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

[auscyclefan94]

This is a great day for Slagter. He has been overshadowed by other climbers like Gesink, Mollema, Kruijswijk and Kelderman in the team, because these four are supposedly more talented. But now Slagter will get recognition as a WT stage race contender.

He reminds me of Purito. Such powerful acceleration on short steep climbs.

Purito? You Dutch are the kings at over-hyping a rider. We have plenty of evidence of that.

Impressive stuff from Slagter.The doubters know who you are.

Oh yes, I am sure a rider at the age of 23 who is starting out his pro career has plenty of doubters!

It was nice to see Blanco do so well in it's first race since loss of sponsorship. Really stick it up Rabobank's ****.

 

[Afrank]

Was it just me watching online or did everyone else seen just the winner and nothing else but trees and trees and trees? At least online they didnt show what happened after Gerrans crossed the line. If I'm not alone, this race really is a real joke.

Edit: maybe not the race but the event organizers and TV coverage.

Jesus, how many times have you said this? You can stop any time, no ones buying it.

 

[Jancouver]

Don't worry, he's yet to make a positive post and even his objections are inadequately stated.

Thats the sad part. Other than the "yeeeeeah, the season finally started" excitement there really isnt that much positive about this race. Lame course, short and mostly flat stages, civilian cars driving on course, cars parked in the final Km, lame TV coverage.....whats there to cheer about?

Common man, lets keep it real and honest. This event is definitely not worth of the WT label. We all know this is just a warm up race and they gave them the WT license just because otherwise they wouldnt attract any decent teams. This way they just have to show up and they want to collect those stupid WT points.

I wont even bother watching tomorrow so go ahead and enjoy another Greipel's win over second tier field.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Is both Parrulo and that Machado fan alright after he attacked early yet again with the Great Ivan Santaromita?

 

[Parrulo]

Is both Parrulo and that Machado fan alright after he attacked early yet again with the Great Ivan Santaromita?

nothing that i wasn't expecting

if he had waited for the right time he might have gotten into the podium of the stage and GC but he wouldn't have beaten slagter so it doesn't make much difference

 

[theyoungest]

Purito? You Dutch are the kings at over-hyping a rider. We have plenty of evidence of that.

Having followed mainly Aussie coverage the past week, I think I know who the kings of overhyping are

Oh yes, I am sure a rider at the age of 23 who is starting out his pro career has plenty of doubters!

It was said by some (Sky fans, mainly) that the kid can only sprint uphill, and can't climb. Well, maybe not, but apparently a 3k sprint is within his limits

It was nice to see Blanco do so well in it's first race since loss of sponsorship. Really stick it up Rabobank's ****.

Don't worry, this win will be mostly ignored in the mainstream media. Too obsessed with doping.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Having followed mainly Aussie coverage the past week, I think I know who the kings of overhyping are


It was said by some (Sky fans, mainly) that the kid can only sprint uphill, and can't climb. Well, maybe not, but apparently a 3k sprint is within his limits


Don't worry, this win will be mostly ignored in the mainstream media. Too obsessed with doping.

Yes, but we all expect hyping from Liggett and Sherwen. Anyway, congrats to the Dutchies that you won something.

 

[greenedge better then some]

was a good win,thomas still has along way to go to even be half as good as simon gerrans

 

[Leendert82]

Great win by Gerrans, nice to see him back on back on top form.
Also very surprisingly from Slagter to be this strong. I know that this type of climb suits him (see Giro and Queubec last year). However to be riding away from everybody (exept Gerrans) was amazing to see. First WT overal win in the bag for Blanco, hope sponsor will follow soon. Looking forward to the rest of the season with Blanco raising their game compared to last year)

Refreshingly good!

 

[Tragic]

Incredible atmosphere at the finish, and great to see Gerro take it. A little disappointing not to see more action on the first climb. I guess that's pro racing these days (i.e. conservative), but it makes the first 130 K a little ho-hum to watch.

 

[iZnoGouD]

Great win by Gerrans, nice to see him back on back on top form.
Also very surprisingly from Slagter to be this strong. I know that this type of climb suits him (see Giro and Queubec last year). However to be riding away from everybody (exept Gerrans) was amazing to see. First WT overal win in the bag for Blanco, hope sponsor will follow soon. Looking forward to the rest of the season with Blanco raising their game compared to last year)

Refreshingly good!

It's not that surprisingly since he peaked for this race...

 

[theyoungest]

It's not that surprisingly since he peaked for this race...

Yeah, that's why he appeared on the top of favourites lists everywhere

 

[Der Effe]

It's not that surprisingly since he peaked for this race...

Apparently Machado only peaked for the first 4 days.

 

[hughmoore]

Incredible atmosphere at the finish, and great to see Gerro take it. A little disappointing not to see more action on the first climb. I guess that's pro racing these days (i.e. conservative), but it makes the first 130 K a little ho-hum to watch.

Its a long way around on the last lap, no way anyone could stay away, especially with the head wind back into Willunga.


Hugh

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Incredible atmosphere at the finish, and great to see Gerro take it. A little disappointing not to see more action on the first climb. I guess that's pro racing these days (i.e. conservative), but it makes the first 130 K a little ho-hum to watch.

Good to hear people are coming out to support the show.
And I agree, modern pro racing is a controlled affair. Its simply too risky for an individual rider to go up against a sky train with 7 support riders early in the race. All DSs tells their captains to stay put until the final climb. Bus ride.

Nevertheless the parcours this year has providing exciting racing and GC unpredictability.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

How can you do this to me, Thomas!?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Where is Pentacycle

Slagter as you could already see in Asisi last year, he has something for these short hills. Yeah, I dare to call him the Dutch purito

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Slagter was very strong. On paper Blanco has a very good team for the Ardennes with Slagter, Mollema and Nordhaug.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Slagter was very strong. On paper Blanco has a very good team for the Ardennes with Slagter, Mollema and Nordhaug.

I think the distance and amount of hills will be too much for Slagter to really be a threat there, a top 10 would already be great. In FW he has the biggest chance for a top 10 result. But that would already be great.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

For those interested (me ) Kash was once again the best Astana rider today

 

[Hugo Koblet]

I think the distance and amount of hills will be too much for Slagter to really be a threat there, a top 10 would already be great. In FW he has the biggest chance for a top 10 result. But that would already be great.

Yeah, you might be right about that. He definitely has some potential though. He seems be pretty quick as well.

 

[Pentacycle]

Where is Pentacycle

Slagter as you could already see in Asisi last year, he has something for these short hills. Yeah, I dare to call him the Dutch purito

He surprised me today and I agree with you that I've underestimated him. But imo he profited from the work Hagen and Thomas did until the last km, where he indeed did one of the best Purito imitations ever, attacking in the last few hundred metres of the race. There was quite a headwind, so any early attacks were pointless. He actually raced very smart.

Purito is still much better though, Slagter will never be close to his awesomeness.

 

[theyoungest]

He surprised me today and I agree with you that I've underestimated him. But imo he profited from the work Hagen and Thomas did until the last km, where he indeed did one of the best Purito imitations ever, attacking in the last few hundred metres of the race. There was quite a headwind, so any early attacks were pointless. He actually raced very smart.

Last year in Assisi he did everything wrong, now he did everything right. And see, there he is on the top step.

Of course he profited from Hagen and Thomas. That's called cycling.

 

[Red Rick]

How is the Butcher's TT'ing? Is it acceptable, bad, a little bit horrible or is it a mere disaster?

 

[movingtarget]

Was it just me watching online or did everyone else seen just the winner and nothing else but trees and trees and trees? At least online they didnt show what happened after Gerrans crossed the line. If I'm not alone, this race really is a real joke.

Edit: maybe not the race but the event organizers and TV coverage.

They really have to do something about the coverage. They showed the first three riders over the line and did not even show where Thomas finished or the time gap. Ridiculous. I wonder is there is also a need to have so many cars parked on the course especially when the roads are often narrow. Pretty dangerous for the riders. Great rides by the first two. Thomas just didn't have the legs. His team were good. Two good stages but the rest were pretty dull. A few longer stages would be good but it's early season and the riders don't seem to mind as it's usually so hot and often quite windy. As usual the last day is an anti climax but Adelaide wants their criterium. I wonder why they don't have the criterium on the first day and then finish the race with a road stage into Adelaide ? Maybe make the race a bit more exciting on the last day.