Strength to strength

QSM girls are on the up and up this season.  Last weekend, at the third (and final) race of the Crestmead Summer Series, Jemma (women B&C combined) made an incredible comeback to win the final sprint.  She collected enough points (along with her win from week 1) to win the overall series!

Pensar/Hawk girls rode well again to wrap up their winning streak in women A, but this was not without some keen opposition again from the Riders Morningside girls, QSM and others.  I even managed a 6th place... not bad for a non-sprinter.  :)

Since last week, QSM/Upper Limb/DWBH have recruited yet another strong rider for 2012.  

Maddison Vit now joins us along with our core team of Jane Walker, Corissa Smith, Claire Trembath, Nikki Orlic, Jemma Brown, Jane Youdan (and myself).  Bring on some autumn and winter racing!

Sydney pair Simone Kennedy and Alexandra Green has given Australia two more gold medals while Sue Powell and David Nicholas claimed silver medals on the third day of competition at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles.

The Australian team now has seven gold and three silver medals to put them second on the medal table behind Great Britain who have seven gold and five silver medals with one day of racing to come.

Kennedy's win came in the C3 women's 3km individual pursuit where she posted a time of 4:29.387 to defeat Denise Schindler of Germany by more than two seconds (4:31.506). It's the second gold medal for 19-year-old who on Thursday won the 500 metre time trial crown.

"I'm very happy," said Kennedy after collecting her second rainbow jersey. "I'd been training really hard for the pursuit (it's) the event I've been training for most and I was hoping to do really well.

"This is my first world championships and there weren't any C3's last year so no idea what to expect," said Kennedy. "I just tried to ride my own race and stick to my own schedule and not blow up, which I didn't, so that's good."

The C4 women's pursuit final was an all Australian affair between defending world champion Sue Powell from Canberra and Sydney's Alexandra Green who was the bronze medallist in 2011 and who slashed eight seconds off her previous best to clock the fastest qualifying time of 4:10.331. Powell rode after her and paced herself to a time of 4:14.885 to secure her place in the gold medal final.

Powell led early in the 12 lap event but by the halfway mark Green had her measure and continued to improve over the final laps to power to the line in another personal best time of 4:09.112. Powell stopped the clock in 4:13.191 for second place.

"It's pretty amazing and I didn't expect it that's for sure," said Green, 24, who switched to cycling from adaptive rowing. "Definitely I'm a pursuiter not a sprinter and the endurance events is where I want to perform so glad I could do that."

Green says coming up against her team mate in the final inspired her to perform.

"Sue's always been so far ahead of me so to come up against her I think I'd rather race her than anyone else because I know she holds herself to such a high standard and she's always going so well," said Kennedy.

"It's also been amazing to see a world record from girls' tandem and so many world champions (in the Australian team) and you just want to come out and do your best and hope you get a result, a medal or world title," said Green of the morale within the Australian camp.

Powell was full of praise for her rival who is 20 years her junior.

"Well deserved for Alex who has done a massive PB this morning and again this afternoon," said Powell. "I'm a little disappointed in my time cause I've consistently ridden faster than that over the last few months but that happens and that's racing and hopefully I'll go home and work on it."

Earlier in the day Queensland's David Nicholas grabbed a surprise silver medal in the C3 men's kilometre time trial to go with the world title he won in the pursuit.

Nicholas was the 14th rider out of the gate and set a time of 1.13.912 to take the lead. He then endured a nervous wait as another seven riders tried to better his time. Several started fast before fading but then world record holder Darren Kenny of Great Britain flew out of the gate and maintained his pace over the four laps to claim the win in a time of 1.12.496.

In the C1 women's 3km pursuit Jayme Paris clocked 4.52.423 but as the only starter in the classification does not receive a medal. But she was buoyed by a visit from Australian actors Daniel MacPherson and Zoe Ventura who were at the track to cheer on the Australians.

'Dancing with the Stars' host MacPherson met Paris when he hosted the 2011 Jayco Australian Cyclist of the Year Awards in Sydney last November and has become one of her biggest fans.

He and girlfriend Ventura, with whom he starred in Wild Boys, are in Los Angeles trying out for US television roles.

Thirty three nations are contesting the championships in a bid to claim qualifying points to secure starting places at the Paralympic Games.

Mark Cavendish condition:

Team Sky are happy to announce that Mark Cavendish has recovered sufficiently from his recent bout of illness to make his Team Sky debut in the opening stage of the Tour of Qatar.

The world road race champion, 26, did not take part in Team Sky’s training ride on Saturday after falling ill on his flight from London Heathrow to Doha on Friday night. Instead, he spent the day resting under the supervision of Team Sky’s medical team and his progress has since proved encouraging.

Team Sky’s Sports Director Steven de Jongh said: 

“We’re all delighted that Mark has been able to battle back from the bug he picked up coming out here and it will be a real boost to the rest of the guys to know that he’ll be starting today.

“Our medical team have done a fantastic job in looking after him and Mark has followed their advice to the letter. Clearly, he’s not going to be at his best in the next few days but we’re hoping he’ll get stronger with every passing stage. 

“We’ll continue to keep a very close eye on him but hopefully he’s over the worst of it now.”

The day before the race was pretty low key: a quick spin in the morning with my girlfriend, a casual meeting with my search2retain teammates and coach (former World Jnr TT Champ and adopted Ballarat local) Josh Collingwood at a local cafe, before a relaxing dinner ("pasta again!" complains Jane my girlfriend) and a movie. Pretty boring really. It can be difficult sometimes to restrain yourself from wasting energy by mowing that lawn, cleaning that mess in the garage, but hopefully a day on the couch will reap benefits come race day.

After a quick blast on the ergo to open the pipes in preparation of a quick start to the race, and some breakfast (more pasta!), it was out to the course to meet my teammates at our feed station halfway up the climb. Search2retain had Neil Van der Ploeg and Cal Britten to support myself, with Paul Van der Ploeg representing Felt to also offer support on the road. These guys are all experienced international mountain bikers and so we were quietly confident that we could be part of this race. While stuffing my pockets with Balance Nutrition gels and my secret power foods (a couple of jelly beans and Mars Bars!!) before the race start, friends and family began to arrive. All hands were on deck: some were tuning into race radio, while others filled bidons with Coke and worked out where to stand, spread out along the road so none of us riders missed a bottle on what was brewing to be a hot and gusty day.

With a tailwind up the 4km climb, it was always going to be a fast first lap, but a record lap of 14mins was 1min faster than the previous best set last year. Anyone keen should trek out to Buningyong and attempt just 1 lap at this pace, just to get an impression for themselves, then contemplate doing another 15laps! It was no wonder I later heard reports that riders were shelled out the back on that 1st lap, with numbers in the vicinity of 450-500w being murmured in hushed tones. With the 16 strong Green Edge team driving the tempo, signs were ominous that today would be hard and fast. "At least we would be home for dinner at a reasonable hour," I thought. Early on I tried to sneak into a move off the front so as to give myself a buffer on the pro guys before they chose to turn on the gas and I succeeded in sneaking away with 2 motorbikes in the form of O'Grady and Bobridge. Knowing that the remaining Green Edge riders would be protecting our lead I was positive about this move, however it lasted less than a lap before the next attack countered.

With the exception of Cam Meyer flying away off the front solo for an extended period, the race behind him was typified by riders in turn surging up the climb with the wind at their backs, before regrouping in the crosswinds across the top of the course to assess the damage. It was relentless with no exaggeration. Matt Lloyd was certainly the main protagonist, with Richie Porte also inflicting much pain. Green Edge had so many cards to play that they just put a different rider up the road at every opportunity forcing the rest of us to chase. It was very much a battle of Green Edge Vs everyone else! Mark O'Brien had the strength to attack and get a gap late in the race and I also played my hand with 3-4 laps to go in the hope that the pro's might let a 'nobody' a bit of breathing space. Every lap this went on, but as the bell chimed for the final ascent it was gruppo compacto with some 20 riders from an original 165 left to battle it out.

Before the road even tilted upwards I noticed Richie Porte shifting down a few gears so I readied myself to react to his every twitch. He launched along with Matt Lloyd at the very base of the climb. I went with this move with what little I had left but those guys are just at another level and I blew to pieces after holding their wheel for only 500m. With that some riders bridged and went past me in a blur, while others suffered a similar fate, as I tried to compose myself to limit my loses in the vain hope that those in front would slow in a tactically game of cat and mouse. It was not to be however as the power of Simon Gerrans took the race up the road and I was left to ride the final half a lap with likes of Mick Rogers and Luke Roberts - not bad company, but I was already counting the little amateur errors I had made earlier in the day.... 2013 preparations had quietly begun :)

Stats:

distance: 161km

time: 4hrs 9mins

avg speed: 39kmh

max speed: 78kmh

avg hr: 154bpm

max hr: 187bpm

avg power: 338w

max power: 1224w

number of Mars Bars: 2

Jay

Anna Meares, Matthew Glaetzer and Jack Bobdige steered South Australia to the top of the rankings on the final night of racing at the 2012 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships at the Adelaide Super-Drome.

Meares and Glaetzer were crowned national keirin champions while Bobridge gave the locals something else to cheer for when he added a third gold medal to his week's tally with a colossal performance in the men's points race. Isabella King claimed the elite scratch race title for WA while in the under 19 events New South Wales won the Madison and Victoria won both the junior men's team sprint and the junior women's sprint.

Annette Edmondson (SA) was named the elite Champion of Champions for her gold medals in the individual pursuit, scratch and points races. Her win in the individual pursuit, where she recorded the fastest time ever ridden on Australian soil (3:30.586), was named the 'Ride of the Series'. The junior Champion of Champions prize went to Queensland's Taylah Jennings who won three individual and one team gold medal.

Women's Keirin

Meares' win in the keirin brought her career tally of Australian track titles to 29 but she had to fend off a late charge from Sydney's Kaarle McCulloch to secure the victory.

"I'm not after the easy win, I'm after the win that's going to make me better," said Meares who also won team sprint and sprint gold medals this week. "And that hurt like hell. The old lactic acid isn't anyone's friend, is it?"

Meares grabbed the wheel of the derny pace bike from the start and used it to full advantage, powering away from her rivals as the bike left the track. She surged to a massive lead and McCulloch, who was caught in traffic, had to firstly pass four others before she could try to close the gap. She made up ground quickly but Meares held on to win by mere centimetres.

"When I saw I'd drawn one and Kaarle had drawn six, I thought that was a good opportunity to put some distance between us and make her work really hard as well," explained Meares of the draw that put her at the bottom of the track and McCulloch at the top on the start line. 

"I realised the gap was significant, but not enough to withstand a good run from Kaarle, so I had to really commit otherwise I was going to find myself in the position where I was going to be run down," she said. "This is the most level event for the two of us to come head-to-head, you saw that, I won it by half a tyre. (But) I'd rather almost lose than almost win."

But the pair will soon reunite for the team sprint in which they have won the world title for the past three years.

"I'm actually really excited, I feel like I've taken a great deal of confidence from these championships," said Meares. "The plan that Gary (West - coach) has for me is working and that goes a long way when you're out there on your own - sometimes that trust or backing is all you have.

"I will be leaning on that for sure," Meares added.

McCulloch had no regrets after collecting one gold and three silver medals at the championships.

"I wasn't quite expecting the gap to open up that quickly, but I bided my time and I went as hard as I could, but I guess I just needed five more metres of track," said McCulloch. "But I am happy with how I rode today as I think it was probably one of the first keirin championships where I had a little bit of patience.

"Plus, I was a good deal off her at the 200m mark and I almost got her, so I have to be pretty happy with the speed in my legs right now," she said.

Men's Points Race

Jack Bobridge was under attack from all quarters in a fast and furious men's 40km points race but prevailed to claim his third win of the week.

The pace was on from the start of the 160 lap marathon, with Bobridge, Jackson-Leigh Rathbone (NSW) and West Australia's Michael Freiberg in amongst most of the action early.

Bobridge grabbed sprint points at every opportunity and jumped into the key move of the race that came with 70 laps remaining, when he joined Rathbone, Sean Finning (VIC), Mitchell Mulhern (QLD), Jack Beckinsale (NSW) and Bradley Robson (WA) in a break that gave the sextet a lap on the field and a valuable 20 point bonus.

Jackson Law (NSW) then countered with a lightning fast solo effort and before the bunch had a chance to respond he had lapped them and collected 20 points. In the remaining laps, Bobridge, Law and Rathbone continued to pile on the sprint points with Bobridge cementing an unassailable lead with 20 laps to go. However Law and Rathbone were neck and neck for silver and the two battled all the way to the fininshing line where Rathbone edged Law on the line to take the five points but Law's three points for being second across the line in the final sprint was enough to give him a one point buffer and the silver medal.

The final result gave Bobridge gold on 52 points, eight ahead of Law on 44pts with Rathbone in third palce on 43pts.

Men's Keirin

Nineteen-year-old Matthew Glaetzer thrilled the crowd with a display of power and control that belied his years to claim his maiden senior keirin crown.

"It's massive, I didn't expect it to be honest," said Glaetzer, who burst on to the international scene at 17 when he won the sprint/keirin double at the junior world titles. "I just went out there and tried to execute my perfect race to win and it came together."

Glaetzer unleashed a withering burst of speed that left the rest of the field, including reigning world champion Shane Perkins, scramblingfor position in his wake.

At the bell lap Glaetzer was still in front with Perkins boxed in by the NSW duo of Andrew Taylor and Mitch Bullen. Spurred on by his hometown fans Glaetzer, a former pole vaulter, lunged at the line to clinch the win from Taylor with Bullen third. Perkins finished fourth.

"I knew I had to get to the front, put myself in a position to win and make it really hard for the others to come around," said Glaetzer, who teamed with Glasspool and Nathan Corrigan on Friday night to win the team sprint title.

"I expected Perkins to charge, and when I spotted him near the back I thought if he's going to win this, he's going to have to hit and get to the front.

"Then I saw him attack and responded pretty hard to make sure I kept front position, which I did." added Glaetzer.

Women's Scratch Race

West Australia's Isabella King timed her run perfectly, attacking the field just prior to the bell lap, to sprint home for gold in the women's scratch race.

King and team mate Sarah Kent set much of the early pace, with Kent and Tasmania's Amy Cure involved in a number of attacks throughout the race. But none stuck and with all eyes on the in form Annette Edmondson (SA) King chose the right moment to pounce.

She rode clear of the field and then held off a fast fininshing Edmondson on the line.

"I didn't know if Nettie or I got it or not, so when I realised, I just threw my hands up, I am so happy," said King. "Nettie is a such a good rider so I knew I had to go early as I wouldn't be able to get around her in the last half.

"And I was a bit angry from the last few days as I haven't performed like I wanted to so I just used all that anger tonight," King added.

A crash with 300 metres to go brought down Canberra riders Rebecca Wiasak and Sally Bowman with the latter sustaining a broken collar bone.

Under 19 Men's Madison

In the under 19 Madison the New South Wales duo of Tirian McManus and Jack McCulloch survived a late fight-back by New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) pair Caleb Ewan and Nathan Bradshaw to grab the gold.

McManus and McCulloch, the younger brother of sprint star Kaarle, scored points in the first five of the six sprints contested, and of those won maximum points in the first and third sprints, to establish a solid six point margin over Ewan and Bradshaw.

The pace lifted in the last 40 laps of the 120 lap event and NSWIS moved to within two points of the lead with only one sprint remaining.

West Australia's Linfield attacked with five laps to go and Victoria also challenged to dash the NSWIS hopes of a snatching victory.

McManus and McCulloch scored a winning tally of 16 points, while Ewan and Bradshaw placed second on 15 points. The bronze medal went to Queensland's Owen Gillott and Jesse Kerrison who claimed 13 points.

Under 19 Women's Sprint

In the under 19 women's sprint Victorian Caitlin Ward defeated West Australia's Allee Proud to claim the gold medal.

Ward breezed through qualifying and accounted for Korea's Jihae Park in the semi finals in straight heats, before also overcoming Proud in straight heats.

"Its the biggest week of my season, and I have worked hard for this and although I am drained and tired, the idea of winning a medal just took over," said Ward. "I am not very good at sprint matches, I usually stuff them up, so my coaches were in my ear today telling me to control the race.

"So all I could think of in the race was control, don't stuff it up, control, control, control. I think I did that pretty well tonight," added Ward.

Ward's team mate Tian Beckett defeated Park in the bronze medal match up.

The 2012 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships were staged from Thursday January 26 to Sunday January 29 6 at Adelaide's Super-Drome. Complete results can be found on the Cycling Australia website

Three of the fastest times ever recorded in Australia were ridden today at the 2012 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships at the Adelaide Super-Drome.

South Australia's Jack Bobridge, Rohan Dennis, Alexander Edmondson and Glenn O'Shea blazed their way to an all comers record for the 4km team pursuit with an astonishing 3:56.834. Fellow South Australian Annette Edmondson inked her name in the record book in qualifying and then bettered the mark in the final of the women's 3km individual pursuit where she won gold in a time of 3:30.586.

Outside temperatures were in the mid-30s and inside the velodrome conditions were perfect for fast times and scuttlebutt around the vene was that the South Australian quartet, featuring two reigning world champions in Bobridge and Dennis, had their eye on a record.

Powering around the track in front of an adoring home crowd they were almost two seconds ahead of their rivals at the one kilometre mark and at half way were more than four seconds faster.

Queensland's quartet of world champion Michael Hepburn, Mitchell Mulhern, Nicholas Schultz and Jesse Kerrison were doing a fair pace themselves but SA was gaining with every pedal stroke.

Five laps from the finish SA caught and passed Queensland before powering on to record the fastest ever time on Australian soil. It shaved 79 thousandths of a second off the 2010 time of 3:56.913 set by Bobridge and Hepburn with Leigh Howard and Cameron Meyer at the Track World Cup in Melbourne.

The time was also faster than that ridden, albeit on a different track and under different conditions, by Bobridge, Dennis, Hepburn and West Australian Luke Durbridge to win the the 2011 world title in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

For Bobridge, who missed last week's Santos Tour Down Under due to a hand injury sustained when he crashed in the time trial at the road nationals earlier this month, the win was sweet consolation.

"I've had a bit of a run lately with sickness and crashes, so to come back and do that, it boosts my confidence as well," said Bobridge whose last team pursuit effort was in Apeldoorn. "To be honest, I didn't expect to see 3:56 on the board, but sometimes you need something like that just to give you a bit of a kickstart again.

"It's just shows we have depth there in the team pursuit, with young guys like Alex coming up and being able to start and finish a '56 ride.

"Also it doesn't just give the state team confidence, it gives the national team a good look in and confidence leading into the next world cup and to the worlds," Bobdrige added after being presented with the Southcott Cup for the third straight year.

Dennis meantime has had a pehnomenal month winning both the national under 23 road race and time trial titles before taking out the mountain classification and best young rider jersey for his fifth place overall at the Santos Tour Down Under. He pulled out with four laps remaining in the morning's qualifying ride, but recovered well for the final.

"Obviously it's been a long month and it sort of caught up to me," admitted Dennis. "It was more a mental battle, not being able to finish that heat hurt me a little bit.

"It helped as well putting me fourth wheel as after Tour Down Under I don't have a lot of that initial burst so it let me settle in a bit more.

"I didn't do as much as these guys, but I just made sure my turns were hard," Dennis added.

Queensland's Hepburn was in awe of his counterparts after receiving his silver medal.

"That was a fairly classy ride by SA, and there wasn't a lot we could do tonight and we thought we were moving alright, but then they just steamed right around us," said Hepburn, who last night won the individual pursuit crown. "They have four world class riders and two world champions, so we did what we could do.

"Having said that, is great for the sport and an event like this that the event can attract so many world champions.

"There are not many sports in the world where you can pay $10 and see so many of the world's best in the sport compete at an event like this," added Hepburn.

The fourth member of the world champion team, Luke Durbridge, joined Michael Freiberg, Stephen Hall and Bradley Robson to secure the bronze medal for West Australia, posting a time of 4:05.507 which was too good for the New South Wales team of Benjamin Harvey, Scott and Jackson Law and Jackson-Leigh Rathbone (4:06.02).

In the women's 3km individual pursuit final, South Australia's Annette Edmondson backed up her blistering qualifying time with an even quicker final.

Earlier in the day, she posted 3:30.586 to eclipse the mark set eight years ago by New Zealand's Sarah Ulmer at the 2004 World Championships in Melbourne.

Tonight Edmondson went over half a second faster in the final crossing the line in 3:30.078 to finish seven seconds ahead of Ashlee Ankuindoff of New South Wales who stopped the clock in 3:37.264.

"I was feeling a little bit flat between qualifying and the final - I didn't know how I was going to go," admitted Edmondson. "But I just wanted to back up, I wanted to go out there and do another good time.

"I didn't expect to go another 3:30 - that was definitely not part of my imagination.

"I'm absolutely rapt, I'm so happy with my form right now ... it's better than what I wanted it to be," Edmondson added.

Defending champion Josephine Tomic (3:35.241) from West Australia defeated team mate Melissa Hoskins (3:41.049) in the bronze medal race.

In the under 19 men's team pursuit Victoria won the Bill Young Trophy for the third year in a row after defeating South Australia in the final.

Reigning junior world champions Jack Cummings and Alexander Morgan, plus Thursday's time trial gold medallist, Zac Shaw and Evan Hull, combined to ride a time of 4:08.745. They were more than six seconds faster than South Australia's Joshua Harrison, Thomas Kaesler, Robert-Jon McCarthy and Miles Scotson (4:14.830).

"It is fantastic to back it up for Victoria and especially with the rainbow bands on for Alex and I," said Cummings who teamed with Alexander Morgan, Caleb Ewan and Jackson Law to win the junior world title in Moscow last August.

"I haven't really had the best nationals so far, so to come out and ride a really solid time with a great bunch of guys, it's awesome," said Cummings. "The pressure of the rainbow jerseys is something good as it gives you that extra burst to go that little bit harder."

The New South Wales team of Caleb Ewan, Nathan Bradshaw, Tirian McManus and Nicholas Yallouris (4:14.491) claimed the bronze medal against West Australia's Trent Derecourt, Bradley Lindfield, Luke Vitler and Theodore Yates (4:17.480).

In the under 19 men's sprint Victoria's Emerson Harwood broke through for his first national title. Harwood was the fastest qualifier and dispatched team mate Jacob Schmid in straight heats in the best of three medal round to claim gold. 

"I have mixed emotions right now about how hard I have worked, it means a lot," said Harwood. "The final against Jacob was tough as we know each other really well so we had to play some different moves."  

South Australia's Alex Radikiewicz was too good for team mate Jai Angsuthasawit to claimed the bronze medal, also in straight heats.  
Victoria's Caitlin Ward claimed her maiden Australian title taking out the women's under 19 keirin. Ward attacked at the bell lap and held off a strong charge from Korea's Jihae Park who was second with West Australia's Allee Proud third across the line. 

"I am just so happy, this is just amazing," said Ward.  "My uncle told me at my very first race that 'when the flag drops, the BS stops', so when I attacked I just gave it my all as I figured that nothing I did at that moment could be worse than if I did nothing at all."

In the women's sprint quarter finals reigning world champion Anna Meares and Sydney's Kaarle McCulloch breezed through to the semi finals where Meares will face Catherine Culvenor and McCulloch rides against with Victoria's Ziggy Callan.  

The thrilling program of racing wrapped up with the under 19 men's and women's points races.

Trent Derecourt (WA) won gold in the men's under 19 25km points race using tactical nous to outmanoeuvre pre-race favourite Caleb Ewan (NSW).

Ewan established a strong lead early but a solo attack by Derecourt inside the final 30 laps of the 100 lap event saw him grab sprint points and a 20 point bonus for lapping the field. The eighteen-year-old then countered a number of late attacks to claim the gold medal with a tally of 31 points.

Ewan placed second with 23 points and his team mate Tirian McManus collected the bronze medal with 18 points.

"It hasn't sunk in yet, I mean this is my first Australian championships," said Derecourt after collecting his first ever gold medal at an Australian championships.

"I came here with the goal of putting in a good ride in the individual pursuit and at least medalling in the points race.

"I didn't really have a plan coming in here, but then I saw an opportunity to take a lap and it took a while, but I finally got there."

Taylah Jennings (QLD) controlled the under 19 women's 20km points race from start to finish placing in nearly every one of the eight sprints in the 80 lap event.

Jennings, along with West Australian Elissa Wundersitz, South Australia's Jessica Mundy and Victoria's Imogen Jelbart created much of the pace through the race, but it was Jennings who piled on the points at every opportunity. She had an unassailable lead heading into the final sprint but just to make sure she blasted clear of the field and ended the race with 31 points to take the gold medal ahead of South Australia's Jessica Mundy (19 points) and Tasmania's Georgia Baker (11 points).

"This is pretty exciting, I didn't expect this at all, I am over the moon," said Jennings after being presented with her third gold medal in two days. The seventeen-year-old also won the time trial gold in the afternoon session and yesterday won the scratch race and was second in the individual pursuit.

"The plan was to go out and get points early as I knew the West Australians, in particular Elissa, would attack.

"It is hard when everyone is watching me and everyone wants my wheel and it is hard to get people to work with me, plus it was a really fast race too, but I really enjoyed it," Jennings said.

The 2012 Subaru Cycling Australia Track National Championships are being staged from Thursday January 26 to Sunday January 29 6 at Adelaide's Super-Drome. A detailed event schedule, ticketing information, entry list and results can be found on the Cycling Australia website

Victorian Simon Gerrans has sealed a fairytale debut for the fledgling GreenEDGE Australian professional cycling team by claiming overall victory in the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under.

Gerrans joins team mate and local hero Stuart O'Grady and today's stage winner German Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) as the third rider in the event's 14 year history to win the trophy twice.

Sunday's final stage was raced over 20 laps of a street circuit at Elder Park on the banks of the Torrens River north of the Adelaide CBD. The 90 kilometre finale set off with the air temperature at 37 degrees celsius but the heat from road made racing conditions much hotter.

31 year old Gerrans went into the stage tied on time with Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) but as race leader because of a lower total when the pair's places on previous stages were tallied. There was also a handful of other riders hoping to improve their positions. But GreenEDGE were up to the challenge and vigilant throughout the stage making sure they covered every move.

"When I was told yesterday that I was getting the leader's jersey, I didn't feel any pressure at all, it was just a nice surprise. I knew it would give us a tough job for this last stage, but as it turns out, I can't be happier," said Gerran who two weeks ago won the elite men's road race crown at the nationals. "This is just fantastic. I can't thank the GreenEdge team enough for this victory.

"We had a tough task today to control Alejandro Valverde who is a classics rider. The last lap was very fast," said a jubuliant Gerrans whose wife Rahna was in Adelaide to witness his win. "It's an even sweeter victory than my first one here in 2006. It gives me the opportunity to thank for the first time the Ryan family (GreenEDGE team owners Gerry and Andrew) and (GreenEDGE General Manager) Shayne Bannan for putting this team together. It couldn't be a better start for us.

"I had Robbie McEwen looking after me (and) that was pretty special since it was his last race in Australia," said Gerrans of his team mate McEwen who going into today's stage held the record for the most stage wins in the history of the Santos Tour Down Under. Greipel today equalled that record when he grabbed his 13th stage victory.

"What can I say?" said Greipel after flashing across the line a good bike length clear of Australian Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Italian sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre). "The team Lotto-Belisol has just been amazing in leading me out to my third win of the week.

"It looks easy but it's not," he said. "I was nowhere in the front on GC (overall) this year but I'm happy with the sprint finishes. I always like to come to South Australia. It's just nice to start the new season here rather than train in Europe."
 
Further back in the peloton were Valverde and Gerrans who crossed the line 25th and 27th respectively split only by Gerran's stage finish pilot McEwen who made sure the Spaniard was well marked.

"I'm just really happy and proud to be part of this team here at the Santos Tour Down Under. I'm not retiring today, that was my last Aussie race officially, but the season's not done. I am still going to race for another four months after this," said McEwen. "It's a fantastic way to go out as far as Australia racing is concerned. I joined the team and was really excited about being a part of the GreenEDGE project racing in an Aussie team, our national team. It was all about winning the jersey and that's the success for the team, it feels like a personal win to be a part of it."

Despite not being on the top step of the podium Valverde was satisfied to have won the Tour's first ever hilltop finish yesterday.

"I am very happy with finishing second in the Santos Tour Down Under," said Valverde. "The outcome is much better than I expected when I came to Australia. Today was a super fast stage with a bit of wind that made it even more difficult. I'm very happy."

At the end of the 803km six day event both Gerrans and Valverde remained deadlocked on 20:46:12 but Gerrans' stage placings added up to a total of 102 and Valverde's 175 giving the Australian the win.

"I certainly am [happy]," said GreenEDGE Team Director, Matt White, who last year steered Cameron Meyer to victory. "To win the Santos Tour Down Under with our newly crowned National Champion, we couldn't have written a better script. [I'm] elated, just elated."

Third place overall went to Portugese rider Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan) who was eight seconds back with Canberra's Michael Rogers (Sky Pro Cycling) fourth at 14 seconds. On the same time as Rogers in fifth place was 21 year old Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) who recently claimed both the under 23 time trial and road race national titles.

Dennis was in superb form this week to claim the SKODA King of the Mountain classification and the Cycle Instead Best Young Rider (under 26) trophy.

"I wasn't sure I was actually going to finish this race," said Dennis explaining the effect on him of the fast start to the stage. "I was pretty happy it slowed down, I think everybody was. With that surge at the start it almost slowed it down and made it a little bit easier towards the end."

Dennis was also given the Tanya Denver Award as the highest placed South Australian overall.

Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen had hoped to climb higher in the overall rankings today but an attack from Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan) netted the Belgian some crucial bonus seconds in the Jayco intermediate sprints and pushed Boasson Hagen back to seventh. Bakelants' audacious attack also saw him named the Hindmarsh Most Aggressive rider of the stage.

But Sky's Boasson Hagen did hold onto his lead in the Jayco Sprint Classification to claim the trophy with 56 points, six ahead of Greipel.

"I got the jersey but I would like to be more up in the final stage, but I managed to keep the jersey so that's a good thing," said Boasson Hagen. "It's an early start to the season and to be on top form now is difficult. I'm happy to be on OK form and I can still get better."

The Brilliant Blend Team trophy was awarded to RadioShack-Nissan-Trek who were 24 seconds ahead of Sky ProCycling after the times of the top three ranked riders from each team were tallied.

"We like to win a team GC and on top of that we managed to place Tiago, we are pretty happy with the outcome of the race," said team captain Jens Voigt.

The final word goes to the man considered the most successful cyclist of all time, Belgian legend Eddy Merckx who was a special guest at this year's event.

"It was a great race and I will be thanking everybody, everything was great," said Merckx.

Final Results Summary

• Stage 6 Winner - Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) (GER)

• Santos Tour Down Under Winner - Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) (AUS)

• Jayco Sprint Winner - Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky ) (NOR)

• SKODA King of the Mountain Winner - Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS)

• Cycle Instead Best Young Rider (Under 26) - Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS)

• Brilliant Blend Team Leader - Radioshack-Nissan

• Hindmarsh Most Aggressive Rider for stage 6- Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan) (BEL)

• Tanya Denver Award - Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS) (Highest placed South Australian overall)

Stage 4 TDU 2012: The Pattern Continues

By Simon Cadzow

 “I look down at the (bathroom) scales: I’m not a climber”

Andre Greipel (Lottol-Belisol just after his stage 3 victory)

“My house in Norwood caught fire. My house in Goodwood caught fire. My house in Collingswood caught fire. No more places ending in wood for me: I’m moving to Burnside”

RAA South Australian insurance commercial and also the start of today’s stage

Entree

Norwood. The start for today’s stage is again similar in style to stage 1 Prospect and stage 3 Unley except Norwood is a 2 lane road; the others are one each way. It’s a place full of history and one where I have been involved yearly for over a decade in natural bodybuilding competitions held at the Norwood Town Hall. Many of the competitors over the years do cardio on indoor bikes. Today the bikes are outdoors.

Why I am telling you this? Well it’s because I had to work this morning and so didn’t get to go the stage start as I usually do. That said having now down several at Norwood it would have gone like this:

Lycra clad individuals, consisting of hippies and businessmen alike, arrive at 0600 onwards for the start of the public phase of the ride with many trying to score as many free power bars as they can fit in their jersey courtesy ride-sponsor for the day ahead

With a lot of bleary eyes semi-open, the riders take off sitting somewhere along a spectrum of “yeah I’m pumped” to “why-did-I-do-this-and-train-in-the-middle-of-the-day-when-I’m-actually-starting-the-ride-when-I’m-still-asleep: I am an idiot”

Hours later the rest of the local universe appears and the TDU riders arrive in their vehicles around 1000 for sign-on, final team briefing, crowd interaction and autographs, general haggling between teams in a variety of languages, cramped seating inside vans designed for 5 now holding 7-8 and the most important thing: the sustained use of the revolving-door now installed on the riders WC at the end of the team car line. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Luxury.

Main Course

Stage 4 heads North East travelling 130km from Norwood to Tanunda in the Barossa. The course has 2 sprint points and 2 KOM points. In addition the course starts almost immediately by climbing Anstey Hill, an uncategorised climb in the first ½ hour.

I live down the road from here and have climbed Anstey more times than I can remember and it’s a sneaky start: Essentially there are 3 climbs today. Not categorising it just means the peloton stays together going up it. Sneaky but smart.

With the first sprint at 25km no break could get away.

Sprint 1 Kersbrook (25.3km) Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) Michael Matthews (Rabobank) Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar)

Here’s where the question is asked: Andre stated yesterday he can’t climb, will get hammered on Willunga, so what’s in his head?

Cue the small breakaway, right on time and at KOM 1...

KOM 1 Smith Hill (30km why is the KOM at a “hill” and the next sprint at a “Mount”, is anybody else confused? Is anybody else paying attention? Anyway points 10-6-4-2) Jay McCarthy (Uni SA-Australia) Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskatel-Euskadi) Blei Kadri (AG2R) and then Gatis Smukulis (Katusha)

On to the 2nd sprint...

Sprint 2 Mt Pleasant (51km and for the record I am still at a loss as to why Mt pleasant is called Mt Pleasant. It’s ok but....but then again that’s what pleasant is isn’t it) Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskatel-Euskadi) Blei Kadri (AG2R) Jay McCarthy (Uni SA-Australia)

Now it’s time for itchy feet: 2minutes between the break and the main group. Mengler’s Hill Cat 1 climb is at 107km up the road. 6 GreenEDGE guys are driving it hard (I counted them). Things are about to happen. The break is caught on the approach to the climb...

Dessert

This is massive: the first time the race has looked like, and I say this in all seriousness-ness-ness, the TDF. The peloton attacks the climb, strung out doing such a high speed (are they going for a run up, I mean we’re back to my car attacking a hill here?)

Simply put the climb splits the group with 40 riders getting 30 secs and Andre falling off the lead group. At the top the lead group have just under a minute to Andre with SA’s yes SA’s (I’ll share in some of the glory here) Rohan Dennis (Uni SA-Australia) breaking for the summit and making it first. 

KOM 2 Mengler’s Hill (107.4km with 6 riders getting points due to the new system so here’s the order give them 16-12-8-6-4-2 points respectively) Rohan Dennis (Uni SA-Australia) Javier Moreno (Movistar) Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) Tiago Machado (Radioshack-Nissan) Jack Bauer (Garmin-Barracuda) Linus Gerdemann (Radioshack-Nissan)

So massive chase ahead right, wrong. Andre and his group pull up and literally ride in at 25kmph leaving the sprint to be contested by some 40 odd guys. Some sprinters did make it over the top and some guy ‘Oscar Freire’ of Katusha made it to the line first. Apparently he’s pretty good.

So TDU 2012 leaders after stage 4: 

Overall: Martin Kohler (SUI) - BMC Racing Team “This is starting to feel like musical chairs”

Sprints: Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Pro-cycling “I just try every day to move up on GC”* 

KOM: Rohan Dennis (Aus)  Uni SA-Aus “Tomorrow will be all or nothing”

Young gun: Michael Matthews (AUS)  RAB “I’m a little disappointed I’m not leading to tell the truth”

Most Aggressive: Nathan Haas (Aus)  Gar-B “knackered”

Teams: Sky Pro-cycling

*author’s note I picked him to win, see what happens...45 guys are 12 sec of the pace or closer.

Comment of the day

Ok here’s the pattern: Andre/Kohler/Andre/Kohler/.......insert name here.......did you notice?

“I made it up Mongrel Hill”

“Oiigel” – yes it’s his nickname (member of the public doing the Bupa challenge, riding the stage before the peloton referring to Mengler’s Climb)

“This is not the End. Not even the Beginning of the End. But it is perhaps the End of the Beginning”

“Where I come from you head north it gets colder”

Gert (Team Director Garmin-Barracuda)

“My car is struggling in this wind”

Simon Cadzow (yes that’s the writer but It’s true, I drove part of the course before they started and my car is built like Matt Lloyd)

Entrée

Prospect: The place we start. As a noun it means the possibility or likelihood of some future event occurring...an event like maybe a leader’s jersey?

Geraint Thomas (SKY-Pro-cycling) is happier and even leaner this year than last. Last year he had come here from snow, training on the turbo in his garage. This year, an Olympic year in his hometown, the weather has been better: 

“5˚ and sleet: much better. I’ve been on the road, able to do something this winter”. 

Today however is hot, 37˚ now and going up, and riding straight into a head wind (see above). I ask him who will be on the front for SKY Pro-cycling. He points over his shoulder at a very vague looking Danny Pate, “Him”. I think to myself the former HTC machine is about to lose some weight, not that he needs to.

The riders finish signing on with GreenEDGE getting the treatment from the crowd and the media, this is, after all, history in the making. They then sit inside their cramped team vans or outside under their new team van alfresco-campervan-style veranda on an esky or whatever is at hand. Luxury: The life of a pro-cyclist.

Time to line up: Eddy Merckx is announced to the big crowd, typical of the Santos TDU, the countdown begins (even the teams support staff count-down out loud) and as usual in cycling everyone rides off pretty slowly in a ‘never-have-so-many-done-so-little-with-so-much’ mood: Robbie’s not actually on his bike when the gun goes. 

Still that’s how starts should be, and that Garmin-Barracuda rider who ran into the media guy, he looks ok. 

Main Course

The course takes the riders 149km north from Prospect to the Claire Valley. Along the way there are 2 intermediate sprints and 1 KOM point. A look at the weather: winds 30-40kmph coming from the North, NW and NE with temp at 38˚ and because of the weather drinks are allowed earlier than usual by the race organisers. Nice.

A break gets away with 4 guys getting TV time (Eduard Vorganov (RUS) - Katusha Team, Martin Kohler (SUI) - BMC Racing Team, Marcello Pavarin (ITA) - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team and Rohan Dennis (AUS - SA) - UniSA Australia) 11:50 ahead of the peloton but to quote Jens Voight (Radioshack-Nissan) and his crystal ball, “The break has no chance of succeeding today. It’s going to be a bunch sprint. 100%”

At 51km in they’re running 32 minute behind schedule. Did I mention the wind? The gap is still 11 minutes: chasing is going to hurt, but for that matter, staying ahead is probably hurting even more.

Sprint 1 Kapunda (74.7km) Martin Kohler (SUI) - BMC Racing Team Rohan Dennis (AUS - SA) - UniSA Australia Marcello Pavarin (ITA) - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team Eduard Vorganov (RUS) - Katusha Team was relegated to 4th.

That’s halfway and it’s taken 2 ½ hours to get there: good news: the temp has dropped to 36˚: hmmm cool change? Apparently right now it’s 43˚ at the finish line in Claire, can anyone confirm that?

KOM Taylor’s Run (84.2km) Marcello Pavarin (ITA) - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team Martin Kohler (SUI) - BMC Racing Team Eduard Vorganov (RUS) - Katusha Team.

Latest time check to the break is now 8 minutes. Finish line has cooled to 32˚ and will soon be ready for dessert.

Sprint 2 Riverton (104.5km) Martin Kohler (SUI) - BMC Racing Team Eduard Vorganov (RUS) - Katusha Team Rohan Dennis (AUS - SA) - UniSA Australia

It takes time but with 20km to race the gap has dropped to 2 minutes, one S O’Grady on the front for an hour. 

 Dessert 

Today is a sprinters finish. 600m straight run. We pick it up at 136km done (Race radio has been dropping in and out all day) and the bunch is all together.....now read on... (Insert Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwyn)

“Rohan Dennis, the young man from UniSA Australia: attacks!!! He goes from the bunch again! I love this boy from Adelaide!!! He’s been off the front all day into a head wind and he goes again”. “And yes Phil remember” (Insert Paul Sherwyn’s voice here) “he is a time trial champion. He knows how to hurt”... (Back to Phil) “There’s 13km to go Paul, can the local boy hang on?”...At 137km (back to Phil now) “Now this is a real shame Paul, but it’s what we’ve come to expect. The peloton are hungry now”. (Back to Paul) “Yes the dream is over, the young guy from SA is caught and back in the fold. Still he’s put his name on the race today. This one’s going down to the teams of the sprinters.” 

145km/5km to go all together... 

146km/4km to go all together...

147km/2km to go all together...

 148km/1km to go... CRASH!!!! “There’s a crash inside 1000m, there’s been a crash, rider’s are down, GreenEDGE right in the middle. This is a disaster for the Aussie squad!! Paul It is carnage out there!”.... “Phil, its 30 rider’s worth but remember inside the final 3km everyone receives the same time”...” Well the peloton is torn and bleeding but still going at the front!” (Imagine the volume of voice increasing and the pitch rising)

148.6km/0.2km to go... “And here come the sprinters!! It’s Greipel! The big man from Germany: But here comes Petacchi! Greipel! Petacchi! Greipel!! You know I think Andre got it Paul but that one’s going to a photo...” 

After 4 hours and 33 minutes and 40 seconds stage 1 is done and dusted, the second longest time taken for a stage since 2000. 32.7kmph. All 133 riders made it home but at least 3 riders are off for pre-cautionary x-rays to the RAH and one 70 year old lady is off to Claire hospital. Check out twitter. There’s bound to be plenty.

So TDU 2012 leaders after stage 1: 

Overall: Andre Greipel (GER) Lotto-Belisol on being held up and losing positions because of the crash and then still going on to win “I think I was lucky to win today” (Really? How to demoralise your opponents)

Sprints: Andre Greipel (GER) Lotto-Belisol  

KOM: Marcello Pavarin (ITA) - Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team

Young gun: Rohan Dennis (AUS - SA) - UniSA Australia on after dropping to 20kmph “If you look very, very, closely there’s actually a section where the wind is so strong we’re riding backwards”

Most Aggressive: Eduard Vorganov (RUS) - Katusha Team

Teams: SKY-Pro-cycling 

Comment of the Day

It’s a tie firstly Simon Gerrans when asked by someone “How hot was it out there today?” “Well that’s a stupid question to start with...” And finally to return to Geraint looking at the heat and wind, “Are you getting paid enough for this?” After a small laugh, a very serious, very level and above all very believable response comes: “We do it because we love it”.  

Images thanks to Dane Lojek