The Coffee Ride #89, with Reece Homfray
AS VICTORIA celebrates the news reigning Tour de France champion Chris Froome will ride the Herald Sun Tour next year, Adelaide cycling fans are left asking ‘why not us?’
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FROOME’S IN MELBOURNE SO OVER TO YOU, TDU
AS VICTORIA celebrates the news reigning Tour de France champion Chris Froome will ride the Herald Sun Tour next year, Adelaide cycling fans are left asking ‘why not us?’
It’s a fair question too, for arguably the best cyclist on the planet will be racing in Australia this summer but just not in Australia’s only WorldTour event — the Tour Down Under.
Team Sky says Froome is scheduled to be on a training camp in Majorca when the TDU is run from January 16-24 and will open his season in Melbourne three weeks later.
Fair enough. But yesterday’s news must sting TDU officials who are yet to announce a name for their race in January.
The other international bike race being held at the same time in January is the Tour de San Luis in Argentina.
Two weeks ago it announced world champion Peter Sagan, Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali and future Tour champion Nairo Quintana would all be there.
So what is the worth of a WorldTour contract when the sport’s two biggest stars are racing UCI 2.1 category events either side of it?
And where does that leave Adelaide’s great race in terms of its international stars?
A WorldTour contract compels the world’s best teams to attend but it doesn’t compel all the world’s best cyclists to join in.
Andre Greipel — the most successful rider in TDU history — skipped the race for the first time in eight years this January and had a career-best season including winning four stages of the Tour de France. His team says he is unlikely to return in 2016.
The TDU would love to have Alberto Contador — who won Stage 5 at Willunga in 2005 — return as he embarks on what is likely his final season of professional cycling. But Contador won’t race until the end of February in Portugal.
Cycling’s other superstar riding off into retirement next year is Fabian Cancellara.
Former teammate Stuart O’Grady has started a Twitter campaign to bring him to Adelaide but it’s understood ‘Spartacus’ isn’t overly fond of long distance travel so early in the season.
There’s some chance Mark Cavendish may return if Dimension Data goes WorldTour, but the big target will be German sprinter Marcel Kittel as he hits the reboot button on his career with new team Etixx-QuickStep.
Regardless, the TDU will pin its hopes on its stable of Australian stars to draw a big crowd and there are none finer than Simon Gerrans, Rohan Dennis and Richie Porte (if BMC sends a 1-2 punch combination) who are all world class anyway.
Their continued presence and support of the race — as well as their willingness to ride to win at the start of a long season — must never be taken for granted.
There is also excitement surrounding young sprint sensation Caleb Ewan who is expected to ride the TDU with Orica-GreenEDGE and Mick Rogers will start his final season in Adelaide.
But for the TDU to remain truly international it needs strong, high profile international representation as well. Lance Armstrong put the race through the ‘stratosphere’ but that was five years ago.
There is also a one-day race on the Great Ocean Road which Australian cycling’s biggest drawcard Cadel Evans not only puts his name to but will ride with the punters next year.
The Herald Sun Tour and Tour Down Under are adamant they are not competing against each other, but rather complimenting one another in Australia’s bumper summer of cycling.
That may well be the case. But only one race has the current Tour de France champion in Froome racing next year and it’s not the one with the WorldTour licence.
HST race director John Trevorrow has pulled off a masterstroke and if it were a tennis match, he’s just served 15, 30, 40 game without anyone else laying so much as a racquet string on it.
Over to you, TDU.
FROOME GREAT FOR AUSSIE CYCLING: TURTUR
TOUR Down Under race director Mike Turtur yesterday said he would have loved to see Froome return to the event for the first time since 2010, but just having him in Australia was huge for the sport.
“It’s a great result for the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, and in particular John Trevorrow, and is good for cycling and the growth of the sport in this country,” Turtur said.
“Of course we would have loved him here, but equally we understand that due to his training plans he wanted a lower key start to his year, and you don’t get that at the first UCI WorldTour race of the season.”
Turtur is confident the field being assembled for the TDU will be strong and fans could expect the first rider announcements towards the end of the month.
“I think it will be super competitive and such an even spread across all the teams,” he said.
“It goes without saying (the Australian riders will be strong) and there are European teams sending riders of the calibre of Grand Tour stage winners and one-day Classics performers looking for a good start to the season.”
Froome last rode the HST in 2008 with Barloworld while his last appearance in the TDU was in 2010 with Sky.
Next year’s HST begins with a 2.1km prologue along Southbank in the CBD followed by four road stages culminating with a climb to Arthurs Seat.
Victorian Tourism Minister John Eren said having Froome — the 2013 and 2015 Tour de France winner — on the start line was a milestone for the event.
“Victoria is fast establishing itself as one of the flagship locations outside Europe for the big cycling events, and welcoming one of the sport’s giants only serves to grow our global reputation,” Mr Eren said.
KAESLER TAKES CONTROL OF SERIES
SHAUN O’Callaghan conquered Cycling SA’s ‘Hell of the North’ road race on the Yorke Peninsula on Saturday but Tom Kaesler’s win in Sunday’s criterium has put him in the lead of the CIC Cervelo Super Series.
Kaesler, who rides for SASI, and CIC Cervelo’s Harry Carpenter launched a two-man attack in the final stages of the 50-minute criterium at Kadina and stayed away to the finish as Kaesler went top of the general classification.
The previous day, the Hell of the North lived up to its reputation with riders tackling 10km of gravel roads in the 77km race to Wallaroo.
Cross-winds blew the peloton apart as it approached the decisive dirt section of the race and a 15-man group was left to battle for line honours.
O’Callaghan (Van D’am Racing), Kaesler, Lachlan Glasspool (ISC Godfrey Pembroke) and Leo Simmonds (Giant Adelaide) set a furious pace at the front as Tom Chapman (Swiss Wellness) began to lose his grip on the yellow jersey.
In the end it was O’Callaghan who proved the strongest in a sprint finish and recorded a well-deserved victory.
The series continues with a criterium at Victoria Park on November 26.
RIDE WITH JENS
SPEAKING of the Tour Down Under, cycling fans have the rare opportunity to ride with German legend Jens Voigt in Adelaide in January.
Voigt is a TDU ambassador and will be in town to ride the Bupa Challenge Tour which takes cyclists over Norton Summit on January 22.
Renowned for his tenacity on the bike, Voigt will tackle the 142km from Norwood to Victor Harbor and you could join him by signing up with his team known as ‘Shut Up Down Under’ which is a play on his personal motto ‘shut up legs’.
“Let’s make the Shut Up Down Under team and this ride fun, I love Australia and can’t wait to ride there again especially with the amazing Aussie fans,” Voigt said.
“Leading a Bupa Challenge Tour team gives me the chance to share some of the best cycling experiences I have had in my career which has taken me all over the world and of course, some of my best memories from the TDU.”
Members of Voigt’s team receive a ‘Shut Up Down Under’ jersey and a pep talk from the man himself the night before the big day.
Registrations for the team close next week, on Thursday, November 24.
The Bupa Challenge Tour offers four distance options from the following start locations: Norwood (142km) Echunga (100km), Strathalbyn (70km) and Goolwa (36km).
Visit www.tourdownunder.com.au for more information.
TANDEM PAIR URGE WOMEN TO GET ON THEIR BIKE
NATIONAL para-cycling champions Carla Franson and Rachel Henderson have put their training aside momentarily to encourage more women to get on their bike and simply have fun.
The pair are ambassadors for Bike SA’s ‘Gear up Girl’ program which aims to get 1000 female cyclists riding their bike together in Adelaide on November 22.
The event offers a river, beach and hills course varying from 15-50km and catering for all abilities.
“The big goal is to get 1000 women involved on the day,” Franson said.
“If people aren’t confident going out on their bike by themselves, this gives them a chance to ride in a group, go for a casual cruise and have a chat.”
Franson, 20, is a pilot rider for visually impaired Henderson, 23, who have claimed national titles on the road and track aboard their tandem bike.
They admit the Rio Paralympics remain a “long shot” but are focused on the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
“At the moment we’re looking towards the road nationals in Clare in February, then hopefully we can get some international racing experience and race on home soil in 2018,” Franson said.
“We teamed up in 2013 and after a couple of national titles decided we’d start to take it a bit more seriously.”
Registrations for Gear up Girl can be made online at bikesa.asn.au.
TODAY’S PLAN ALREADY LOOKING TO TOMORROW
FRUSTRATED with limitations of online training programs, Australian cycling coach Mark Fenner devised his own platform which in less than 12 months has been adopted by WorldTour team Trek Factory Racing.
Fenner — who has coached the likes of professional sprinter Steele von Hoff — came up with a program called Today’s Plan which he says provides coaches and athletes with comprehensive data analytics and a streamlined communication channel.
“It came from not being happy with the existing platforms that were out there,” said Fenner who lives at Kangaroo Valley south of Sydney.
“When it came to the communication with athletes, the realisation we had this platform where people would put their data in and they would hit us with Viber, WhatsApp, Messenger, text messages, emails, and all of these things it was incredibly reactive.
“We’ve set up an inbox mechanism and threads on each ride, the availability for rider and coach to say they’ve read it.
“Sometimes in the past I’d write an essay on the analysis of a ride and a week later say ‘did you see my narrative?’ and they’d say ‘no’ so that was a waste of my time.”
Fenner said Today’s Plan was able to ingest data including power and heart rate from a rider using various bike units including Garmin.
It went live during this year’s Tour Down Under and is used by cyclists ranging from the casual commuter to professional athletes based on their training, goals, bike habits and skills.
“I put two and two together and thought ‘I don’t have the hard skills to do this but I have the vision of what we can achieve’ and brought the parties together and the outcome has been the development of Today’s Plan.”
He said the partnership with Trek for next season will see the program work with some of the best cyclists in the world including Australian Jack Bobridge.
“For us of course it’s huge validation and a huge step to land a WorldTour team, we’re super excited to be working with them,” Fenner said.
“I’ve been working with Avanti (Racing Team) and it is one of the big stepping stone teams to the WorldTour so it was fantastic for us to test everything and make sure it was fully functional and operational.”
QUOTES OF THE WEEK ...
“Allan helped put it in context by comparing it to what some other people achieve in an entire career.”
- 2015 Oppy Medallist Rohan Dennis reflects on his stellar season with BMC.
“I’m really pleased to start my 2016 season at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. Victoria is a beautiful part of the world and racing in the warm climate will give me a good platform for the new season.”
- Chris Froome on racing the Herald Sun Tour.
“They don’t actually do too much racing with each other in the first part of the season. And that’s because there are so many races in spring that you want to split the calendar with them. We want them both chasing targets.”
- OGE director Matt White tells Cyclingnews.com that Simon Gerrans will lead the team over summer and Michael Matthews will start later in the season.
TWEET, TWEET ...
Special moment to be on stage with my teammates while coach Gary Sutton accepted @CyclingAus Coach of the Year Award pic.twitter.com/RnbyVUpsFh
— Rebecca Wiasak (@RebeccaWiasak) November 13, 2015
— Rebecca Wiasak at the Cycling Australia Awards with the coach who made them world champions this year — Gary Sutton.
Originally published as The Coffee Ride #89, with Reece Homfray
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