Tour Down Under

My name is Simon Clarke. I am 21 and ride for the SouthAustralia.com/ AIS cycling team. This week in the Tour Down Under I am riding for the Uni SA/ Australian National Team. In our team we have, Allan Davis, Matt Wilson, Luke Roberts, Wes Sulzberger, Carl Menzies, Richie Porte and myself. I will be giving you daily reports from the tour to give you an inside look into what goes on in a Pro Tour event.

To read Simon's reports, log on to
tdu2008.cyclingfever.comtdu2008.cyclingfever.comOpen ↗

TheDarkLord said:

It must have been so anticlimatic for the Rabobank riders; after working so hard and setting up Greame Brown, he finished like 17th?

Yes a lot of riders got into trouble at the final curve, Rabo was the main victim...

I was there at the race last night and it was great. Being an Adelaide local I have followed the race since its inception and i can tell you that the race organisers and the state love the extra prestige the pro tour status brings, but from a spectators perspective it makes no difference except that there are more euro teams here, which creates a bit more of a buzz.

i think given the time frames that teams had to organise themselves its no wonder not many of the big name riders are here, as many rider programs could have been set when the protour status was announced. Its enitirley possible that many euro teams will switch their training camps to Oz and stay around for the TDU...any thoughts

Yes they probebly will...

hoggy said:

I was there at the race last night and it was great. Being an Adelaide local I have followed the race since its inception and i can tell you that the race organisers and the state love the extra prestige the pro tour status brings, but from a spectators perspective it makes no difference except that there are more euro teams here, which creates a bit more of a buzz.

i think given the time frames that teams had to organise themselves its no wonder not many of the big name riders are here, as many rider programs could have been set when the protour status was announced. Its enitirley possible that many euro teams will switch their training camps to Oz and stay around for the TDU...any thoughts

Day 3 Riders diary Heinrich Haussler: "Enjoying the tranquilness one more time."
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cyclingheroes said:

Day 3 Riders diary Heinrich Haussler: "Enjoying the tranquilness one more time."
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Heinrich Haussler was actually born in Australia (to German parents who had migrated) and actually left home at 14 to pursue cycling...... good story...... not that he'll ever win anything......

whiteboytrash said:

Heinrich Haussler was actually born in Australia (to German parents who had migrated) and actually left home at 14 to pursue cycling...... good story...... not that he'll ever win anything......

Correct, only he was 13 :p

And he will win a few classics in the coming years.... Bet?

[left]Tour Down Under: Renshaw takes first stage[/left]
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cyclingheroes said:

Tour Down Under: Renshaw takes first stage [left]cyclingheroes.infoid1149.htmlOpen ↗[/left]

122 riders in the main group! Not very exciting IMHO except for the final sprint.

cyclingheroes said:

And he will win a few classics in the coming years.... Bet?

Yes. I'll swap you a boomerang for a pair of lederhosen.

whiteboytrash said:

Yes. I'll swap you a boomerang for a pair of lederhosen.

Whiteboy, you should have seen the way he has pantsed Renshaw and Brown in stages in Europe.

He is also a 250 km rider, unlike the former two.

TheDarkLord said:

122 riders in the main group! Not very exciting IMHO except for the final sprint.

Well... there was a breakaway group of three riders...but as is the norm now with race radios...the peloton reigned them in with a minimum of fuss just before the finish. If DS's couldn't talk to rider's...there would be much more advantage in gambling on forming a breakaway group and more exciting races in my view. But DS radio links will never be given up now.

whiteboytrash said:

Yes. I'll swap you a boomerang for a pair of lederhosen.

I am Dutch WBT, its cheese.... not lederhosen (thats German and to be exactly only in Bavaria..)

Day 4 Riders diary Heinrich Haussler: "To far behind."
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Crankyfeet said:

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Tour Down Under: Greipel takes second stage - Brown new overall leader
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cyclingheroes said:

Tour Down Under: Greipel takes second stage - Brown new overall leader
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117 riders finish with the same time! But stage 2 sounds more interesting than stage 1. CH, do you have the vertical profile of the course for the stages in your website? I found maps, but no profiles.

Maps and profiles on the TDU website

tourdownunder.com.au2008Open ↗

Yet another stage, yet another suicide break caught at 3 km to go, yet another bunch sprint.

Next year they have to make the route lumpier, because this is predictable and boooring.

It's pretty hard to make a tough course in Australia: it is so damned flat. It is possible to have the odd tough stage in Australia (by way of one example, the Alpine Challenge course for this year here, though that of course is not a practical stage route).

The TDU is in South Australia, though, and SA is flat even by Australian standards.

At least they've been giving it some gas. The peloton had to get a wriggle on to catch the break today, and shelled a few big names in the process. At flat stages go, it didn't seem too bad.

Tour Down Under... Maybe they should include some stages in the Snowy and Tassie, for some decent climbs. Or as others have said, it's a long long long criterium. But I doubt the SA organizers would agree to that.