2016 Sun Tour

danny the boy
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2016 Sun Tour

Postby danny the boy » Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:43 am

With the Great Ocean Rd race starting last year it looked a bit like this event might sadly die off which would be a massive shame considering the history. Bit of a route change from the normal Michelton winery advertisment that the race had become and i think an extra stage compared to last year changes the look of the race completely.
STAGE OVERVIEW
Prologue - Wednesday 3rd February – Melbourne Southbank – 2.1km
Stage 1 - Thursday 4th February – Healesville to Healesville – 126km
Stage 2 - Friday 5th February – Yarra Glen to Moe – 144km
Stage 3 – Saturday 6th February – Traralgon to Inverloch – 146km
Stage 4 – Sunday 7th February – Arthurs Seat Finale – 122km

2016 Jayco Herald Sun Tour route announced

Southbank Promenade will provide cycling fans with the ideal vantage point to watch the finish of the opening 2.1km prologue of Australia’s oldest stage race.

The 63rd edition kicks off on Wednesday 3rd February and for the third successive year riders will commence the individual time trial starting from Federation Square.

With 25,000 spectators lining the streets in both 2014 and 2015, the twilight prologue will provide the opportunity for Victorian sports fans to see the Tour de France champion up close as he speeds along the Southbank Promenade with the finish at Queensbridge Square.

The Tour then moves to regional Victoria for a picturesque ride through the Yarra Valley on a 126km route that begins in Healesville and travels through Yarra Glen, Coldstream, Gruyere, Woori Yallock and Launching Place, Warburton before returning to Healesville for the finish.

Stage two traverses the grazing farmlands of South Gippsland on a 144km trek from Yarra Glen taking the riders through Launching Place, Gladysdale, Powelltown, Piedmont, Noojee, Fumina South, Hill End, Willow Grove and Tanjill South before the stage finish in Moe.

Stage three is the longest of the tour at 146km. Commencing in Traralgon, riders head to Churchill, Boolara, Mirboo North, Dumbalk and Leongatha on their way to the coast at Wonthaggi before riding through Cape Patterson to the finish at Inverloch.

The final 122km stage will return to the popular Arthurs Seat on the Mornington Peninsula, with another huge crowd expected to celebrate the final day of the summer of cycling. This stage features a three lap circuit of the gruelling climb, with a mountain top finish once again expected to play an important role in determining the Tour winner.
Ohh and theres this..
Reigning Tour de France champion Chris Froome will lead Team Sky at the 2016 Jayco Herald Sun Tour.
http://www.vic.cycling.org.au/News/froo ... d-sun-tour

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rodneycc
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby rodneycc » Sun Nov 22, 2015 12:12 pm

2.1km Prologue? Or is it laps of 2.1km?

Edit: ok didn't know Prologue's were usually under 8kms. Looked it up.
Hardly worth getting on the bike for 2.1kms!
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BenGr
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby BenGr » Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:09 pm

Damn their maps are bad. Can anyone figure out how they're turning around near Warburton on Stage 1? I was hoping they'd head up to Cement creek and along Acheron Way before returning via the black spur.

Actually it must be Old Warburton Rd.

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Derny Driver
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby Derny Driver » Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:33 pm

rodneycc wrote:2.1km Prologue? Or is it laps of 2.1km?

Edit: ok didn't know Prologue's were usually under 8kms. Looked it up.
Hardly worth getting on the bike for 2.1kms!
A prologue is needed to separate all the riders (albeit by seconds or split seconds) in tours where the 1st stage is flat and a bunch finish likely / possible. If the first stage was a decent hill you would not need a prologue.
So we have this situation where in NRS tours, or even the Sun Tour, the stages are so SHORT and so SOFT, that you have Joe Cooper from Avanti win the prologue as he always does, and then the team just has to defend and keep everything to bunch finishes and Joe who is the best prologue rider but not the best rider in the race (or even the best rider in Avanti) wins the tour. I think he was 3rd in the 2015 Sun Tour? It actually would not surprise me to see Joe Cooper hold Froome and the other big stars at bay, due to the usual weak course
This Sun Tour is not a stamp on the Sun Tours of the past which were 9 days of stages ranging from 140 -200km per day in the Victorian Alps. Even the Arthur's seat stage, arguably the best and hardest, is not really hard. The non-climbers still go good up there, but being a decent hill it separates the GC contenders nicely.

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RonK
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby RonK » Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:56 pm

The prologue is to decide who wears the jerseys on the first stage.
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BenGr
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby BenGr » Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:13 pm

Stage one could be interesting with a decent climb up Meyers Creek road followed by the descent down Healsville - Kinglake Rd, unless I've misinterpreted the map.

danny the boy
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby danny the boy » Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:01 am

Derny Driver wrote:
rodneycc wrote:2.1km Prologue? Or is it laps of 2.1km?

Edit: ok didn't know Prologue's were usually under 8kms. Looked it up.
Hardly worth getting on the bike for 2.1kms!
A prologue is needed to separate all the riders (albeit by seconds or split seconds) in tours where the 1st stage is flat and a bunch finish likely / possible. If the first stage was a decent hill you would not need a prologue.
So we have this situation where in NRS tours, or even the Sun Tour, the stages are so SHORT and so SOFT, that you have Joe Cooper from Avanti win the prologue as he always does, and then the team just has to defend and keep everything to bunch finishes and Joe who is the best prologue rider but not the best rider in the race (or even the best rider in Avanti) wins the tour. I think he was 3rd in the 2015 Sun Tour? It actually would not surprise me to see Joe Cooper hold Froome and the other big stars at bay, due to the usual weak course
This Sun Tour is not a stamp on the Sun Tours of the past which were 9 days of stages ranging from 140 -200km per day in the Victorian Alps. Even the Arthur's seat stage, arguably the best and hardest, is not really hard. The non-climbers still go good up there, but being a decent hill it separates the GC contenders nicely.
The race has never been the same since the TDU took off and there was silly things like changing the date and losing UCI ranking but there is steps in the direction to get it back on path. Hard to see them ever bringing back cat 1 climbs of the past like summit finishes on Baw Baw or having 10+ stages like they did 10 years ago, no rider wants it that hard at the start of their season.

danny the boy
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby danny the boy » Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:13 am

BenGr wrote:Stage one could be interesting with a decent climb up Meyers Creek road followed by the descent down Healsville - Kinglake Rd, unless I've misinterpreted the map.
You would think that climb and descent would have to be at the end of the stage and given Myers creek is something like an 8k climb it should rule out any bunch finish. Stage 2 will have Vespers hill and not a heap of flat road out through Powelltown.

BenGr
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby BenGr » Mon Nov 23, 2015 5:01 pm

danny the boy wrote:
BenGr wrote:Stage one could be interesting with a decent climb up Meyers Creek road followed by the descent down Healsville - Kinglake Rd, unless I've misinterpreted the map.
You would think that climb and descent would have to be at the end of the stage and given Myers creek is something like an 8k climb it should rule out any bunch finish. Stage 2 will have Vespers hill and not a heap of flat road out through Powelltown.
Hopefully it is at the end, I would have thought they'd mention it in the spiel. Doesn't really make sense having it right at the start though.

danny the boy
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby danny the boy » Sun Feb 07, 2016 7:46 pm

Rode down to Arthurs today and glad I did. For a guy with very little to gain from riding this event he has put on a show. I guess when he attacked up Myers Creek Rd and dropped everyone bar Kennaugh on Stage 1 the writing was on the wall. Just shows how far the gap is between the very best and pro-conti riders is, the organisers need to get the UCI ranking back. This and the Cadel race have the potential to make the TDU a better standard, because quite frankly, its becoming a snoozefest.

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cyclotaur
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Re: 2016 Sun Tour

Postby cyclotaur » Sun Feb 07, 2016 8:12 pm

I took the opportunity to see some HeraldSunTour action by riding up the Warby Trail to the Mt Little Joe KOM point at Warburton on Thursday. Had a good ride overall by riding all the way home for 105kms for the day. :)

Took a few pics as they came through and managed to get Froome and Kennaugh in the frame - they went on to 1-2 the stage at Healesville, with Froome handing his team mate the win.

Image

Also there was an interesting profile of Froome in the Sunday Age today.
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