Tour Down Under 2009

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Tale
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Postby Tale » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:36 am

So ... I flew into Adelaide from Sydney this morning, assembled my touring bike and panniers, then cycled from the airport to downtown Adelaide looking for my hotel that I can't check into until 2pm.

It was about 9.40am when I stumbled on Tour Down Under central - Victoria Square, where they've built a marquee and lined up all the official vehicles (they all have a fibreglass cartoon cyclist built on top).

I noticed two nervous cops looking at me from the other side of the street, with a guy in an Astana team strip riding out on a team-looking Trek. So I pulled over for a better look, and out comes all of Team Astana and a guy wearing Livestrong gear - Lance Armstrong himself.

He or someone with him shouted "Hello there!" and off they rode towards South Terrace.

And that was my first 10 minutes in Adelaide.
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Re: Tour Down Under 2009

Postby lucybears » Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:01 pm

AUbicycles wrote: If you have any other great tips to following the TDU, then lets have it!
Wake up from hibernation!
We've prepared a race special about the Tour Down Under with info on all stages and the history of this race. To complete the event, we've also included free to join competitions. Just google spam site removed. Admin.

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Re: Tour Down Under 2009

Postby Mulger bill » Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:05 pm

lucybears wrote:
AUbicycles wrote: If you have any other great tips to following the TDU, then lets have it!
Wake up from hibernation!
We've prepared a race special about the Tour Down Under with info on all stages and the history of this race. To complete the event, we've also included free to join competitions. Just google spam site removed. Admin
Thanks Lucybears.
Hope plugging your site won't be your only contribution here :wink:

Shaun
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London Boy 29/12/2011

lucybears

Re: Tour Down Under 2009

Postby lucybears » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:12 pm

Mulger bill wrote:
lucybears wrote:
AUbicycles wrote: If you have any other great tips to following the TDU, then lets have it!
Wake up from hibernation!
We've prepared a race special about the Tour Down Under with info on all stages and the history of this race. To complete the event, we've also included free to join competitions. Just google spam site removed. Admin.
Thanks Lucybears.
Hope plugging your site won't be your only contribution here :wink:

Shaun
just found your forum. I'll be back !

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wayno
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Postby wayno » Sun Jan 18, 2009 11:39 pm

FYI. It's replayed on sbs right now

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Re: Tour Down Under 2009

Postby AUbicycles » Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:28 am

Mulger bill wrote: Hope plugging your site won't be your only contribution here :wink:
Ditto.
Cycling is in my BNA

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itsaghostcar
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Postby itsaghostcar » Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:33 am

ABC Grandstand has an update every 20mins on their stream

http://www.abc.net.au/grandstand/cycling/

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Postby RICHARDH » Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:43 pm

Caisse and Euskatel have two guys in a break, intrestingly Will Walkers looking to go with them. I think hes one to watch for a stage win he will be hungry considering last season and being on a new team will want to make a point early. Tommorows stage is a bit of a tough one that might suit a breakaway.
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Postby muggah » Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:41 pm

Is there anywhere you can watch a live webcast of the race?? I'm following the live coverage on cyclingnews and it just isn't the same!!!
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Postby itsaghostcar » Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:12 pm

Don't think so. ABC Grandstand did call the last couple of minutes of the race. You get the excitement of the sprint finish .. but they did call the placings wrong. Pretty easy to do I guess

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Postby muggah » Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:18 pm

Cool, I'll check it out for tomorrow's stage. :D

I swear I could almost hear Phil's voice as I read on CN that the riders had entered the final 3km of todays stage but then I realised I wouldn't get to see it all unfold :x
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Postby Tale » Tue Jan 20, 2009 6:54 pm

I'm out for a ride and posting from a wi-fi hotspot after watching stage 1 live. I was near the top of the second King of the Mountain, and then I moved to a spot about 9km from the end.

It was a very hot dry day. I climbed the KOM hill myself about 2 hours before the race went through, and it was brutal in those conditions. The two in the breakaway looked like they were really feeling it.

My jaw dropped when I saw Bobridge out in front at my second spot. Good try by him - both Armstrong and Bruyneel have posted on twitter "remember the name Jack Bobridge" - they were very impressed.

Camping at Hahndorf tonight and will watch the start + mid-race tomorrow. Then going to camp down at McLaren Vale as my base for the next few stages. Tonight or tomorrow I'll upload some photos taken on my phone.
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Postby muggah » Tue Jan 20, 2009 7:44 pm

I hope robbie's arms alright - apparently he gave it a good whack on a fan's camera in the sprint finish - I was wondering why he sat up early.
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Postby stevos » Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:42 pm

muggah wrote:I hope robbie's arms alright - apparently he gave it a good whack on a fan's camera in the sprint finish - I was wondering why he sat up early.
If you watch it again you can see the camera lense has broken off and rolling down the road.
"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." -Lance Armstrong

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Postby toolonglegs » Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:47 pm

stevos wrote:
muggah wrote:I hope robbie's arms alright - apparently he gave it a good whack on a fan's camera in the sprint finish - I was wondering why he sat up early.
If you watch it again you can see the camera lense has broken off and rolling down the road.
You would think organisers would get the final km a bit better barriered off.It's not like this sort thing hasn't happened enough in the last couple of years!.

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Postby stevos » Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:00 pm

they had barriers, but if its the guy im thinking it was ( i was about 5m away) he was hanging right over the barriers. :roll: if it didnt happen robbie could have gone on to win the stage :evil:
"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." -Lance Armstrong

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Postby philip » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:08 am

I hope the guy with the camera is feeling extremely stupid.

How frustrating for Robbie, I hope he'll be right for today

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Tour Down Under 2009 (SPOILERS)

Postby itsaghostcar » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:07 am

philip wrote:How frustrating for Robbie, I hope he'll be right for today
He signed on today so hoping he's healed up ok overnight.

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Postby Aushiker » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:24 am

G'day

Lance's thoughts on day one *** Spoiler ***

Regards
Andrew

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Postby RICHARDH » Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:13 pm

The next two stages, 3 and 4 are pretty important for the sprinters one of them needs to finish high in the standings on both to get the time bonuses theyll need if we see a similiar race as todays. Willungas going to be a very intresting stage im sure that the screws will be turned on the first loop and explode on the second. Was nice of Lance to join Bobridge but it pretty much meant that the poor kid was never going to be let go.
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Postby Tale » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:21 pm

Saw stage 2 start in Hahndorf - they really hyped up whether Robbie was going to come out or not - he was last to sign on and got a big cheer. Poor bloody Lance had to hold a baby kangaroo and pose for the cameras while trying to sign on.

Saw them come back through Hahndorf again later with the early breakaway of 3 riders 3km out front. Peloton looked untroubled, with Lance and George Hincapie both near the front, just like old times.

Some photos from Stage 1 taken on my phone:

First breakaway in stage 1 climbs King of the Mountain hill #2
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Lance climbs KOM hill #2
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I think this is Jack Bobridge just behind him:
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More on the same hill:
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About 9km from the finish, this is Jack Bobridge out in front and the peloton chasing, helicopter chasing them, and Silence Lotto giving me dirty looks ...
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Team Saxo Bank car was in front of me the whole way back to town:
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Last edited by Tale on Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby muggah » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:47 pm

The results on CN seem a bit funny - the live coverage reports McEwen coming in with the sprint group in 8th place yet the results have him coming in 73rd and 26 seconds down???
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Postby philip » Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:50 pm

Awesome photos Tale! Must've been fun. Gee that's a lot of bikes on the roof of the car

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Postby stevos » Wed Jan 21, 2009 6:19 pm

philip wrote:I hope the guy with the camera is feeling extremely stupid.

How frustrating for Robbie, I hope he'll be right for today

The idiot was on the phone to Mike Turter (race director) demanding compensation for his broken camera, lmao what a dhead :evil:
"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." -Lance Armstrong

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Postby toolonglegs » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:41 pm

:wink:
Last edited by toolonglegs on Wed Jun 16, 2010 11:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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