A solid tour for the team

Well the tour has finished and it's time for us to reflect on the week and establish what worked well and not so well for the team. But first, a brief rundown on our performance in Sunday's criterium.

It was a really warm day, about 33 degrees and we were expecting the pace to be hot also. And it was. Brett positioned himself well in the race and got away early in the race in a break of about 15 riders. That's exactly what we wanted, but after the first sprint three riders from this group got away and started to put time on everyone else. Brett tried on a number of occasions to get them back, along with others in the group, but to no avail. You see the problem was that with the tight hairpin corners on the course, it was almost easier for a small group to work together than it was for a larger group. So the three in the break were able to work more efficiently than the chasing group.

Of course, we now know that Aaron Kemps ran away with the stage victory. Brett was our best performer coming in 11th.

It was a really well put together tour, and one that continues to grow each year. It really is on its way to becoming Australia's premier cycling event, and certainly it has a strong focus on developing Australian cycling talents by giving them the opportunity to race against some of the world's best riders. It's races such as these that are going to continue the growth of the sport in Australia, and help produce riders of the calibre of Cadel Evans, Stuart O'Grady and Robbie McEwen.

Here's my summary of this year's Tour

Best cyclists - Obviously Unibet's Matt Wilson put in a gutsy effort to take the win and was well supported by his team. But he was helped out by a couple of penalties to Steve Morabito and Joost Van Liejen. Morabito took two stage victories, including the toughest Falls Creek stage and the time trial. Queenslander Aaron Kemps also rode very well to take two stage victories, as well as the prologue.

Best team - Pro-tour teams Unibet and Astana both had very strong tours, and they should as they are working with budgets much bigger than most teams in the field.

Best stage - It was an extremely well laid out course this year, but I'd have to say the highlights of the tour were the Bendigo prologue (for the 10,000 watching the race), the Falls Creek climb (for the beauty and challenge of the climbs) and the final weekend in Melbourne.

So now it's on to the Melbourne to Warrnambool this weekend, where David Pell will start as a strong favourite for this historic one-day race. We will then compete in the Tour of Southland in November, before a break over the December period before preparing for the Australian Road Championships in Ballarat in January.

We hope you keep following our progress. We're looking for an exciting 2008, perhaps with some new riders in the team and hopefully some strong results.

Until next time, happy cycling

Steve Cunningham

Comments

[Bridie]

Sounds like you all had a blast!
Good to hear :)

[Bob Buzacott]

What a great effort , Savings & Loans your results were awsome . The final crit on TV was great , it was sometimes hard to pick up teams as camera work had to be so quick to keep up . While the commentary was enthusiastic it did not do many of the local teams justice for their efforts by informative mentions . Savings & Loans & other locals teams I can not recall getting a real mention , Brett did but not the team , considering that S&L were in contention last year it was poor not to be highlighted by comentators . The Pro Tour Teams got heaps of course and I have no problem with that . As a cycling supporter well done S & L to hold up the banner for local cycling so brilliantly .