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.

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)

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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)

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“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

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 Three-time world champion Oscar Freire will lead the Russian registered Team Katusha in the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under.

Santos Tour Down Under Race Director Mike Turtur said he was excited Freire would be taking part in the 2012 race.

"Spaniard Oscar Freire has accomplished what only legends like Alfredo Binda, Eddy Merckx and Rik Van Steenbergen have been able to do: win three road race world championships (1999, 2001, 2004). His other impressive results include winning the Milan - San Remo three times (2004, 2007 and 2010) as well as several Grand Tour stages.

"In addition, Freire is a four time Tour de France stage winner, a winner of the Tour de France Green Jersey (2008) and a winner of seven stages of Vuelta a Espana.

"Oscar is one of the most impressive riders of the last decade and it will be really exciting for fans to see him take to the start line and for him to bring his competitive edge to the race," Turtur said.

Team Katusha's strong line-up will also include fellow Spaniard Xavier Florencio who finished seventh overall in the 2003 Tour Down Under. Also part of the Katusha Team will be previous Santos Tour Down Under Stage Winner Giampaolo Caruso who won stage 5 in 2003 when riding for ONCE-Eroski. Eduard Vorganov will be a rider to watch, finishing seventh overall in the general classification of the 2010 Santos Tour Down Under.

Luca Paolini, a Vuelta a Espana stage winner, who took honours on stage 12 in the 2006 event, will compliment the experience of Freire on Grand Tour races and will guide the younger team members.

"Completing Team Katusha will be promising young cyclists Belkov, Smukulis and Vorganov," Turtur said

Team Katusha's team for the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under will be led by Team Manager Dmitriy Konychev (RUS) and include riders:

• Maxim Belkov (RUS)

• Giampaolo Caruso (ITA)

• Xavier Florencio (ESP)

• Oscar Freire (ESP)

• Luca Paolini (ITA)

• Gatis Smukulis (LAT)

• Eduard Vorganov (RUS)

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The Sky Pro Cycling team will return to the Tour Down Under in January but recently-signed star Mark Cavendish will not be riding.

Cavendish, the world's best road race sprinter and the world road race champion, competed in Adelaide this year with his former HTC-Highroad team but a heavy fall and other problems left him out of contention.

When HTC-Highroad folded, Cavendish joined Sky but has not been included in the team for the 2012 Tour Down Under.

The British outfit will be led by Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen.

"We are really excited about the inclusion of Boasson Hagen in the team," Tour Down Under director Mike Turtur said on Friday.

"He is the current Norwegian national time trial champion for the fifth year running and a two-time Tour de France stage winner.

"He is fiercely competitive, young and hungry for a win."

Also included in the Sky team are Brits Geraint Thomas and Alex Dowsett, along with three Aussies, Michael Rogers,Chris Sutton and Mathew Hayman.

Rogers was the overall winner of the Tour Down Under in 2002.

The team will managed in Adelaide by Sean Yates with the tour to run from January 15-22.

Sky Pro Cycling team for the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under:

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor), Geraint Thomas (GBR), Chris Sutton (Aus), Alex Dowsett (GBR), Michael Rogers (Aus), Danny Pate (USA), Mathew Hayman (Aus).

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Dutch cycling team Rabobank is the first to sign on for January's ProTour-opening Tour Down Under.

Tour Down Under race director Mike Turtur said on Tuesday that Rabobank's line-up would feature 2005 winner Luis Leon Sanchez of Spain and Australian trio Graeme Brown, Michael Matthews and new signing Mark Renshaw.

Renshaw, who made his name in world cycling with HTC-Highroad in recent seasons as the key lead-out man for English sprinter Mark Cavendish, has joined Rabobank for 2012 to press for race wins.

The 2012 Tour Down Under will run from January 15-22.

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After finally finding my camera cables, it's time for a bit of a race report on the NZCT Womens Tour of NZ..

Wow, what an experience. After a Meltdown in Krasna Lipa & a Broken Collarbone in Holland, I was hoping for 3rd time lucky in my attempt at finishing a UCI Stage race, and I finally did it. The experiences from those first 2 attempts help me get through my first 5 day stage race in one piece and I came home from Wellington extremely tired, but super super happy.



After the bestest Ex (flatmate) in the world picked us up from the Airport, we ventured for our first view of this foreign land.. A quick trip to Penny Farthing Cycles in Wellington resulted in many laughs and a few 'essential' purchases. Coudn't believe my luck when I found a pink front light that matches my bike's colour scheme perfectly! The challenge of attending the next morning's bunch ride through the Hills surrounding Wellington was thrown down, but with the bunch meeting at 0615 and 5 days of racing looming, we opted for a sleep in and had to turn down the chance to show up the Kiwi boys and promised to come back another time to do so.

Then it was on to sample the New World supermarket for some food to get us through the week. This supermarket was one of the highlights of the whole trip!! With a massive wall of Pick N Mix called Alisons Pantry with Nuts, Fruits, Cereals and Lollies, we were in heaven and provided a good half an hours worth of entertainment to Bender with all of our 'OH MY GOD!' 'I've GOT to try that!!'


 Travelling to Lower Hutt on the morning of the start of the Tour, we met up with our respective teams (Ingrid - Prime Estate, me TDT RACE) and then got down to business. The RACE girls, Kim and Murray had all had a horror trip over, with a 10 hour flight delay, Rental Car not being there, and then arriving at the hotel at 4am.. Starting the Tour on 3 hours sleep each wasn't exactly what was planned, but these girls are amazing and just did what they had to do to get through Day 1.

Basically the Tour was set to be 6 Stages over 5 days, including 2 Crits.. But UCI rules state no Crits in Tours, so these were still required to be raced, but didn't count for overall standings. There were quite a few sighs of relief when this was found out, as the final crit stage is rather selective and only 20 girls finished last year resulting in many DNF's for the Tour.

Throughout each stage of the Tour I learnt more and more. There are a couple of mistakes I keep making, that I really need to work on, but that will all come with time and practice. The girls we were racing have been doing this for years and things like positioning etc are second nature to them. One day I hope for that to be me.

Day 3 would have been the biggest learning curve, more so in what I can do. Having never punctured before in a race, when my front tire exploded as the peloton got in to chase mode to bring back a break, I could have easily panicked and given up. But at only 30k into a 90k stage, I wasn't keen on spending the last 2/3rds of the race out the back. So without fuss, I got a quick neutral wheel change, and set about the task of getting myself some wheel to suck! 6k later, I made contact, unfortunately at the base of the climb, so - back out the arse for another 2k until I was safely ensconsed in the bunch feeling rather chuffed with myself, but pretty stuffed too!



That evening was the first crit that didn't count, and I was surprised to find my legs didn't feel as bad as expected. Whilst most said it was 'Easy' etc, my power numbers said it was a reasonably solid race, with 4 away in a break for the last half of the race. At 3 to go I thought I'd try my luck at getting the final paying spot and had a crack off the front, but the legs weren't THAT good and I blew and was brought back in a lap later. Finished somewhere up nearish the front.

Day 4 was a lesson in how much pain I can get through. Facing a 115k stage into a rather stiff head/cross wind, the goal was to hide, but that was shattered at the 15k mark on the 4k climb when attack after attack had the bunch strung out and me losing contact. After the descent the Prime Estate Train came by and we tried to get back, but it wasn't to be and as we gathered more girls a bunch of 20 of us worked at getting to the end. Everyone worked well together when they could, there were some - myself included - that had bad patches and couldn't work, but we all put in what we could and rolled in well within time cut at 10mins down. An epic day in the saddle, but it meant that we'd finished the Tour.

The Crit in Downtown Wellington - Well, 5 girls finished. 2 of them HTC. A hotdog corner made for a strung out peloton, an early crash meant things got split a bit, and the race was pretty much over for 80% of the field within the first 2 laps. Some valiant efforts were made by all, I tried to hang in there for as long as possible too, but when the lead car toots its horn behind your group, it's time to vacate the course. Watching the Team Tactics in play over the final half of the race though was great! A well deserved win to HTC.. And time to celebrate!

My new favourite chocolate!

That night there were many 2nd helpings witnessed from the Dessert Buffet, and through the help of Bob the VIS Mechanic and all who challenged him to a Pav eating contest, we managed to clear out the kitchen of Pavlova. The poor 5year old son of one of the officials wanted to race Bob too, but there was none left.. I estimate Bob had to have consumed roughly 3kgs of Sugar by the end of the night.. The Kiwi's thought we were insane, the Italians didn't know what to think, and the Japanese loved it so much they later got some more Pav from the supermarket so they could try beating him!

Neutral Lap of the Wellington Crit - Position Position Position!