Three key days standout as pivotal to winning general classification honours

Racing in the national cycling championships has South Australian Rohan Dennis ready to make an impact in the 2019 Tour Down Under. READ HIS COLUMN

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THE team asked me in December if I was happy to have a crack at general classification at this week’s Tour Down Under and now it’s here I’m as ready as I can be.

I’m usually pretty good in January because I prepare for the time trial at nationals so to be racing in my home town especially, you don’t pass up an opportunity like this.

But there’s no stress on my behalf, whatever happens, happens.

My legs are good after the time trial in Ballarat and the criterium on Sunday night was a bit of a shock to the lungs but my legs responded after that and I think my form is good.

We just have to put it into racing and perform on three really key GC days being Thursday to Uraidla, Friday to Campbelltown and Sunday to Willunga.

I would say there are two guys who are the key ones to watch this week. That is obviously Richie Porte - as always - and Mike Woods.

Mike looks like he’s in good form, he always looks pretty lean but I believe he’s been looking to start the season off on a high.

No doubt he’s been training pretty hard and we saw what he could do at the world championships last year in Innsbruck coming third and that was a very steep climb - steeper than the Corkscrew or Willunga, so I think he’s going to be right up there.

And Richie for obvious reasons. He’s won Willunga the last five years and he’s always going to be up there. One day one of us might beat him but we have to hope for the best.

I would love to beat him but it depends on what the wind is doing. If it’s a headwind he doesn’t protect you a whole lot being quite small, so I would need to get lower on my bike which makes it harder to get the power out.

It’s a climb that he knows very well and he knows how to win on it.

But that’s six days away and there’s a lot of racing to happen before that starting with Stage 1 from North Adelaide to Port Adelaide.

The heat will be the same for everyone of course, but it will be interesting to see how the wind is.

Coming into Port Adelaide there is quite an open and straight section, usually when we ride out to Angaston or Clare on that road in the past it’s not a crosswind, but it’s enough to make people nervous, so it will be interesting to see what it’s like in the afternoon when we’re coming in.

It could potentially be race over for some GC guys if it is a fight into Port Adelaide.

Sunday night’s criterium was a good little opener for us. I didn’t want to go in that breakaway at the start, I was floating around at the front because that’s where I started then got a push from Marcel Sieberg so jumped across and just sat on.

I did a bit of work on the front when it came back then got out of the way when it came down to business for the sprinters.

Unfortunately we lost our sprinter Phil Bauhaus in one of the crashes at the end.

He lost a little bit of skin but not too much, they weren’t going super-fast at that stage, and he said it’s nothing too serious and he will be right for Stage 1.