Jersey mix-up meant Porte was forced to wear New Zealand flag on his back
Find out what’s happening behind the scenes at the Tour Down Under daily. From the Richie Porte’s jersey anguish, national champ misses ride and Peter Sagan the instagram sensation.
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RICHIE Porte’s Trek-Segafredo teammates might have thought he and fellow Tasmanian Will Clarke weren’t the real deal Australians.
Before making their official debuts for their new team at the Down Under Classic the pair ran into a couple of minor hiccups, and so did their Colombian teammate Jarlinson Pantano who was missing his suitcase.
Porte and Clarke were given their new jerseys but there was a mix-up with the Australian flag on the back of them.
“The missing suitcases didn’t rock (the camp) as much as Will and my jersey’s that came with the Kiwi flags on the back,” Porte said.
“I think being from Tassie they may think it’s just an island off Australia so we’ve got the Kiwi flag.
“It’s all fixed now but it’s just one of those hiccups like baggage being lost but yeah heaps of bags have arrived but Pantano’s is still somewhere between Colombia and Australia.”
AMANDA WHO?
WHEN you’re following in the footsteps of Leon Bignell who basically ran the Tour Down Under there’s bound to be a few hiccups in your first race in charge.
New Tourism Minister David Ridgway made a slightly nervous start to the week when he opened the Down Under Classic on Sunday night by congratulating ‘Amanda Scott’ for winning the women’s race over the loud speaker.
Of course he meant Amanda Spratt from the Mitchelton-Scott team but we’ll let him off given it’s his TDU debut.
THE CHAMP IS HERE
THE unluckiest cyclist in Adelaide this week is newly crowned national champion Michael Freiberg who has missed out on a start with the UniSA-Australia national team.
Freiberg won a thrilling road race in Buninyong last week but a change to Cycling Australia’s selection policy means he was overlooked for the final spot on the wildcard team that has traditionally gone to the first non-WorldTour rider across the line.
But credit to Freiberg he is still in Adelaide this week as a spectator and was spotted in the UniSA stand at Sunday night’s Down Under Classic.
WHO WANTS MY BIKE?
PETER Sagan sure knows how to pull a crowd on the roads and online.
The three-time world champion triggered a frenzy on Instagram on Sunday when he posted a photo of his new Specialized bike frame.
“In order to mark the start of the racing season I will give away one Allez Sprint frameset - Sagan collection. Leave your message here saying where you would like to ride your bike and I will pick a random winner”.
Within 10 minutes there were 1000 comments, within the hour there were 5500 and 24 hours later 21,000 people had commented desperate to get their hands on Sagan’s free bike.
WISH YOU WERE HERE
SPARE a thought for Mark Renshaw who had only missed the Tour Down Under once before this year.
Instead of racing in Adelaide with his Dimension Data teammates this week, Renshaw is at home in Bathurst recovering from a fractured pelvis after being hit by a car while training in December.
Six weeks later the pain still lingers but at least Renshaw is back training on the roads as he eyes a delayed start to his season.
“Sitting here at home hurts like hell but I have to be happy as I’m back on the road training and working towards my first few races,” the veteran Aussie fast man said.
NEXT GENERATION
BUDDING young cyclists aiming to become Australia’s next Amanda Spratt, Cadel Evans, Rohan Dennis or the Edmondsons are urged to give their fresh legs a crack at becoming a star.
All you’ll need is a helmet, a bike (if you haven’t got one Cycling SA can help out) and arrive well hydrated.
Cycling SA is conducting a familiarity come and try session for children aged up to 16 at Victoria Park on Thursday from 5.30pm until 7.30pm The night will include testing for the SASI Talent ID program.
Past participants in this program include current UCI world time trial champion Dennis and Alex and Annette Edmondson. For more details visit Cycling SA’s website or Facebook.
TWEET OF THE DAY
First goal of the year ✔ï¸ðŸ§¡ðŸ˜ƒ. So many happy memories to take away from the @tourdownunder this year with my team @MitcheltonSCOTT 💛🖤. Big thanks to Santos, the SA government, sponsors and all the wonderful fans that help make this great event possible. pic.twitter.com/OIsptX0ng7
— AmandaSpratt (@AmandaSpratt) January 14, 2019
Originally published as Jersey mix-up meant Porte was forced to wear New Zealand flag on his back