The Coffee Ride #53 with Reece Homfray
THE 2015 Australian cycling season is under way and all roads this week lead to Ballarat for the national championships starting today.
AUSSIE CYCLING FRESHLY BREWED EVERY WEDNESDAY MORNING EXCLUSIVE TO ADVERTISER.COM.AU
OFF AND RACING IN 2015
THE 2015 Australian cycling season is under way and all roads this week lead to Ballarat for the national championships, starting today.
The Christmas/New Year holiday is over and today also marks the return of The Coffee Ride, which is entering its third year.
In this edition we speak with Rohan Dennis, Richie Porte, Shara Gillow, Felicity Wardlaw, Brenton Jones, Steele von Hoff and Shane and Gary Sutton.
The past week of cycling has brought all sorts of bizarre stories from Tiffany Cromwell’s $15,000 bike being stolen while she was inside a coffee shop to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s doctor telling him to find a new sport to BMC rider Darwin Atapuma being attacked by bandits while he trained in Colombia.
But, despite that, the sport has plenty to celebrate and there is no better time than January.
How’s this for scheduling:
Jan 2-5 Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic
Jan 7-11 Road Nationals
Jan 17-25 Tour Down Under
Feb 1 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
Feb 4-8 Herald Sun Tour
It’s all happening on the track as well, with the track nationals returning to Melbourne from January 28-31, followed by two of Australia’s best young cyclists in Jack Bobridge and Dennis having a crack at the world hour record.
So happy reading and riding.
JONES TIPPING FIREWORKS IN BALLARAT
VICTORIAN sprinter Brenton Jones debuts for new team Drapac in Ballarat tonight, trying to upset red-hot favourite Caleb Ewan in a twilight criterium to open Cycling Australia’s national road championships.
Jones, 23, made the switch from Avanti Racing to Drapac in the off-season and heads into the 44km race as one of the main challengers to 20-year-old Orica-GreenEDGE sensation Ewan.
Ewan is fresh from winning the Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic for the second time when he won three of four stages to make an emphatic statement on the eve of the national titles.
Jones — who won the Bay Classic last year — has made tonight’s criterium his early-season goal and the focus of a training camp in Bright last week.
Kimberly Wells and Chloe Hosking, who won her first Bay Cycling Classic this week, are the favourites for the women’s race over 33km.
The men’s field also includes sprinter and defending champion Steele von Hoff but the undulating course can throw the race wide open like in 2013 when all-rounder Cameron Meyer escaped on his own.
“A few years back you saw Cam Meyer win there solo so it’s one of those criterium courses where if the right break goes up the road or if someone is feeling good on the day, or if you misjudge your timing for the lead-out, someone else can steal the show,” Jones said.
“It is a challenging course. It’s an up-and-down circuit so every lap you’re coming out of the bottom corner and straight up the main drag and on to a climb and a really fast descent.
“I’m sure there’ll be a few fireworks.”
Jones’ focus on trying to win the criterium and take the green and gold jersey overseas this year meant he was unable to defend his Bay Cycling Classic title against the likes of Ewan this week.
“Being the defending champion yes it was a little disappointing but the team’s goal was to come to the camp and prepare for the 2015 season as a whole and not just for the first race (of the year),” he said.
“Being with the new team it’s good to go on a camp and bond with the boys before you go to some of the big races.”
Von Hoff will be eager to retain his title after losing his WorldTour contract with Garmin in the off-season and signing with British team NFTO where his goal is to race criteriums in the UK.
“It would be nice to take the criterium jersey overseas again and if I get a result in the road race (on Sunday) then it means I could get selected in the national team for the Tour Down Under, Sun Tour and Cadel’s race,” Von Hoff said.
For the past three years von Hoff has had the speed in the criterium and also the climbing legs to finish top 10 in the road race.
“After the extra year on the WorldTour I feel stronger but I’m not sure how well I’m climbing because this year’s training camps have been a bit shorter,” he said.
“It could mean I’m faster but I’m unsure so race day will tell me.”
The national championships continue with the time trial tomorrow and road races on Saturday and Sunday.
ROHAN THE MAN TO BEAT
AFTER the disaster of being thrown from his bike by a gust of wind in last year’s race against the clock, Rohan Dennis returns as the man to beat in tomorrow’s time trial at Buninyong.
Fresh from a 10-day training camp with BMC in Spain where he also announced plans to contest the hour-record in Switzerland in February, Dennis has been eyeing the TT at nationals for months and said he was pleased with his preparation.
“I got a lot of time-trial training in (at the camp). I came home and it took me a couple of days to get used to the jet lag so I had to factor that in and make sure my training was hard up until the day I left and then have the recovery,” Dennis said.
The 24-year-old has emerged as the nation’s top male time triallist in the past 12 months and finished last season strongly with second place in the final TT at the Vuelta and winning the teams time trial at the world championships with BMC.
“That gave me a lot of confidence. The strength I got from the Vuelta was huge so being able to finish a Grand Tour and finish it strong was a big bonus,” he said.
“Then leading into this year that big roadblock in the second half was vital for the strength to start off this year strong.”
Dennis headlines the strongest field ever assembled for a national time trial championship which includes former three-time world champion Michael Rogers, Sky star Richie Porte, and four under-23 world champions including the current titleholder Campbell Flakemore.
‘THE TT CONTENDERS’ — Read the full preview tomorrow
WARDLAW READY TO FLICK THE SWITCH AGAIN
DEFENDING women’s time trial champion Felicity Wardlaw is not leaving anything to chance in her bid to make it back-to-back victories tomorrow.
The 37-year-old, who rides for Bicycle Superstore, has been busy scouting the 29.3km undulating new course which will be held around Buninyong.
“Last year was very much a power course and really suited me,” Wardlaw said.
“This year it will come down to smart racing, smart pacing, where as last year it was just power all the way, constantly on the pedals. This a bit different.
“You just have to be smart with this course. I’ve been out several times and practised different pacing techniques. I know what works for me so I will be applying that and hopefully it puts me in a good position.
“I’ve done everything that I can so I’ll just wait to see how I feel on the day.
“I’d love to podium, that’s my goal. It’s tough competition and a tough course but I’m well prepared.”
Katrin Garfoot, who would have started the women’s TT as favourite, is a late withdrawal from the championships as she recovers from a knee injury.
Garfoot said the new course would have suited her but the knee injury was likely to delay her start to the 2015 season until the Oceania Championships in February.
Major challengers to Wardlaw’s crown are expected to be former three-time national champion Shara Gillow, Taryn Heather, who was eighth last year, and Victorian Tessa Fabry, who may fly under the radar.
Gillow has signed with Rabobank-Live after three years with Orica-AIS and is hoping to return to form after a tough 2014.
“Last year wasn’t a good season for me ... it was the combination of a lot of things and it was just one of those seasons,” Gillow, 27, said.
“But I have tried to stay positive and I’m really looking forward to this year and have had some good preparation (for nationals).”
SUTTON BROTHERS THE BEST OF ENEMIES
THEY grow cotton and farm livestock at Moree on the Newell Highway in rural New South Wales but two brothers from the tiny town are also harvesting gold medals.
The town with a population of less than 10,000 is home to Gary and Shane Sutton, who find themselves in charge of British and Australian track cycling teams on collision course for Rio in 2016.
They started riding bikes together as kids and 50 years later have simply never stopped.
“It’s passion. You find something you’re very passionate about and it’s like a magnet, it draws you to it,” Shane says with a stern glare.
“As much as you want to walk away, if you’ve got a passion for it, there’s no substitute for it.”
At school the Sutton brothers would travel across the state together to ride in local cycling carnivals and Gary still has two miniature vintage crockery cars they won in Glen Innes.
As elite athletes they won Commonwealth Games gold together in the team pursuit in Edmonton in 1978.
But now they’re on opposite sides of the track and in terms of cycling rivalries they could not be further apart.
Shane is the technical director for British Cycling, which has dominated on the velodrome by winning 14 of a possible 20 gold medals on offer at the past two Olympics.
Gary is head coach of Australia’s women’s track endurance team, which became team pursuit world champions in 2010, missed the medals altogether in London two years later but is back on the upward curve heading to Rio.
Read the full story on the Sutton brothers HERE.
HILLS COUNCIL PLANS FOR TDU TO PROCEED
ADELAIDE Hills Council wants this month’s Santos Tour Down Under to go ahead and is working with organisers to ensure minimal disruption to race routes providing they are safe in the fire-ravaged region.
As international cyclists begin arriving in Adelaide for the race which starts on January 20, council and the TDU have started studying the routes for Stages 1 and 3.
“A thorough assessment of these routes will be undertaken in the coming days to determine any necessary changes or amendments with an emphasis on keeping the route as close as possible to what had been planned,” council’s community and customer services director David Waters said.
“Council will work with Santos Tour Down Under organisers to ensure the stages in the Adelaide Hills region go ahead and are enjoyed by local residents and visitors.”
Yesterday was exactly two weeks until Stage 1 from Tanunda to Campbelltown is due to race through the devastated region where fire has burnt through more than 12,500ha and destroyed 38 homes.
Race director Mike Turtur has met with emergency services but is yet to visit the fire-affected roads where Stage 3 from Norwood to Paracombe could also be affected.
Reigning Olympic gold medallist Lasse Hansen arrived in Adelaide from Denmark on Monday and said he could see the bushfire from the air.
The Cannondale-Garmin rider, who won gold in the omnium on the track in London in 2012, came to Adelaide early to train and acclimatise to the heat and said he was concerned about the fires.
“Flying in I could see the bushfire from the aeroplane and that concerned me a bit,” Hansen, 22, said.
“It’s really sad that it (fire) has affected so many people and it’s not easy to stop.
“I have already been getting emails from my sports director to say to take it seriously and not train in those areas.
“I’m not concerned about the race, more about where to train because I don’t know the area.”
Hansen had his own frightening experience with a bushfire this year when flames came within 1km of his home on the Danish island of Fyn in July.
It is the second year in a row the TDU has been threatened by a bushfire after organisers were made to wait until the final minute before declaring Stage 1 in the Barossa Valley would go ahead last January.
A fire at Eden Valley which had burnt through more than 25,000ha and destroyed homes meant the stage from Nuriootpa to Angaston could have been cancelled but the Country Fire Service declared the race route safe on the eve of the race.
At the time, SA Tourism Minister Leon Bignell said it was important for the TDU to continue in the region so people could spend their money supporting the local economy and community.
The Eden Valley fire was about 10km from last year’s race route but this year’s course takes the peloton straight through some of the worst-affected towns including Cudlee Creek, Gumeracha and Inglewood where roads and vegetation may be deemed unsafe.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK ...
“The guys respect me and I respect them. It’s such a good environment to be in.”
- Caleb Ewan tells the Herald Sun of delivering for Orica-GreenEDGE in the Bay Crits.
“Paris-Roubaix is a special race for me and I’m determined to give it another go in Team Sky colours. It’s one of the toughest races in the calendar and my aim is to improve on my ninth-place finish last year. After that I can focus fully on preparing for the Rio Olympics in 2016.”
- Bradley Wiggins on re-signing with Sky then focusing on the track for the 2016 Olympics.
“I was extremely nervous and didn’t sleep well because I knew my lead over a great competitor wasn’t much, but to finally get it is so special.”
- Chloe Hosking after winning her first Bay Cycling Classic title.
“I want to try to get in the routine of winning and hopefully get picked up by a pro team as their sprinter as opposed to a lead-out.”
- Steele von Hoff begins the journey he hopes will lead to a return to the WorldTour in 2016.
“It’s very lonely out there. It’s not the best way to win a bike race but it’s also a fantasy way to win a bike race too, on your own.”
- Orica-AIS star Gracie Elvin on winning the hard way at the Bay Crits this week.
TWEET, TWEET
Putting the @Ride_BMC TT setup through its paces at home before nationals on Thursday. âœ”ï¸ pic.twitter.com/z5CceGkYKO
— Campbell Flakemore (@cflakemore) January 5, 2015- Campbell Flakemore shows the style which made him under-23 world time trial champion.
Originally published as The Coffee Ride #53 with Reece Homfray
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