The Coffee Ride #94, with Reece Homfray
IT WAS the talking point of the Tour Down Under — Caleb Ewan’s new sprinting position. Just how low can he go?
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HOW LOW CAN EWAN GO?
IT WAS the talking point of the Tour Down Under — Caleb Ewan’s new sprinting position.
Just how low can he go?
“It’s reminiscent of Cav’s (Mark Cavendish) position but he’s probably even lower,” Australian sprinting great Robbie McEwen said.
“It’s so aerodynamic and people ask me ‘why doesn’t everybody sprint like that?’.
“It’s got to do with biomechanics and the build of the rider and Caleb’s build is quite similar to Cav’s in that they have short stocky legs, short arms and a longer torso.
“Being built like that makes the centre point of their hips really low and enables them to really tuck in and put their head over their handlebars.
“I’m about the same height as Cav but have longer legs and longer arms, and if I wanted to put myself in that position I’ve got nowhere to put my arms.
“So it’s contorting yourself to get down there and bigger guys can’t do it.”
Ewan was already a naturally low sprinter but what he did to win three stages of the Tour Down Under was another level again.
He is still perfecting the position and spent time in the wind tunnel at Monash University in the off-season, and it’s understood some at Orica-GreenEDGE weren’t sure he could get in that position at all.
His chin appears almost lower than his handlebars and a slow-motion replay of his Stage 6 win on Sunday made him look like a missile cruising towards the finish line.
But as McEwen says, it’s one thing to be able to get that aero and another to still produce the power required at the end of a stage.
Ewan is about 20kg lighter than the likes of Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel but the magical figure is watts per kilogram and when combined with his aerodynamic position it will make him very competitive against the best in the world.
“It’s got to be naturally the most powerful position because he’s still got to generate maximum wattage,” McEwen said.
“That’s why time triallists do wind tunnel testing — to try to find the balance between aero and still putting out maximum power.”
Super-charged from a dominant start to the Australian summer in which he’s won seven races in three weeks, Ewan gets his chance to race Cavendish in this Sunday’s Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
But the 21-year-old said it’s not a given they will make it to the finish with the front group with several testing climbs in the 174km course which starts and finishes in Geelong.
The major climbs are at Challambra Crescent — where Philippe Gilbert attacked during the 2010 world championships — and Melville Crescent where Rachel Neylan made her race-winning move in last year’s women’s event.
“There are a few hills in the last few circuits,” Ewan said after winning Stage 6 of the TDU on Sunday.
“To be honest I don’t think you’re going to see a Caleb and Cav head-to-head, it’s going to be a bit too hard.
“I don’t think Cav is going to be in super form for the road, he’s been doing a lot of track stuff.”
Ewan said he took great confidence from the week of racing at the TDU.
“It gives me a lot of confidence going into the season, obviously there’s not the four or five best sprinters in the world here but I felt I was winning pretty convincingly and I’m another year stronger and I think I can get closer to those best guys in the world,” he said.
“I was actually hoping to win four (stages) and to get over to Victor Harbor but that stage turned out to be harder than expected.”
JAY KEEPS THE FAITH AND TAKES THE LEAD
AFTER years spent toiling away for others, Aussie Jay McCarthy was given the chance to lead Tinkoff in last week’s Tour Down Under and it won’t be the last time.
The 23-year-old Queenslander enjoyed a breakout fortnight by finishing fifth in the road race at the national championships and then fourth overall at the TDU.
He won the stage into Stirling and finished with the best young rider jersey after proving he is ready to step up to the plate and become a winner again.
McCarthy was a prolific winner at under-23 level but took time adjusting to WorldTour racing when he turned professional with Tinkoff in 2014.
He was also used as a workhorse and said the past two years made his achievements in the TDU more special.
“What I’d done in the last few years added to it and made it more worthwhile,” he said of his Stage 2 victory.
“Okay there are points when you go ‘how do they do it after racing so hard all day?’ but I had the legs and good shape and I think over the last couple of years I’ve learnt how much a team can help deliver a person to victory and after what the boys did for me and gave me the chance, it was easy to give that final dig to the line.
“I don’t have a lot of wins to my name but guys have seen what I can do in races to help my team leader and when I have had the chance, I’ve often delivered, so it is really nice to know what you’re doing is being appreciated by others.”
McCarthy made big steps last season when he finished third overall at the Tour of Turkey and showed his climbing ability, finished the Vuelta a Espana and was picked in the Australian team for the world championships.
Australian selectors including Brad McGee see McCarthy as a future leader of Australian cycling because of exactly what he produced to win the tough uphill sprint in Stirling.
“Brad (McGee) has been a great help for me, keeping my head screwed on and to just keep fighting. He said it would always come and I’m glad it has,” McCarthy said.
“Michael Rogers has always been a big influence for me and a mentor. Even back when I was a junior with Dave Sanders, as I turned pro he’s still kept an eye on me and is a good sounding board for when everything else feels like it’s not going so well.”
Having experienced being a team leader, McCarthy hopes there will be more to come.
“It was a great experience to have the chance to lead the team and I can take so much away from it and hopefully get another chance,” he said.
“I was confident with the shape that I was in and I’d done a lot of hard work in the off-season, and the last 12 months felt I was going in the right direction.”
He plans to ride Ruta del Sol and Strade Bianche as preparation for the Giro d’Italia in May.
A WORD ON THE FIELD
RACE director Mike Turtur closed the book on the 18th edition of the TDU on Monday by declaring there would be “some surprises” in next year's field.
Turtur and race organisers came under scrutiny this year because of decisions by Mark Cavendish and Chris Froome to open their seasons in Victoria, and sprinters like Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel to skip the race altogether.
It also didn’t help that world champion Peter Sagan opened his season in a second-tier race the Tour de San Luis in Argentina at the same time as the TDU was unfolding.
But what cycling fans have to understand is the best riders in the world were in fact right here in Adelaide for the TDU.
To clarify — the best in the world at what they do. Simon Gerrans would be in the top few all-rounders in the WorldTour. Diego Ulissi is world class and so is Geraint Thomas because they can both sprint and climb.
And that’s what the TDU has essentially become.
Perhaps to lure Cavendish, Greipel or Kittel back Turtur needs to include more flat stages.
And if he wants to see Quintana or Nibali or Froome maybe a second uphill finish should be on the agenda.
But that would change the face of the race.
So for those asking ‘where are the world’s best riders’ last week, the answer was right in front of them.
It’s just all-rounders don’t have the profile of guys who are fighting for the green and yellow jerseys at the Tour de France.
FROOME ZOOMS IN
IN CASE you missed it in The Advertiser this week, Chris Froome touched down in Adelaide on Monday and headed straight out on a four-hour training ride.
In an exclusive interview, Froome revealed why he had bypassed the TDU to instead open his season at the Herald Sun Tour.
He also said friend and former teammate Richie Porte was a genuine threat to his Tour de France defence in July.
You can read the full story HERE.
TRACK TIME IN ADELAIDE
WHILE the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and Herald Sun Tour take centre stage in Victoria, Australia’s Olympic hopefuls on the track are racing in Adelaide.
The track nationals will form part of selection for the world championships in London which of course will help determine the team for Rio.
Among the burning questions for the championships are:
Which male sprinter is the front-runner for second wheel of the team sprint? Pat Constable surely put his hand up by winning world cup gold in Hong Kong this month.
How far behind or ahead of Anna Meares are Stephanie Morton and Kaarle McCulloch who are all vying for the women’s team sprint?
What is the make up of the men’s team pursuit and what sort of form will Jack Bobridge and Michael Hepburn bring straight out of the TDU?
Has Shane Perkins got one big effort left in him to convince national selectors he should not be discarded before Rio?
The national track championships will be held at the Adelaide SuperDrome from February 3-6.
POWER TO THE POOL
IT WAS great to see Rob Power at the TDU this week as he continues his recovery from a serious knee injury.
The neo-pro spent time with his Orica-GreenEDGE teammates at a few stages throughout the week and said he was progressing well.
Power is allowed to do light riding but has been mostly swimming to maintain his fitness.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK ...
(Best of from the Tour Down Under)
“I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I think I rode a pretty shitty line.”
- Bridie O’Donnell on her hour record but it didn’t matter as she became the new world record holder.
“Gerrans — you can’t take anything away from him, he hasn’t won Liege (Bastogne-Liege) and Tour de France stages beating guys like Sagan in a sprint for nothing and I really have to take my hat off to him.”
- Rohan Dennis acknowledges Simon Gerrans was simply too good last week.
“Today the BMC guys were absolutely incredible and they backed me here, which is nice and I have only just started in this team.”
- Richie Porte on his three-peat up Old Willunga Hill.
“I’ve never led a World Tour race before and to do it in my own country means a lot to me.”
- Caleb Ewan after winning Stage 1 in Lyndoch.
“I think you have to be pretty complete to win here at the Tour Down Under and my pre-season training included a bit of everything — a lot of climbing and a lot of explosive sprint training and it looks like I got it just right.”
- Simon Gerrans after sealing his fourth TDU on Saturday.
TWEET, TWEET
Awesome #TDU this year! Congrats @CalebEwan @simongerrans @ORICA_GreenEDGE team ! club sandwich to finish it off 👊 pic.twitter.com/7Yy4qP4mp7
— Daryl Impey (@darylimpey) January 24, 2016— Daryl Impey and his well-deserved post-race meal on Sunday night.
Originally published as The Coffee Ride #94, with Reece Homfray
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