2020 Tour Down Under

[Drummond]

Starts tomorrow. Pretty keen for this, been counting down the days. Goes through the Barossa tomorrow, will be a beautiful stage.

Weather forecast pretty mild all week, with rain predicted Thursday. Any predictions as to who’ll take the overall title?

 

[Vader]

Starts tomorrow. Pretty keen for this, been counting down the days. Goes through the Barossa tomorrow, will be a beautiful stage.

Weather forecast pretty mild all week, with rain predicted Thursday. Any predictions as to who’ll take the overall title?

Caleb Ewan would be a monty for tomorrow's stage.

Richie Porte, Rohan Dennis & Daryl Impey the favourites for the Ochre Jersey at the top of Willunga Hill on Sunday. Same as the last few years, really.

 

[yaco55]

Think GC is wide open - Porte will be up there, Dennis or Sivakov from Ineos, Profile could be too tough for Impey, though if S.Yates is in shape he could win, which is the same as Bardet - S.Bennett is some chance while my two smokies are Leon Sanchez and Lucas Hamilton.

 

[Vader]

Think GC is wide open - Porte will be up there, Dennis or Sivakov from Ineos, Profile could be too tough for Impey, though if S.Yates is in shape he could win, which is the same as Bardet - S.Bennett is some chance while my two smokies are Leon Sanchez and Lucas Hamilton.

The inclusion of the Paracombe climb makes it harder for Impey, as it adds a 2nd stage where he'll lose time to the real climbers. That said, the climb is short and he has a remarkable habit of picking up bonus seconds at the sprints to make up the difference.

 

[Drummond]

Beautiful weather. Parked myself in Nuriootpa today. Will watch the coverage when I get home.

 

[Drummond]

Day 2 spent at Heathfield. Might try and bolt into Stirling for the finish but I’m guessing it’s packed there...

 

[Drummond]

Amazing sprint finish by Ewan to take stage 2 in front of a massive crowd in Stirling.

Yates got injured in that late crash and by all reports it’ll be extremely unlikely if he continues in the race. Looking forward to tomorrow it’s gonna be a tough stage around Paracombe.

 

[Drummond]

So Impey back in the leaders jersey by 2 seconds over Porte with the final stage tomorrow. Should be a terrific finale with a climb up Willunga hill to finish. Managed to park myself right on the finish line today at Victor Harbor, was a great day and a terrific atmosphere.

 

[Vader]

The AG2R domestiques couldn't catch a cold. Trek Segafredo goes to the front, the gap drops by a few seconds. AG2R rotate to the front, the gap goes back out. Is there a World Tour team with worse domestiques?

 

[drd23]

Good ride by Porte. Loved the interview with the winner by Voight

 

[Vader]

Sucked in to Mitchelton Scott, who got what they thoroughly deserved today. They would rather have lost the race to Rosskopf, rather than risking a Porte victory. In the end their decision to do no work at all cost them - they finished without a rider in the top-5, and Porte won by 25 seconds. Sucked in - Karma's a bitch.

 

[yaco55]

MS made the correct decision - The only thing I would have done differently is to keep the race together for the first intermediate sprints, grab the three seconds and then put the brakes on and let Trek bring it back - The women's team made a fatal error in the women's TDU in stage three by riding at the front, burning out their riders, instead of letting the break go and making Trek burn out the rider's - It cost the the women's team the win.

 

[Orange Agent]

MS lost it yesterday by riding full gas 20k's before the end of the stage for nothing. Complete waste of energy and the fatigue showed today.

 

[eth-dog]

Good race by Porte, but glad someone finally beat him up Willunga Hill.

 

[yaco55]

Good race by Porte, but glad someone finally beat him up Willunga Hill.

Actually a true victory on Willunga Hill is not someone who is in the break - It's someone who starts with Porte on the climb and beats him to the finish.

 

[Drummond]

Great tour, thought the last two stages were excellent with lots of attacks and tactics and made it really interesting. Was at Willunga Hill yesterday about 300m from the finish, a great atmosphere. Although I might go to Aldinga next year as it’s just such a lovely spot.

Stuart O’Grady taking the reigns for next year and beyond. He’s got a big task ahead of him because it’s such a well organised tour. Loved heading along to the stages this year; it really is such a fun environment.