is completely owned and managed by Events South Australia, which is part of the Tourism Commission. That's why I bang my head every time these silly rumours of other states trying to steal it come up - they can't (unless someone in state government get's really really drunk and sells it off...)

Surely the renewal of UCI World Tour status is just a formality. There's no other tour in Oceania that is at the level that the TDU is at that, so the idea of giving something else that status is pretty ridiculous. The closest would be the Herald Sun Tour. But that's been dropped from 2.1 to just a national event - so it needs to build itself back up to UCI Continental level before it can even think about pursuing World Tour level.

[Maximus]

Note the earlier time for the Highlights package is for our state only. The eastern states have to wait until 11pm (after the high rating?? 2 Broke Girls) and this time can be pushed back to around midnight eg when the cricket finished late earlier in the week.

Don't I know it!!

The big question we have is the renewal of the contract, post 2015. There are rumours that Victoria is eyeing it off. Given the growing expense of the Grand Prix and possibility they could ditch it, the TDU would slot nicely into their events program.

Yes, definitely. That was a somewhat strange title for the article in The Advertiser today ("TDU is in Adelaide to stay"), because so far as I can tell that's not what Tracey Gaudry said at all. I also note that she appears to be a Victorian -- at least we always knew Mike Turtur was on SA's side when he was the Oceania rep on the UCI, even if it was a total conflict of interest! In any case, yes, the SA Gummint owns the TDU (name and all) and it looks like they're onto it...

Victoria trying to poach Tour Down Under, Jay Weatherill says
Lauren Novak
adelaidenow
January 22, 20132:13PM

PREMIER Jay Weatherill has warned Victoria is looking to poach the Tour Down Under from South Australia and he has tasked his new Tourism Minister with securing the cycling event's future.

Mr Weatherill promoted Leon Bignell to his cabinet yesterday, in the Tourism, Sport and Recreation portfolios, and said he had made it "a very clear objective" for the new minister to ensure the TDU remained in SA.

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Another good read here.

Not only is the name "Tour Down Under" trademarked, the Tour Down Under itself is completely owned and managed by Events South Australia, which is part of the Tourism Commission. That's why I bang my head every time these silly rumours of other states trying to steal it come up - they can't (unless someone in state government get's really really drunk and sells it off...)

Surely the renewal of UCI World Tour status is just a formality. There's no other tour in Oceania that is at the level that the TDU is at that, so the idea of giving something else that status is pretty ridiculous. The closest would be the Herald Sun Tour. But that's been dropped from 2.1 to just a national event - so it needs to build itself back up to UCI Continental level before it can even think about pursuing World Tour level.

All true, but to a certain degree the standard of a cycling event is a function of its UCI rating, rather than the other way round. The UCI could, for example, grant WorldTour status to the Herald Sun Tour (unlikely, yes), which would then force all the WorldTour teams to participate and BINGO: world-class event.

Anyway, perhaps we should all just get back to enjoying the race whilst it's on, rather than worrying about those nasty Victorians.