There was only one word to describe today, magic! We woke up to complete
blue skies, not a breath of wind, and a scheduled temperature of around 25
degrees. Absolute idyllic conditions for riding a bike and I think it was
well welcomed by every rider in the tour after the past 2 days of hard
racing.
The race started off, and it was obvious that every man and his dog wanted
to be in the early break. Unfortunately for them, DFL-Cyclingnews had
other ideas, and were keen to keep it together for the only KOM of the day
so Bernie could increase his lead, which they did in fine style. After the
KOM the race was pretty much neutralised as there were a few twisty
descents, and a call of nature for the entire peloton.
Up until 30km to go where the race was on in earnest once more, there
wasn’t anything too interesting that occurred, other than chasing back
through the cars after a puncture, and trying to find a way through the
bunch at 50kph to deliver bidons to all the boys.
After joking around with Stu Shaw, saying “I hope you have your sprinting
legs on Stu”, with him replying “They’ll be on as long as you get your
attacking legs on.” I decided I better do my part and got up the front
jumping on everything I could. At around 25km to go, there was a break at
around 30secs and I thought I should one more time. I looked around to
find only Stuart O’Grady on my wheel, and along with him managed to bridge
across. I must say, after only a month on the bike I was absolutely on the
max just holding his wheel, but it was a pretty exciting experience for
me.
Unfortunately the break wasn’t too keen to work together, and after 22km
of attack, after attack, after attack, we were swallowed up by the
charging peloton with 3km to go.
It was a great finish, with a steep climb that took us to 1km to go, then
a sharp left at only 500m to go, the next 300m downhill, and final 200m
uphill.
I struggled home 11secs behind the winner, and crossed the line to find
that Aaron Kemps had won. What I didn’t realise was big Stu Shaw had come
within an inch of taking the win!! So it seemed that both of us came
through with our promise.
Another day completed, and another fantastic result for the team.
Hopefully tomorrow with the mountain top finish we can finally crack that
big win.
Until tomorrow,
Mark
Oakley M Frames
Sidi Ergo 2 Shoes
