2023 Aussie Summer of Cycling

[eth-dog]

Thought I'd make this thread now since the National road championships start today with the Criterium. The men's road race is on Sunday, and the time trials will be Tuesday.

TDU has a very strong list and I'm looking forward to watch Bling, Caleb and co as sprinters too.

 

[Orange Agent]

Missed the women's crit, seems it's not available on demand . Mens was a good race, very strong ride from Kell O'Brien. It's an odd finish here for the pure sprinters, but not often the designated rider who has done nothing all race can't come off the lead outs wheel.

 

[yaco55]

The worry is that O'Brien did a ton of work BUT Quick could not off his wheel - Quick will need to find a place in the sprint train - Perfect race from the women's team - Attacked incessantly, followed moves and got into the winning break.

 

[Orange Agent]

I think addition of the University section of the lap has made the race better, the reward for individual efforts is greater. Plapp rode a textbook race regardless of what the commentary box thought. He was on his own against a stacked Jayco team who were here for Bling. Hid in the bunch till as late as possible and even when it was down to 4 he made others work, showed great maturity today whereas last year he won on strength. Chapman was a surprise but great to see her reaction and how much it means to her. For all the criticism of the race being in Ballarat every year, it keeps on producing great races to watch and the fields this year were fantastic.

 

[eth-dog]

Classy race from Plapp. Could be our next GT winner. A little disappointed that he won't be the leader for the TDU.

Who wins the ITT? Plapp or Durbridge? I'm going the latter

 

[Orange Agent]

Classy race from Plapp. Could be our next GT winner. A little disappointed that he won't be the leader for the TDU.

Who wins the ITT? Plapp or Durbridge? I'm going the latter

Plapp for me and Georgie Howe to beat Grace Brown in the women's.

 

[eth-dog]

Plapp for me and Georgie Howe to beat Grace Brown in the women's.

Pity Dennis isn't riding.

 

[yaco55]

Classy race from Plapp. Could be our next GT winner. A little disappointed that he won't be the leader for the TDU.

Who wins the ITT? Plapp or Durbridge? I'm going the latter

Plapp has yet to translate his ITT form in the junior's or under 23's in his one year as a pro, while Durbridge is always in form in January and has better equipment - I favor Durbridge, although surprisingly Jayco has high hopes for O'Brien.

 

[yaco55]

Plapp for me and Georgie Howe to beat Grace Brown in the women's.

Brown's form is good and she should win, however, Howe has the benefit of joining a WT team and has better equipment.

 

[yaco55]

Jayco very disappointed about the National RR as this is more important than the TDU - Jayco had a bit of bad luck in the men's RR as L.Hamilton who was super-strong on top of the third last ascent of Mt Bunniyong and spent one lap chasing the peleton - I feel he was going to win - The women were in awe of Spratt and Brown, while Manly performed under expectations. They will be eager to perform at the TDU.

 

[eth-dog]

Brown gets up in the women. Pity SBS don't even have this on demand.

All on course now.

 

[eth-dog]

Jay Vine wins the men ahead of Durbridge by 2 seconds, Kelland O'Brien third 25 seconds back.

Plapp had a mechanical which definitely cost a podium and possibly the win.

 

[Orange Agent]

Jay Vine .

He did an interview with Chris Miller on YouTube after he signed with UAE. Based on what was said, he has fully believed he can achieve this kind of result with the right support. Basically Alpecin gave him the wrong sized TT bike, the squad has no GC focus in terms of nutrition and training.

 

[eth-dog]

Jay Vine .

He did an interview with Chris Miller on YouTube after he signed with UAE. Based on what was said, he has fully believed he can achieve this kind of result with the right support. Basically Alpecin gave him the wrong sized TT bike, the squad has no GC focus in terms of nutrition and training.

They're definitely giving him a chance here and might get a chance at the Vuelta with UAE, although there's Pog, Almeida, McNulty, Yates and Ayuso there too. Let's see how he goes in the TDU though as leader

 

[99 Problems]

His time trial and consistency across 3 weeks were probably his biggest question marks, so that’s a huge start to the season for him. Was always a good chance to see huge improvement moving to one of the best resourced teams.

Obviously they’re a stacked GC team so not sure what chances or schedule he’ll get this season, but we could see some really good performances even in a support role.

 

[eth-dog]

His time trial and consistency across 3 weeks were probably his biggest question marks, so that’s a huge start to the season for him. Was always a good chance to see huge improvement moving to one of the best resourced teams.

Obviously they’re a stacked GC team so not sure what chances or schedule he’ll get this season, but we could see some really good performances even in a support role.

There's a chance where he's the back up option in a GT. He'll get a couple of chances in one week races I reckon.

Great result

 

[yaco55]

Vine's result is no surprise as he has the power numbers to do a good ITT - I am surprised that he claimed in the post-race interview that he did not have the shape for the National RR - This makes no sense because he would have not performed as well in the ITT - let's see how he performs in the TDU - Jayco was right about O'brien in the ITT which augurs well for the classics - This is only the second time in Jayco's history that they've failed to win one of the mens/women's ITT or RR - the other time was in 2015.

 

[eth-dog]

Who do we like for the prologue?

Hayter obviously has quality with his 4th in the world championship.
Can never count someone like Thomas out, although he hasn't won an ITT since 2018 despite his strength there.
Dennis is an obvious favourite here. Although I think the technical course doesn't suit him.
A short, technical course suits Yates, I think he'll be right up there tonight.
A dark horse could be Steimle, who has done well previously through his junior career.

I think Dennis wins but it could be interesting

 

[Vader]

This rain could put paid to the GC hopes for many of the favourites, before they even start Stage 1.

Fingers crossed it dries out before the main riders get started.

On SM-A5360 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Orange Agent]

The coverage is appalling. The geoblocking s**t just needs to stop, if you pay for a subscription service you should still be able to use it even if it's on FTA.

 

[eth-dog]

This rain could put paid to the GC hopes for many of the favourites, before they even start Stage 1.

Fingers crossed it dries out before the main riders get started.

On SM-A5360 using BigFooty.com mobile app

Vine probably the favourite now. Dennis, Bilbao and Yates probably the next best 3.

 

[yaco55]

This is the risk if you have a prologue/ITT in the TDU that rain affects the result and possibly the GC - Bettiol should be fine on corkscrew BUT he could be be in trouble on Mt Lofty if its ridden hard - An in-form yates can do damage on Corkscrew Hill.

 

[Vader]

This is the risk if you have a prologue/ITT in the TDU that rain affects the result and possibly the GC - Bettiol should be fine on corkscrew BUT he could be be in trouble on Mt Lofty if its ridden hard - An in-form yates can do damage on Corkscrew Hill.

Interesting... I would have thought corkscrew was a tougher climb than Mt Lofty. Mind you, Corkscrew is followed by the downhill run to Campbelltown, which does allow dropped riders to catch up (if they weren't too far behind at the top of the climb).

 

[yaco55]

Interesting... I would have thought corkscrew was a tougher climb than Mt Lofty. Mind you, Corkscrew is followed by the downhill run to Campbelltown, which does allow dropped riders to catch up (if they weren't too far behind at the top of the climb).

Corkscrew is harder but they do the hard side of Mt Lofty four times.

 

[Drummond]

Not much hype around the TDU this year?

The coverage is as bad as I’ve ever seen, maybe that’s a contributing factor.