2013 Santos Tour Down Under Stage 5: McLaren Vale -> Old Wilunga Hill, 151.5km

[Ruudz0r]

It will be interesting to see whats going to happen on the first climb of Willunga hill, will some teams try to reduce the bunch a lot? If so then it might get really hard for Thomas to controll the race, as I dont think many other Sky's will survive then.

But then again there might be some other guys looking for a stage win or riding for their GC guy that wont let other people get to far in front.

 

[Pentacycle]

How the hell is Thomas a better climber than Slagter?

Thomas was better on Corkscrew, that won't change in a few days.

Perhaps Slagter will even lose a top5 after Willunga with those small gaps in GC.

 

[HiCadence]

This is it! the decider!

Kinda hard to make an assumption on who is going to win most of the top 10 could have a chance of winning.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Teams are big, many are in play GC wise. Tight control all the way.

 

[Der Effe]

Thomas was better on Corkscrew, that won't change in a few days.

Perhaps Slagter will even lose a top5 after Willunga with those small gaps in GC.

Could be, yes. I didn't see that stage, I thought that Thomas just won the sprint but now I see he actually won 4 secs. My bad.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Sky will have the luxury of letting Rabo do the chasing so I presume Eddy will be in a state to offer some help at the beginning of the last climb - it's so short that teams and tactics really won't make that much difference however.

 

[*G*K*S*]

Slagter ftw. Dude can climb when needed.

 

[theyoungest]

Sky will have the luxury of letting Rabo do the chasing so I presume Eddy will be in a state to offer some help at the beginning of the last climb - it's so short that teams and tactics really won't make that much difference however.

Lol, with 15 guys within 15 seconds off the lead I think Sky won't get any help at all in the chase

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Slagter I see as being a good uphill sprinter but when it comes to climbing I don't think he will stand out

Gilbert even before his crash was lagging behind.

Thomas with his finishing kick would be a good bet as he would look to keep everything together. Moreno seems very strong as was superb last year on Willunga. Hermans would be my dark horse.

Hello, don't push Slagter in the 'only short hills' category.
He did finish 30th in the Giro and 4th in the Tour l'Avenir (in the edition Quintana won, which was a pretty mountainous edition)

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Lol, with 15 guys within 15 seconds off the lead I think Sky won't get any help at all in the chase

Depends who is in the break - they'll work to stop anyone too dangerous, but once a decent break gets away it will suit them perfectly for the bonus seconds to get mopped up.

 

[theyoungest]

Slagter I see as being a good uphill sprinter but when it comes to climbing I don't think he will stand out

Gilbert even before his crash was lagging behind.

Thomas with his finishing kick would be a good bet as he would look to keep everything together. Moreno seems very strong as was superb last year on Willunga. Hermans would be my dark horse.

This is Slagter in his first pro year launching an attack for Mollema in the Vuelta, on a proper climb:

Video.

The kid can climb, maybe not in the GT contender sense but it's Willunga Hill we're talking about here.

 

[cineteq]

Sky will have the luxury of letting Rabo do the chasing so I presume Eddy will be in a state to offer some help at the beginning of the last climb - it's so short that teams and tactics really won't make that much difference however.

Sky is in a similar situation Garmin was in last year's Giro. If Geraint wants to win, him and his team need to take the bull by the horns.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Lol how did Slagter suddenly change from a punchy climber to an uphill sprinter? Seriously guys, Willunga is only 3km, how on earth is that too long for Slagter?

Not saying he'll kill everyone or something (though he might), but the guy was always a climber, and he's built like one too (169cm and 57kg same as Purito).

I do wonder how he found enough power to outsprint Goss, Thomas and Gilbert though, on a relatively easy finish. Even Purito, who seems to have the same physique, needs a serious gradient to beat Goss, Thomas and especially Gilbert.

 

[HiCadence]

Well Gilbert as said he isn't in best form atm because he's saving himself for the classics and maybe Gossy had a bad day or maybe it was just slightly too steep for him.

 

[will10]

Sky is in a similar situation Garmin was in last year's Giro. If Geraint wants to win, him and his team need to take the bull by the horns.

You're right - I love TDU's exaggurated profiles, definitely parallels here to Mortirolo - Stelvio.

 

[Ferminal]

Thomas will smash them again if they let him have it like Corkscrew.

 

[cineteq]

You're right - I love TDU's exaggurated profiles, definitely parallels here to Mortirolo - Stelvio.

Who's De Gendt?

 

[BlenJones2]

Should be a cracking stage. Sky really need Gilbert and Gerrans to find form and mop up the bonus seconds. Otherwise GT could be in serious trouble if Blanco and Radioshack constantly attack and he has to chase them down

 

[Sasquatch]

No way this stage doesn't go to any of the top 10 on GC. They won't be gifting it to anyone. Bonus seconds are important, and whoever wins the stage wins the Tour.

 

[Afrank]

Gilbert ftw, after all, his ride in the break yesterday was for training. Thomas and Sky are going to have to be watching everyone, lots of guys that can take overall if they aren't careful. I think the biggest threat is going to come from Machado though, I think he wants the win bad.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Any idea when they'll hit Willunga the first time? I might actually set my alarm to get up in the middle of the night for this.

 

[Bushman]

How tough is willunga compared to Corkscrew Hill?

 

[will10]

Gilbert ftw, after all, his ride in the break yesterday was for training. Thomas and Sky are going to have to be watching everyone, lots of guys that can take overall if they aren't careful. I think the biggest threat is going to come from Machado though, I think he wants the win bad.

Machado wants it so badly he'll attack at 70km, be very strong, but be caught before the climb and be a non-factor.

 

[Afrank]

Machado wants it so badly he'll attack at 70km, be very strong, but be caught before the climb and be a non-factor.

lol, Nah, he's learned his lesson. He'll attack 60km out so he has 10km to spare for the climb.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Kash to show us what he is made of!