The Coffee Ride #74, with Reece Homfray
CADEL Evans believes Rohan Dennis can follow the path of Bradley Wiggins and go from track star to Tour de France contender if he is prepared to change his physiology.
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CADEL: DENNIS CAN FOLLOW WIGGINS’ PATH
CADEL Evans believes Rohan Dennis can follow the path of Bradley Wiggins and go from track star to Tour de France contender - if he is prepared to change his physiology.
Dennis and Wiggins are both former team pursuit world champions who broke cycling’s hour record on the velodrome this year.
They are also both star time triallers - Wiggins the reigning world champion and Dennis taking the yellow jersey at the Tour de France by winning the Stage 1 time trial in Utrecht this month.
But when Wiggins won the Tour de France overall in 2012, he shed significant body weight and transformed himself into an elite climber as well.
“To become a contender for the overall at the Tour de France, that would be a big change in his physiology to have to make,” Evans said of Dennis, 25.
“In time with experience and maturity he could make that if he wanted. (Bradley) Wiggins would be an example of a guy who came from the track.
“Wiggins lost a lot of muscle mass and had to change his body type to be competitive in the mountains but he got there and he won the Tour.
“But it was a long process for Wiggins, and Rohan if he wanted to, he’d have to follow that path.”
Evans and Dennis are former teammates at BMC and Evans’ final WorldTour race at the Tour Down Under coincided with Dennis claiming the biggest win of his career.
Australia’s only Tour de France champion Evans, who won the yellow jersey in 2011, said Dennis should focus on time trials for now and then graduate to week-long stage races for the next three years.
“For the moment he should stay focused on the prologues, team time trials and start with week-long stage races like Tour of Romandie, Tour of Switzerland, races like that where the time trial will count for the overall a little bit more,” Evans said.
“Where the mountains aren’t so decisive to the overall result so he can stick to what he is best suited to and then in time he can decide does he want to go further and do GC in a three-week Tour.
“But that would be a big step and that’s a long process to go through.
“He could do three years focusing on what he does well now - he took the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, he has the record highest speed for a stage at age 25.
“But when it comes around to age 28 or 29 then he could make a decision and dedicate four or five years of his career if he wanted (to leading a team in a Grand Tour).”
POWER-ING ON
AGAINST the backdrop of the Tour de France, a little-known Italian stage race has revealed a lot about the future of Australian road cycling.
Robert Power registered his first general classification stage race victory by becoming the first Australian to win the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta Mont Blanc in Italy.
The impressive thing is he won it. The exciting thing is how.
The 20-year-old Western Australian took the lead in the prologue when he demolished the field to win the opening 5.4km uphill time trial by more than 18 seconds.
He then finished second on Stage 1 after recovering from a mechanical problem at the foot of the final climb.
While Power retained the lead on Stage 2, his teammate Jack Haig finished the stage in third place in another promising result for Australia’s WorldTour Academy.
There was more drama on Stage 4 when Power suffered another mechanical on the final climb and lost the jersey by 11 seconds.
Stage 5 included eight climbs and Power hit back to reclaim the jersey by 42 seconds - a lead he was able to defend with the help of Haig on the final mountainous Stage 6.
So the result is five-fold ... Power can time trial, he can climb, he can fight and he can win, and Jack Haig might not have won the tour but he is looking just as good.
One other thing - they’re both heading to Australian team Orica-GreenEDGE next year. The future is more than bright.
RECORD OR NOT, AUSSIES MAKE A STATEMENT
RECORD or no record, what Australia’s team pursuit delivered in Mexico on Monday (Australian time) was impressive.
Yes it was at altitude, yes it wasn’t an official record recognised by the UCI and yes as Tim Decker rightly pointed out there are 380 plus days to race day in Rio.
But the time is significant. For nothing else than to prove to Australia that it is at least heading in the right direction after the February world titles were all but ruined by a mechanical problem in qualifying.
It was also significant considering the riders who delivered the time. Jack Bobridge and Alex Edmondson have been mainstays of the team but Daniel Fitter and Sam Welsford have stepped up big-time.
So the time of 3:50.3 (an unofficial world record) did not include Glenn O’Shea, Luke Davison or Mitch Mulhern who have all been world champions in the past.
Decker has 15 riders in his men’s track endurance program and right now every one of them must still be in contention for Olympic selection.
Making the team has never looked harder.
... ON RICHIE TO BMC?
Dennis might not be the only future Australian Grand Tour contender at BMC next season with speculation Richie Porte could be on the move from Team Sky.
“I hear rumours, but I don’t know and normally all involved would respect the rules and it would be announced on the 1st of August,” Evans said.
“I don’t know if he (Porte) goes to BMC, the way he rode yesterday (first day in the Pyrenees), maybe it would be a good team for him to go there as the leader.
“But BMC is an American team, Tejay (van Garderen) is an American rider, that’s something you have to consider because I’ve been on many foreign teams, so anyway.
“But I don’t know where Richie goes, I asked the team manager myself and he didn’t give me an answer either.
“I’m not in a rush to know either, when the news comes out I’m sure I’ll hear about it.”
... ON THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD RACE
Evans spoke to News Corp while in Australia to announce plans for the second Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race next February.
He was also in Adelaide as an ambassador for Siemens which opened its new centre at Tonsley.
The January 31 race has been upgraded to 1.HC classification - one level below the UCI’s WorldTour - and Evans will ride the Momentum Energy People’s Ride with thousands of recreational cyclists on January 30.
“It’s a good progression for us and compliment to the work on all part; the Victorian Government have been a really good supporter for us,” Evans said.
“As an event for our state, as a tourism promotion for the Great Ocean Road and on a smaller scale cycling in Australia and the interest in the public participation ride, the first year has been a good start for us and hopefully next year will be bigger and better.
“Ultimately we’d like to lift to the WorldTour one day but whether that’s possible ... that’s something we’ll have to see in time.
“I have to say to Adelaide, I want to make an event that complements Tour Down Under; we’re not stealing anything, I want to make that clear.”
WILLOUGHBY BEGINS WORLD TITLE DEFENCES
MULTIPLE BMX world champion Sam Willoughby heads to Belgium to defend his titles this week on the back of what he describes as a perfect preparation.
The 23-year-old world No.1 from Adelaide will have a target on his back when he starts the time trial on Friday and race on Saturday as the man to beat.
“That’s the position I aim to be in, I don’t feel like anyone can put any more pressure on me than what I put on myself so it hasn’t consumed me too much,” Willoughby said.
“But I’m sure it will start when I get there with the questions, I am the guy everyone is trying to dethrone this year.”
The track at Heusden-Zolder is on an old Formula One circuit and the first corner has been dubbed ‘Buchanan Bend’ after fellow Australian Caroline Buchanan who was world champion in 2012 and 2013.
Willoughby hopes to retain both titles but says his main focus is the race.
“I’m kind of at the point where you don’t really set those goals anymore and get so fixated on a result but when I think about it, yeah definitely (I’d like to win) both of them with the race being the main one,” he said.
“Last year I got a bit flat about two months prior to the worlds and that was a good wake-up call to take a bit of time off racing and put my head down.
“Where as this year everything has gone a bit smoother throughout the whole year, training-wise I’ve had a really good lead-in since January and this eight-weeks is probably the best lead-in I’ve had with access to the supercross track here in San Diego.”
After winning a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, Willoughby has also allowed himself to look further ahead to Rio in 2016.
“It’s one of those things that I try not to get fixated on because it’s every four years, but everything I do from this preparation to the race (on the) weekend they are all learning curves and stepping stones towards that.
“It’s still in the back of my mind as we approach 12 months out and with that target of trying to go one step better ... but it’s one battle at a time and right now I’m pretty (focused) on this weekend and trying to retain that title.
“I know how much a world title does for your confidence and for your career, so that’s a big stepping stone towards Rio.”
NEXT GEN - ALEX PORTER
IN THE lead up to the 2016 Olympics, The Coffee Ride is profiling emerging young Australian cyclists who are targeting Rio - and more importantly beyond.
This week it’s Alex Porter who belongs to the men’s track endurance squad.
Name: Alexander Porter
Age: 19
From: Adelaide
My earliest cycling memory is: Watching the 2010 Tour de France stage 3 with my uncle and brother.
My first bike was: A Merida Road Race 901.
The first time I rode on a velodrome: In 2010 at a SASI talent identification come-and-try session.
Biggest breakthrough as a junior: Coming second in the 2014 national omnium championship.
Biggest result as an elite cyclist: 1st in the 2014 world cup round one team pursuit
Coach Tim Decker’s favourite saying is: Think of k’s as money in the bank.
My personal motto for life or cycling is: No pain, no gain.
The cyclist I have the most respect for is: Bradley Wiggins
Main goals for 2015: Make a world cup team, win a world cup team pursuit.
And 2016: Make the Rio Olympics. Make the world championship track team.
GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO FOLLOW ALEX?
CYCLING SA is wasting no time cashing in on Rohan Dennis’ yellow jersey in the hope it can identify the next wave of talent coming through the ranks.
Like Dennis and Alex Porter above, potential stars could be discovered when the South Australian Sport Institute talent identification program holds its next talent search on Friday, July 31.
The session will be held at the Adelaide SuperDrome from 6pm to 8pm and those born in 2001 or 2002 with a good fitness base are encouraged to put themselves to the test.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK ...
“This is an incredible day for me and the team, with it being Mandela Day the team was motivated more than usual but I don’t think we can quite believe what has just happened. It may take a while to sink in.”
- Steve Cummings after winning Stage 14 for African team MTN-Qhubeka at the Tour de France.
“When we arrived at the hospital, they put me on a table straight away, and I passed out. They put me on a drip. I went into anaphylactic shock, and I had to be medicated to deal with all that.”
- Australian cyclist Melissa Hoskins tells Cyclingtips.com.au about the allergic reaction which stopped her from starting Thuringen Rundfahrt on the weekend.
“Part of me would prefer to be at home chilling with my family. This is not easy. But I didn’t come over here to launch a PR campaign for myself.”
- Lance Armstrong on his controversial decision to do a charity ride at the Tour de France.
TWEET, TWEET
Disgusting to hear @chrisfroome had urine thrown on him. Can't believe there are still people spoiling this beautiful race.
— Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) July 18, 2015
- Mark Cavendish condemns the behaviour of some spectators at the Tour de France.
Originally published as The Coffee Ride #74, with Reece Homfray
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