Thursday, April 24, 2008

Stage 3....

Holy crap.....first 50km took us 1hr and 4mins....i dont care who you are, that is fast and hard.


Finally, after a 70+km/h crash that took out a few people...Ouch...the break got away and there was a lull in the field and time for a toilet stop. Team Bissell was represented by Scotty Z...but he tells me that the break was largely under the control of the Team Type 1 rider who slowly started to tear at the legs of his 3 companions.


But inevitably...it was always going to come back together with Toyota and CSC taking to the front over the closing 50km...what people didnt quite expect was how hard the finishing circuits were. the last 8km was run on a twisty, hill and tight circuit that eventually started to tear the field apart. It was a race coming into the park...and once we arrived it didnt let up, with High Road hitting the front and dropping a large quantity of the field....The closing km's hurt and i dug deep, again with good legs but could not quite produce a great finish after a bad line into the final corner. The fast ass, downhill sprint was taken by Greg Henderson (High Road) after a great set up from his team and i trailed in for 8th place.

Apparently I have been relaxed at one point during this tour....need a hair cut though.

Now we look forward to the team time trial...it has always been the focus for our team, with our time trialing strength...so now it is time to sack up and produce the goods. Fingers crossed we can all hold onto Jaques-Maines and Zirbel...gotta have at least 4 finish....




Until tomorrow....adios....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Marls again, it is great reading your news each morning. Yes you do need a haircut but more importantly great finish. Cycling news has a photo of the finish and you are not in 8th in it but you kept going and made up the ground. So good to see someone out of the top 3 finishing off a bike race like they should. Keep up the good work Rich.

Anonymous said...

Good results this week, Richard. You're in there with the specialists on the last three days, and that says a lot. Hope you've saved enough for the TTT, and look forward to that podium!

Gunsle said...

Awesome TTT from the team, you guys really showed your a force to contend with. 2nd US Domestic Team and only just! Nice work.
Good to see u gave it to those Jelly Boys and Rock Ragin.

Watched it here back in Oz live with the Cyclingnews updates.

Keep up the good work mate.
Say a big hello to Trent for me if u see him before the tour is over. He's looking good on GC and best young rider now.

Steeley

Anonymous said...

ill 2nd that, go treva!!

levi will be hard 2 beat for sure but if trent has a good day on that brasstown bald climb who knows :)

keep it up rich

Anthony P