Tour Down Under

Was a good week of racing.
Some interesting crashes.
A chance for the young Aussies to ride against their heroes and try and get noticed.
The million dollars paid to get Lance out will most certainly come back into the governments hands via taxes picked up with all the extra tourism, kids will be out buying bicycles, people may even want to go to Adelaide again next year because they had such a great time.
A lot of non Aussies were complaining that the race was too hard. They may be able to get more riders and teams to compete if it was held in March or April maybe.
The Tour De Langkawi is I think a harder race than the TDU and it has a few top riders go there to warm up foe the season.

Again more complaints because it was a race for sprinters. Australia doesn't have that many mountains so I don't know if there is much that can be done about that. I'm a sprinter too so it's nice to have a few stage races a year that favor sprinters. They need to have some chances.

I wonder if Lance will be tempted to come back again next year?

I saw Sulzberger doing well last May in Japan and since then he has landed himself a job at FDJ.
The young Meyer guy too was trying to impress as well. I think he was riding in Japan too.

The extra coverage was good too this year. First time I've ever really been able to follow the race live.

Allan Davis is off to a good start to the season. Let's hope he improves further. O'Grady was in another crash but no damage it appears. He should have a good season. Rogers is back. McEwen is hot and cold and he may have already used up his energy for the year. Hope he's not over the hill yet.
Brown, not a fan of his yet. Baden Cooke is having a long run of bad luck. Somebody put him out of his misery and put him in a decent team.

Basso made his comeback in the Japan Cup a one day race. He impressed. The TDU is much harder than the Japan Cup and Lance did alright. He had a go on the last day as well going off for a breakaway in the last stages of the final to probably give the fans who came out to see him some flash of glory.

Been following Lance on twitter and he seems have been surprised by a lot in Australia. Let's hope it opens the eyes to a lot of countries and people who don't know much about Australian cycling. Especially the Austarlian public who need to get behind the cycling and encourage people to ride rather than try to run them off the road. I don't think I'd be able to ride if I lived back in Australia. Riding in Japan in any traffic is easy. No horn blasters. Everybody is used to sharing the road with 80 year old grandmothers on their shopping bikes...

I guess most people will have their eyes on the Tour of California. I'll be watching the Tours in Thailand and Malaysia.

JAPANic said:

The extra coverage was good too this year. First time I've ever really been able to follow the race live.

1 stage out of all of them was broadcast live in Melbourne... 1...

I don't even recall seeing the Australian Open Road Championships being broadcast.

Gotta fix our own backyard before it gets much better. Mind you, there was 4 hours of has-been beach cricket broadcast on one of the commerical stations the past four weekends...

JAPANic said:

Was a good week of racing.
Some interesting crashes.
A chance for the young Aussies to ride against their heroes and try and get noticed.
The million dollars paid to get Lance out will most certainly come back into the governments hands via taxes picked up with all the extra tourism, kids will be out buying bicycles, people may even want to go to Adelaide again next year because they had such a great time.
A lot of non Aussies were complaining that the race was too hard. They may be able to get more riders and teams to compete if it was held in March or April maybe.
The Tour De Langkawi is I think a harder race than the TDU and it has a few top riders go there to warm up foe the season.

Again more complaints because it was a race for sprinters. Australia doesn't have that many mountains so I don't know if there is much that can be done about that. I'm a sprinter too so it's nice to have a few stage races a year that favor sprinters. They need to have some chances.

I wonder if Lance will be tempted to come back again next year?

I saw Sulzberger doing well last May in Japan and since then he has landed himself a job at FDJ.
The young Meyer guy too was trying to impress as well. I think he was riding in Japan too.

The extra coverage was good too this year. First time I've ever really been able to follow the race live.

Allan Davis is off to a good start to the season. Let's hope he improves further. O'Grady was in another crash but no damage it appears. He should have a good season. Rogers is back. McEwen is hot and cold and he may have already used up his energy for the year. Hope he's not over the hill yet.
Brown, not a fan of his yet. Baden Cooke is having a long run of bad luck. Somebody put him out of his misery and put him in a decent team.

Basso made his comeback in the Japan Cup a one day race. He impressed. The TDU is much harder than the Japan Cup and Lance did alright. He had a go on the last day as well going off for a breakaway in the last stages of the final to probably give the fans who came out to see him some flash of glory.

Been following Lance on twitter and he seems have been surprised by a lot in Australia. Let's hope it opens the eyes to a lot of countries and people who don't know much about Australian cycling. Especially the Austarlian public who need to get behind the cycling and encourage people to ride rather than try to run them off the road. I don't think I'd be able to ride if I lived back in Australia. Riding in Japan in any traffic is easy. No horn blasters. Everybody is used to sharing the road with 80 year old grandmothers on their shopping bikes...

I guess most people will have their eyes on the Tour of California. I'll be watching the Tours in Thailand and Malaysia.

Speaking with only the benefit of a half hour highlight programme each night,
it appeared to me that the TDU was well supported - roadside there did seem to be a lot of spectators.

From what I do know about the sport in Aus., South Australia does seem to be the cycling stronghold there.
If the sport can be adopted in other states, well and good.
The problem for a sport like cycling in Aus. is that it has miniscule support compared to sports like rugby league/union and is minute compared to sports like Cricket in terms of support.

As for the racing, the TDU field was fairly respectable.
Riders like Moncoutie, Eisel, Hincapie have been there and done that.
Naturally the aussies on home turf were always going to be trying for the win.

JAPANic said:

I wonder if Lance will be tempted to come back again next year?

If they give him $2million in cash then yes I'm sure he'll be tempted. Just like this year.

whiteboytrash said:

If they give him $2million in cash then yes I'm sure he'll be tempted. Just like this year.

God, I hope so. It was so exciting to see the photos and read the reports of him signing autographs and making excuses. 🙄

JAPANic said:

Basso made his comeback in the Japan Cup a one day race. He impressed. The TDU is much harder than the Japan Cup and Lance did alright.

The Tour de San Luis (held January 19-25) is much harder than the TDU and Ivan did alright.

lucybears said:

The Tour de San Luis (held January 19-25) is much harder than the TDU and Ivan did alright.

We won't really be able to judge how well Lance is doing until after that first, all important "high altitude" training camp. For the moment all he's doing is training and making a [censored] load of cash in the process. Oh yeah, and raising awareness ( 🙄 ).

JAPANic said:

Australia doesn't have that many mountains so I don't know if there is much that can be done about that.

The race needs to involve NSW and VIC as well. A stage going over Tawonga Gap, perhaps a couple of times, and then finishing up Mt Buffalo, would be worth watching, and the Snowy Mountains also offer a few reasonable climbs. A stage in TAS could also deliver a few good ascents, how about a Mount Wellington finish?

artemidorus said:

The race needs to involve NSW and VIC as well. A stage going over Tawonga Gap, perhaps a couple of times, and then finishing up Mt Buffalo, would be worth watching, and the Snowy Mountains also offer a few reasonable climbs. A stage in TAS could also deliver a few good ascents, how about a Mount Wellington finish?

Not going to happen. The SA Government owns the race.

Also, its too early in the year to be racing it in the mountains.

classic1 said:

Not going to happen. The SA Government owns the race.

Also, its too early in the year to be racing it in the mountains.

Having the TDU only in SA is like having the "Tour d'Europe" in Belgium, the Netherlands and England.
Not that I want to appear to fail to appreciate the work that has gone in to establishing the race, but if it wishes to keep growing, it needs to become a genuine all-Australia race and to use the best cycling terrain available. I'm not sure how to break the state-based stranglehold, but it's going to be healthier if it is not tied to any given local body.
If the timing is bad for mountains, then they could move to try and fit it in later in the season. The weather is also likely to be a little less toxic then.

artemidorus said:

Having the TDU only in SA is like having the "Tour d'Europe" in Belgium, the Netherlands and England.
Not that I want to appear to fail to appreciate the work that has gone in to establishing the race, but if it wishes to keep growing, it needs to become a genuine all-Australia race and to use the best cycling terrain available. I'm not sure how to break the state-based stranglehold, but it's going to be healthier if it is not tied to any given local body.
If the timing is bad for mountains, then they could move to try and fit it in later in the season. The weather is also likely to be a little less toxic then.

Moving dates won't happen either. No one will come out for it as all the big races are on from March to early October, and the tyranny of distance is a problem. The TDU is simply not pretigious enough to warrant flying out to Australia from Europe to compete.

artemidorus said:

Having the TDU only in SA is like having the "Tour d'Europe" in Belgium, the Netherlands and England.
Not that I want to appear to fail to appreciate the work that has gone in to establishing the race, but if it wishes to keep growing, it needs to become a genuine all-Australia race and to use the best cycling terrain available. I'm not sure how to break the state-based stranglehold, but it's going to be healthier if it is not tied to any given local body.
If the timing is bad for mountains, then they could move to try and fit it in later in the season. The weather is also likely to be a little less toxic then.

I think you are spot on. The TDU needs to be moved to later in the year when it's not so damn hot and include other states. This will improve the racing as a spectacle and with regard to difficulty, making it more attractive for the European-based teams to make the long journey.

biker jk said:

This will improve the racing as a spectacle and with regard to difficulty, making it more attractive for the European-based teams to make the long journey.

you mean not every rider picked up a million dollar appearance fee?

slovakguy said:

you mean not every rider picked up a million dollar appearance fee?

All teams are paid to come over. The teams do not pay otherwise they wouldn't come. The TDU organisers were asked the reason they don't add in a TT.... reason being they'd have to pay not only for the road bikes to be transported but 18x9 TT bikes as well....... I'm ok with that.... I just have a problem with the 1 mill to Big Tex...... that money way better spent on junior riders and trying to make up for the shame in Beijing from the aussies...

South Australia has a history of growing events only for them to be poached when they 'mature'.

What will probably happen is Victoria and NSW will combine to poach it within the next 5 years (as soon as the ROI is there).

I agree with Classic1 that you cant move it date wise as its a stage race. Too much hassle ( I disagree that we cant move the Nationals to mid euro summertime though).

I also disagree that we cant make it harder. Even though its early season there are plenty of guys happy to bang heads for a multitude of reasons. We should show off some of our climbs to the world.

Despite what WBT says the event does get have a chance to grow legs primarily because there is absolutely nothing else on and the euro's are sick of sillycross by mid jan.

Geoff Vadar said:

Despite what WBT says the event does get have a chance to grow legs primarily because there is absolutely nothing else on and the euro's are sick of sillycross by mid jan.

Well despite what the Big Texan American has been saying about how fast the race was. My friend Oscar Perino says he'd only been on the bike for 2 weeks with a 6 month layoff before riding the TDU !

whiteboytrash said:

Well despite what the Big Texan American has been saying about how fast the race was. My friend Oscar Perino says he'd only been on the bike for 2 weeks with a 6 month layoff before riding the TDU !

Let me give you a big tip. Never believe a word that comes out of Armstrong's mouth. Secondly never believe a word that comes out of any athlete's mouth regarding their form or training.

I dont think anyone is trying to compare TDU to peak racing in the euro summer. But for the month of January, relative to what else is offered around the world, its vaguely entertaining.

whiteboytrash said:

My friend Oscar Perino says he'd only been on the bike for 2 weeks with a 6 month layoff before riding the TDU !

Well he must be good because my friend Lloydy said it was surprisely tough !

Jono L said:

Well he must be good because my friend Lloydy said it was surprisely tough !

...and never trust anything your mates say !

"Yep the fish was this big" !

whiteboytrash said:

...and never trust anything your mates say !

"Yep the fish was this big" !

whiteboytrash said:

My friend Oscar Perino says he'd only been on the bike for 2 weeks with a 6 month layoff before riding the TDU !

...