Sensational-Adelaide.com

The Tour Down Under has come again for the 14th time and the fifth year as UCI Pro Tour event.

Consisting of a prologue stage around the East End of vibrant Adelaide before a six-stage race through different towns around South Australia, this race is synonymous with drawing in some of cycling’s biggest names throughout the event’s history.

The seven-time Tour De France yellow jersey winner Lance Armstrong, three-time Tour De France yellow jersey winner Alberto Contador and 2011 Tour de France yellow jersey winner Cadel Evans have all rode in the Adelaide-based event.

Although they are not riding this installment of the race, there is no lack of big name professional riders racing in this year’s edition and most of the big name cyclists are sprinters.

Many of the best sprinters, climbers and all-rounders have decided not to bypass TDU because of London Olympics preparation, instead using the event as a base for the rest of the season which consists of the biggest races in the world and the road race and time-trial at the London Olympics.

Cycling aficionado will immediately think, without the Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish, is it really the best sprinters on show?

A matter of fact, it most certainly is.

To start with a former dual Town Down Under winner and points classification winner of the 2009 Vuelta a España, the man known as Gorilla, Germany’s best sprinter Andre Greipel.

The bronze medalist at the World Championships in the road race held in Copenhagen, Denmark last year is often described as the fastest man in the world over a straight line and many teams will use their Domestiques (team riders) to act as flickers to ensure that he doesn’t have that straight line to the finish line.

But Greipel is a formidable competitor and will always aspire to win at least the points classification.

Greipel is very dangerous on the flat stages and if he holds the ochre jersey or is near the leader, expect a possessed ‘gorilla’ to rampage through the streets of Adelaide for Lotto Belisol.

Then there is the cycling legend, three-time-world champion, Spain’s Oscar Freire who now rides for Russian team, Katusha. Not to mention he has won the points championship of the greatest race in the world back in 2008, the Tour de France. Freire is a dangerously nimble and is a feared cyclist who has proven himself on the biggest stages in professional cycling.

An outsider to the sport would look at his diminutive frame and think he would not be that threatening, but the sprinter is respected by his rivals.

Freire has come under scrutiny in his time as a professional cyclist because unlike many of his counterparts he trains over a considerably shorter distance, sometimes as little as half the distance others would train.

But winning three World Championships, equaling the likes of fellow cycling legends Alfredo Binda, Rik Van Steenbergen and ‘the cannibal’ Eddy Merckx, is no small feat and requires an astonishing level of endurance and power to achieve.

Freire, in my opinion, would be dangerous in the opening stage of Prospect to Clare because of the fact there are no category climbs and only a very gradual rise of 400 metres over the 149km stage.

He will be looking to establish a lead in the first stage because the hilly second stage and the Old Willunga Hill finish of the fifth stage should cost Freire some time.

Australian Matt Goss will be looking to better his runner-up finish from the Tour Down Under last year and being a key sprinter for the newly established Australian team GreenEDGE, Matt will be hoping to send a message to the world of cycling for himself and his team.

Goss is a proven sprinter in Adelaide having won the blue points jersey last year as well as a stage win in the Giro d’Italia, which is one of the three biggest races in the world.

The Tasmanian born cyclist has had plenty of experience racing in Australian conditions and riding with Adelaide local Stuart O’Grady should all play into his advantage over many fellow riders.

Lampre-ISD is putting up the most known Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, probably one of the most coveted sprinters in history with an impressive resume consisting of points classification win in all three of the big races.

He won the Green Jersey at the Tour De France in 2010, the Violet Jersey of the Giro d’Italia back in 2004 and the blue jersey of the Vuelta a España in 2005.

Not to mention he is third in the all time classification of Most Grand Stage wins. Petacchi has won an impressive six stages of the Tour de France, 20 stages of the Vuelta a España and 22 stages of the Giro d’Italia.

He has won 48 stages, to put that in context the next rider of the Tour Down Under is Australia’s Robbie McEwen who has won 24 stages in any of the three grand tours. Expect Alessandro to put in for a big tour.

At some point I assume most people who watch the news or read a paper during either the Tour Down Under or Tour De France may probably have heard these names before but there are world-class cyclists that many haven’t heard of competing in this instalment.

This includes the likes of Norway born Sky Procycling team leader Edvald Boasson-Hagen, who is a multiple time winner of national time trial championship and should be a real contender on the prologue stage through Adelaide’s East End and the final stage around the streets of Adelaide. BMC Racing (Cadel Evans’ team) has put forward another of the great sprinters in cycling.

Italian Alessandro Ballan who has won a road race world championship and a stage of the Vuelta a España. Team UniSA has a good chance to local boy Rohan Dennis who has just won the time trial at the National championships just five days before the start of the tour.

http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/01/11/to ... rs-affair/

THE Tour Down Under isn't just attracting visitors - it has convinced some of them to make Adelaide home.

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FOR two years a kangaroo riding a bike stared down at Frederick Bonail as he studied at his desk in his bedroom in Montpellier in the south of France. It was a miniature road sign - a freebie promoting the Tour Down Under he was given during the 2005 Tour de France - and each time the top-level amateur cyclist looked up from his sports management text books, the kangaroo was there. It wasn't quite the famous boxing kangaroo, but it was doing a "mono" with its front wheel in the air and almost leapt off the sign dangling on a lanyard.

"I thought it could be a clue," he says. "So I did some research and realised Adelaide had quite a strong cycling community." Within five months he was headed Down Under on what he thought was going to be a five-month holiday to improve his English. "It was just me and my bike in a backpacker hostel in the city," the now 27-year-old remembers of his first days in the city. "I knew absolutely no one."

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It didn't take long for that to change. Within a week Bonail rode alongside a group of cyclists, joined in and suddenly found himself in Super Elliott's cycling store in Rundle St with a bunch to call his own. "Straight away I felt part of the cycling community," says the boy proudly from Perpignan in the south of France ("Perpignan is where Thomas Voeckler won the stage of the 2009 Tour! You remember it yeah?").

Bonail has fitted into the local cycle scene well - working for Focus Bikes and racing criteriums at Victoria Park - but he's still getting used to the art of a good coffee ride. "In France we don't stop from the meeting point until home," he says. "In Spain you stop for Coke and donuts. But in Adelaide there's not a ride that doesn't finish with a coffee!" His initial lure to Adelaide, the Tour Down Under, was everything he had imagined and more. After enjoying the race as a spectator for two years, he volunteered in the media centre and tour village. "I've been to the Tour de France, the Vuelta (à Espana), Tour of Catalonya, but I've never seen anything like here where you can get so close to the riders," he says. "You can train with the pros and talk to them, it's proximity you don't get anywhere else."

It is glowing praise for a race just 13 years old and thousands of kilometres from cycling's European heart. But since the Tour Down Under was awarded ProTour status in 2008 - the first race outside of Europe to earn the honour - thousands of enthusiasts like Bonail have made the pilgrimage to the city of churches to find it is also the city of cyclists.

The biggest spike in visitor numbers came in 2009 with what is now known as the "Lance effect". The world's most famous cyclist and cancer survivor, Lance Armstrong, chose Adelaide to launch his comeback. TDU race director Mike Turtur says that "shot us through the stratosphere". Event-specific visitor numbers climbed from 15,000 to 36,000 when Armstrong arrived, media accreditation doubled and total attendance increased by 212,000.

But Turtur is quick to quash speculation about appearance fees paid to the legendary cyclist. He says talk of $2 million ridiculous. "It was a confidential arrangement but what I can say is it was the deal of a lifetime," says Turtur. "He was worth his weight in gold." Turtur reckons Armstrong put the TDU at least five years ahead of where they were hoping to be in terms of awareness, visitation, and marketing. "We had a 100 per cent increase in everything," says Turtur. "The dinner, challenge tour, visitation, economic benefit."

FOR British architect Nigel Howden, visiting Adelaide for last year's Tour changed his life. "It sounds cheesy but that's the fact of the matter," he says. Howden was living in Yorkshire and working in Manchester when he won a SA Tourism Commission competition in a cycling magazine for an all-expenses paid trip to the 2011 Tour Down Under. Within five days he and his girlfriend Sarah were on their way to Adelaide. "We just fell in love with the place," says Howden. "The accessibility of it all, the coast and hills on the doorstep for cycling, is fantastic."

So impressed were the couple that while still in transit in Singapore they floated the idea of returning to Adelaide for good. Neither took much convincing and by February they had packed their suitcases, flown back and landed jobs.

Howden is a triathlete who still marvels at how good Adelaide cyclists have it. "It's phenomenal the amount of people who are out on bikes," says the 37-year-old. "Some days I'm up at 4.45am, out on the bike by 5.15am and up Norton Summit. Riding up there at sunrise and looking over the city to the coast is absolutely stunning." Howden and his partner Sarah have two-year working visas but can see their stay becoming longer if things work out.

"We came here with open minds that if we didn't like it we could go back," he says. "But certainly the way the things are panning out now we're both loving it."

In November they played host to friends who were holidaying from the UK. They dined in the East End one evening and visited the beach and McLaren Vale the next day. "They couldn't believe we had everything in one place," Howden says. "They were blown away."

This close variety is one of the TDU's biggest assets, according to Turtur. "The race is a moving billboard wherever it goes," he says. It showcases South Australia to the world, not only to visitors but also via pictures beamed to millions of television sets in lounge rooms across the globe. No wonder a record 23 councils applied to host one of the 10 stage starts and finishes this year.

GROWING up 20km from the Belgian capital Brussels, Aron Huysmans started cycling at 13 and turned professional in 2004. He spent the next three years racing with Pro Continental team Chocolate-Jacques, riding some of the biggest one-day races in the world. He has finished Paris-Roubaix - the famed cobbled classic Stuart O'Grady won in 2007 - as well as the Tour of Flanders and Fleche Wallonne.

But that all changed in 2006, when he met his future wife, Jessica Lauder, who was holidaying in Europe from Adelaide. "Ever since then I spent every Australian summer training in Adelaide to prepare for the European season," he says. "I loved it straight away."

By 2009, Huysmans had become a father and when he retired from professional cycling the decision to move to Adelaide was easy. Although the 31-year-old misses the racing in Europe, he still gets his thrills in the Rendition Homes Series and stretches the legs with a ride to Lobethal when he gets a day off work at JT Cycles in the city.

"Compared to Belgium it is different scenery, but the hills are nicer here," says Huysmans. "When I'm on my bike, I'm happy."

Had Huysmans visited 20 years earlier, however, he might not have been quite as happy, according to Turtur. In the early 1990s the only place cycling fans could get their fix was at track events featuring Olympic stars O'Grady, Brett Aitken, Brad McGee and Luke Roberts. They were largely starved of big road races until the emergence of the Tour Down Under in 1999, which coincidentally began just as Aussie riders began to make a serious impact on the European peloton. O'Grady wore the yellow jersey for three days in the 1998 Tour de France before winning the inaugural TDU in his home town. At the same time Robbie McEwen began winning stages and green jerseys in the world's biggest road race.

"The race has changed things big-time for cycling in Adelaide because it reached so many people," says Turtur, before admitting that the challenge is to maintain the interest - which is made even harder without legendary Armstrong in the peloton and his Twitter buddy Mike Rann in the Premier's office. "I don't think we can increase (attendance this year) and if we do it will be a pretty good effort," Turtur says. "But if we can maintain that level we're going to be doing pretty well and the way figures are tracking at the moment, it looks like we're going to."

It's not just overseas visitors making the most of the week-long festival which starts with the Down Under Classic at Rymill Park tomorrow. Many South Australian cycling fans take the week off work to get a taste of Europe in their own backyard - all finished off with a good coffee.

Sunday 15 January:
10.30pm-12am - Down Under Classic (90 minute highlights)
Tuesday 17 January:
11.30pm-12.30am - Stage 1 (1 hour highlights)
Wednesday 18 January:
11.20pm-12.20am - Colemans Group Stage 2 (1 hour highlights)
Thursday 19 January:
11.30pm-12.30am - Stage 3 (1 hour highlights)
Friday 20 January:
11.00pm-12.00pm - Bupa Stage 4 (1 hour highlights)
Saturday 21 January: Jayco Stage 5 LIVE broadcast:
11.00am-3.30pm - Adelaide
10.30am-3pm - Brisbane
11.30am-4pm - Sydney/Melbourne
8.30am-1pm - Perth
Sunday 22 January: Stage 6 LIVE broadcast:
12.30pm-3.30pm - Adelaide
12.00pm-3.00pm - Brisbane
1.00pm-4.00pm - Sydney/Melbourne
10.00am-1.00pm - Perth

Wayno wrote:Seems we are getting screwed on TV coverage this year. SBS had the broadcast rights in previous years, and they showed all 7 days *live*, with highlights later each evening. Channel 9 has the broadcast rights this year and there's bugger all coverage for 5 of 7 days:

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

Sunday 15 January:
10.30pm-12am - Down Under Classic (90 minute highlights)
Tuesday 17 January:
11.30pm-12.30am - Stage 1 (1 hour highlights)
Wednesday 18 January:
11.20pm-12.20am - Colemans Group Stage 2 (1 hour highlights)
Thursday 19 January:
11.30pm-12.30am - Stage 3 (1 hour highlights)
Friday 20 January:
11.00pm-12.00pm - Bupa Stage 4 (1 hour highlights)
Saturday 21 January: Jayco Stage 5 LIVE broadcast:
11.00am-3.30pm - Adelaide
10.30am-3pm - Brisbane
11.30am-4pm - Sydney/Melbourne
8.30am-1pm - Perth
Sunday 22 January: Stage 6 LIVE broadcast:
12.30pm-3.30pm - Adelaide
12.00pm-3.00pm - Brisbane
1.00pm-4.00pm - Sydney/Melbourne
10.00am-1.00pm - Perth

Pathetic. SA's biggest annual event and it gets naff all coverage interstate. sigh.

crawf wrote:Though it would be good if the last stage was extended along eastern North Terrace, past the Museum and University Precinct and then north onto Frome Road. Beautiful part of our city that should be included.

rev wrote:Worst time of the year for motorists.
The road closures are fine, the wannabe Lance Armstrongs are not.

dsriggs wrote:Storms expected tomorrow.

Nathan wrote:

rev wrote:Worst time of the year for motorists.
The road closures are fine, the wannabe Lance Armstrongs are not.

Are they really that much of an inconvenience?

And why the "wannabe Lance Armstrongs" dig? Are people going for a jog "wannabe Usain Bolts", or people playing club soccer on a weekend "wannabe Beckhams"?

Do I have to use bicycle lanes when riding on the road?

If you are riding on the road with a bicycle lane travelling in the same direction, you must ride in the bicycle lane, when it is in operation (as indicated by the signs) unless it is impractical to do so (eg glass in the bicycle lane).

Am I allowed to ride two abreast on the road?

Yes you are allowed to ride two abreast on the road. The exception to this is where a bicycle lane exists and is in operation and there is insufficient room for two riders to ride abreast inside the lane, In this case you must ride single file. Also whilst it is legal to ride two abreast it is important to consider other road users and not hog the road.