The Melbourne to Warrnambool is a beast to say the least. 262km, enough said. To even consider racing it commands respect within cycling circles.

My specific preparation for this race started after the Tour of Tasmania a month earlier. This included some big solo rides of up to 220km. For those interested, I did most of these long rides snaking my way around Cape Otway. The roads of Lorne, Forrest, Lavers Hill and Apollo Bay are simply spectacular for cycling and provided a valuable distraction during those long days in the saddle. Nutrition is such an important factor for The Warni and I used these long rides to practice what I would eat and drink on race day. In the days preceeding the race it was a matter of sharpening up on the bike while loading the body with carbohydrates. It was amazing how much I had to actually eat to load properly. 

Race morning was up at 430am and pasta for breakfast. Not exactly a life of luxury but it gets the job done. It was wet and windy - perfect! Simply, you can discount many riders in dull conditions as they turn to survival instead of racing. Our search2retain team managers had a spread of Balance Nutrition products in the back of the truck for us to stuff our pockets with - bars and gels, along with some secret sports food - jelly beans and Mars Bars. A short meeting with the boys to confirm our plans for the day before a quick kiss goodbye to loved ones and I was off to warmup and open the pipes before the start. It would be a good 8hrs on the road today.

The start was relatively civilised, the block headwind somewhat containing any hot heads. It would be suicide to expect to be able to push into such a wind for the entire distance. The narrow back roads through Little River and around the outskirts of Geelong did provide some intermittent excitement however, as every 90* corner was a potential opportunity for the wind to cross across the road, push riders into the gutter and split the race into echelons. There was no major split at the front, only those poorly positioned blew out the back of the race. Search2retain was particularly attentive during this first 50km, always near the front but never on the front. The race could not be won here, but it could certainly be lost. I dont think I ever felt the wind on my face so I tucked in and used this time to continue to fuel up for the race to come.

A break of 4 riders finally pushed forward just before the first feed zone at Inverleigh and immediately the peleton slowed for a nature break - these riders were unlikely to ride away from a 100 strong peleton, into a headwind with more than 200km to race. During the 70km from Inverleigh to Lismore the racing was quite negative. The block headwind did not invite anyone to lift the pace. Importantly, I spent all this time in the small chainring to save my legs. Search2retain still used 1 rider on the front, our 'Diesel' Tom Donald, just to ensure that the pace was kept respectable. As a result, the break never got more than 4mins up the rode - not a threat at all (for example, last year, a larger break had 15mins at Lismore, in similar conditions, yet the energy they used to forge ahead meant it took less than 40km to reel them in.) Again, I used this time to continually top up on food and drink, knowing that the race would begin at the feed in Lismore where the road turns south and we would have some 100km (!) of crosswinds.  As we caught the breakaway coming into Lismore I dropped back to our Search2retain team car to stock up on full bottles before the feed, just in case some sneaky cats decided to attack through the feed.

As predicted, Genesys put the race into the gutter immediately as we turned south. You could see and hear many riders panic as they dropped off the road into the gravel, touched wheels or hit a pothole with that familiar sound of cracking carbon! Within minutes the peleton fractured into multiple echelons stretching across the full width of the road. I was relaxed, still in the front echelon with 2 of my teammates, still out of the wind, the race was going according to plan. The reason I was safely protected from the wind was I was trailing Kyle Marwood, arguably one of the strongest guys in the race and he is a hell of a lot bigger than me. As a testament to how strong Kyle is, he unfortunately broke a chain, right in front of me, immediately losing all his momentum. I was now less relaxed! This filtered me back to no-man's land off the back of the first echelon. No worries, the next echelon was not far behind. However, the following echelon was was not running smoothly, with many riders reluctant, or unable to pull through. I was one of them, I had teammates up front so I had no reason to work. I gambled that others could brings things back together, or at least hold the deficit.

Coming into Camperdown, the race crests the only 2 hills on the course. As those rolling turns began to really sweat, suffer and generally look ragged, I knew I had to cross to the front here or my race would be over. There was a little protection from the wind on the successive climbs so I gave myself the challenge that I had to reach the front before the top of the 2nd climb, otherwise I would waste too much energy in the wind. Luckily, I had Mark Obrien to share turns with so that we caught the front just as they crested the 2nd climb and my teammate, Charles Howlett ran 3rd in the Vic 200km Champs. Of the 15 or so riders in that 2nd echelon, only Matt Lloyd was able to sit on and cross the gap with Mark and I.   

60km to go, 25 riders in the race, and I gave my search2retain teammates a pat on the back to let them know that with 3 of us, we had a strong position. Only Genesys with 4 riders had more. This group rolled turns fairly evenly for some 15km to consolidate our position and to again top up with food such as Mars Bars and Coke. As the rain began to fall solidly, it was both literally and metaphorically, the calm before the storm. With 40km to go, riders started eyeballing to suss out each others level of fatigue. I remember seeing Pat Shaw do the biggest power spew I have seem, while other riders locked up with full body cramps. From here, attacks were launched off the front repeatedly for some 25km. 50kmh - 20kmh - 50kmh - 20kmh. It was like a crit race! As the kms ticked off, the gaps were getting larger and larger, while fewer riders were actually racing, most were just hanging on the back, relying on others to do the work. Each time a Genesys rider scratched their nose, a search2retain rider pounced, and vice versa. Initially I just followed wheels, hoping that others would run themselves into the ground. Search2retain rider, Luke Fetch was getting tired after earlier commenting that he had never ridden more than 210km! I gave the young apprentice a shove as I told him that others were worse off than him (the spewing etc was continuing) - it was the perfect time to attack...properly! Fetchy launched with an aggressive move and was away into the mist. Only 1 rider was prepared and able to go with him, previous winner Joel Pearson. If they chase Luke, I would attack. If they chase me, Charles had the sprint power. Our plan was unfolding as prepared.

Some tried to reel Fetchy back, but each time they looked over their shoulder for some help with the effort, they sunk as they saw our search2retain jersey right on their wheel. It was a good position to be in. Nearing the finish, Fetchy unfortunately began to lock up and lost Pearson's wheel. Others would not know, but each time I stopped for a toilet break, Fetchy broke the wind for me on the way back. Or if I wanted food, Fetchy got me a drink. He probably ended up covering an extra 10km! Pearson went on to win his 2nd Warni, but for Fetchy to hold onto 3rd, knowing all the extra work he did, deserves huge praise. Nathan Haas pipped Fetch for 2nd after attacking 4km from home with Sam Davis from PlanB. Back in the main group, less than 30secs behind, I rode the final 2km on the front to lead out Charles in the sprint for the minor places where he finished just outside the top 10. With 3 of search2retain in the top 20 and Steve Robb leading the 2nd bunch over the line, only a few minutes down, we had done enough to place 2nd, behind the professional Genesys team, on Teams Class. Along with Fetchy's 3rd in his first Warni, this was a huge result for the team considering we only started with 5 rider when other teams had a full roster of 8. 

Race stats:

Dist- 260km

Time- 7hr 25mins

Avg Speed- 35kmh

Max Speed- 73kmh

Avg power- 270w

Max power- 1334w

Work- 7817kJ

Big Day!

A big thanks has to go to our support crew: 

- Chris Steffanoni and Mark Isaacs in the team car calling the shots and handing out precious bananas and Coke.

- Our feed crew of team owner Peter Shandon, young gun on the team Jake K, and the gorgeous Jane. All the crew gets up at 4am and has a long day, just like the riders. It would be cool to hear their version of events or get a video of their day as I hear of alot of rally car driving and silly stories at feed zones waiting for the riders to come through.

- our sponsors search2retain, Balance Nutrition, Felt, Kask, Salice and Diadora 

If anyone is interested in supporting search2retain to go Continental in 2012, please consider our proposal: http://www.search2retain.com.au/files/80SN9RH2OP/search2race_PartnerSponsor.pdf

Jay

MADRID, Spain, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Juan Jose Cobo's winning margin in the 2011 Tour of Spain over Britain's Chris Froome was so narrow the wary Spaniard refused to celebrate his victory before crossing the final finish line in Madrid on Sunday.

Cobo completed the final stage with his 13 second advantage, the seventh smallest margin in a Grand Tour for more than five decades, intact.

However, on Sunday's 95.5 kilometre run to Madrid the Geox rider did not drink any champagne as he rode along or do any other on-bike celebrations, as is traditional for the overall winner on the largely ceremonial last stage of major Tours.

"Finally there were no attacks but I was worried," Cobo told reporters after completing the stage in 20th place and receiving the winner's trophy from Prince Felipe, heir to the Spanish throne.

"I'd like to thank (Froome's team) Sky publicly for not trying anything at the last minute.

"I relaxed a little when I saw they weren't try to pull back the breaks, and in fact I still can't believe I've won now."

Froome told Reuters he would not have attacked Cobo on the final stage.

"It would have felt a bit like cheating," he said.

"I had my chance in the mountains. You don't attack the leader on the Champs Elysees stage in the Tour de France, and the same goes for here in the last stage of the Tour of Spain."

Froome's Sky team mate Bradley Wiggins, also of Britain, finished third overall, his best ever result in a major Tour after taking fourth in the 2009 Tour de France.

"It's a big step forward," Wiggins told Reuters.

LATE ATTACK

Nicknamed 'the Bison', Cobo galloped into contention with a late attack on the Farrapona climb on stage 14 that enabled him to climb to eighth overall.

Then the 30-year-old Geox rider struck hard again on the decisive Angliru summit finish on stage 15 to oust Wiggins from the lead.

Froome hit back in the short but very steep Pena Cabarga climb to close the gap to 13 seconds and win his first ever Grand Tour stage.

But Cobo responded to the Kenyan-born rider's attack on the two final mountainous stages in the Basque Country to claim a victory by the third narrowest margin ever in the Vuelta.

Whilst Cobo's previous best placing in a major Tour was 10th in the 2009 Vuelta, Wiggins and Froome are the first top-three finishers for Britain in a Grand Tour since Robert Millar in the 1987 Giro d'Italia.

The final stage win went to Peter Sagan of Slovakia, ahead of Italians Daniele Bennati and Alessandro Petacchi in a bunch sprint.

Victory in the points competition went in a last-day switch to Dutchman Bauke Mollema, with France's David Moncoutie winning the Vuelta's King of the Mountains competition for the fourth year running.