STAGE 5...Winners are grinners

For those who do not know....today was a great day for the Bissell cycling team

I won the stage and Teddy took control of the King Of the Mountains jersey after a stella break away that lasted for nearly 150km. At one point it looked like we wouldnt catch the break and Teddy was going to have the chance to contest the stage finish....but the final kms were tough and it all came back together and then split over the last climb. I got a nice run and a little luck in the finsh and came out in front.

Im so excited for the team who worked really well today and showed what strength we have. It should be a fantastic building block for the rest of the season and hopefully we can keep our boy Teddy in the KOM jersey.

I would love to spend more time blogging, but it is late and has been a very long day. My pillow is calling. Thanks to everyone who sent me emails and messages. Me and the team appreciate all the support.....

You can read all about it on www.velonews.com or www.cyclingnews.com ....cause i dont want to play favourites. Tomorrow is the big Brasstown climb...it will hurt and i look forward to sharing that pain with you in here.

TTT....stage 4

Not what we had hoped for....

That sums up our final result in the team time trial. Al was well and we were on our way to a competitive result when Zirbel suffered a mechanical problem on the hill the third lap and then we had a period were the wheels fell off. We did come back with a solid final lap but the damage had already been done.

But i think that when you look at the team finishing without its 2 clear TT specialists that we still came out with a reasonable time and an OK result. The good thing is that we kept ourselves in a great position for GC as i am only down by 57sec and could easily make that up on Brasstown ;).

In all seriousness, tomorrow's long stage may hold some GC battles, but i think the tour will ultimately come down to Brasstown on Sat. I am pinning some hope and pressure on T. Lowe (Slipstream). My fellow Australian and all round good bloke is looking strong and there is little doubt he has the support of one of the best teams. Can he beat Levi on Brasstown? Time will tell. I sure hope so.

Short one today...internet has been down, so im off to bed now. Hope to have a report for you tomorrow. Long day, 3 climbs, but i am confident i can ride strong and hopefully have a say in the finish again.

Peace

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....