Tour Down Under 2013

[Tragic]

Route is up. http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/home.htm

 

[auscyclefan94]

A grass start on Stage 4! That is quite amusing. What is the point of that if it is going to have no influence on the race/result?

 

[blaxland]

Seems ok ,atleast their mixing it up I guess"Stage 4??who knows?But Willunga Hill is still their which is something?For Aussie's its our only race

 

[Another_Dutch_Guy]

Yeah, the Stirling, Tanunda and Old Willunga hill stages were quite entertaining last year. That 'new' climb to Rostrevor seems good as well; based on Google Maps it seems to be 2,5 K at 8%, just 10 K before the finish.

 

[Azabael]

It's positive to me how they left the 'Eneco Tour road', to lean more toward the 'Tour of Poland road'. One-week races without any serious climbing in it just seems plain boring.

 

[karlboss]

out of interest what is the biggest climb in south australia?

 

[LongSprint]

A grass start on Stage 4! That is quite amusing. What is the point of that if it is going to have no influence on the race/result?

The riders have to run LeMans-style to their bikes and mount them on the starter's gun. If it wasn't on grass they'd be slipping all over the place.

 

[theyoungest]

out of interest what is the biggest climb in south australia?

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

out of interest what is the biggest climb in south australia?

There is plenty of good climbing in south east Australia; well there are >2000m peaks, so I assume there is better climbing there than we see in the TDU. But I think in the TDU they stay arround Adeleide, where there are only some hills.

I'd love to see the TDU take an Adeleide - Sydney; there could be more serious climbing stages at the end near Sydney in the mountain range that goes through southeast Australia.

It's a good thing they are adding more hills in the 2013 edition though, glad to see it's moving forward

 

[burning]

The "Crostis-Zoncolan" stage will be ridden again

 

[Ferminal]

Crazy finish to Stage 1. Descent until just 1.5km to go. Same for Stage 2, but it will not be a big bunch sprint, very steep parts on that climb. lol @ 116km though!

So two lock bunch sprints, one dodgy bunch sprint, the uphill Stirling sprint, hard man descent sprint/attacker and Wilunga.

At least are they improving their routes, not going backwards as per the trend. Highly commendable.

 

[gustienordic]

A grass start on Stage 4! That is quite amusing. What is the point of that if it is going to have no influence on the race/result?

Should do it classics style and find some hills with grass on them and go offroad up them

 

[Tragic]

out of interest what is the biggest climb in south australia?

Depends on whether you mean South Australia (the state) or south Australia (the region). The TDU is, so far, the property of the sate of South Australia. There are a few climbs around the Adelaide hills that are "bigger" (ie harder) than Willunga Hill, but not by a lot. Penny's Hill, which stage 5 goes down, is actually steeper, and I've often wondered why they don't use Norton Summit. (?hill climb TT on road bikes?)

If you widen the prospects there are some much bigger climbs in the "Alps" of Victoria and NSW, eg Mt Hotham, but still nothing to compare with those other Alps. This is not likely to happen.

Overall the best prospect of hardening up a TDU stage is to include a series of short, sharp climbs ala northern classics. This years route seems to be moving in that direction, and (I think) strikes a good balance.

 

[Archibald]

there's supposed to be a section along Sheok Rd that reaches 24%...

 

[karlboss]

Thanks guys, I meant South Australia the state.
I see Norton and Mt Lofty, Mt Lofty is about 10km at about 5%, but given the time of year I think Wilunga makes for a better finish.
Suggesting something outside of the state of South Austrlia isn't worthwhile at this stage as the state governement puts up some of the cash.

 

[Tragic]

Thanks guys, I meant South Australia the state.
I see Norton and Mt Lofty, Mt Lofty is about 10km at about 5%, but given the time of year I think Wilunga makes for a better finish.
Suggesting something outside of the state of South Austrlia isn't worthwhile at this stage as the state governement puts up some of the cash.

Sorry, I meant Mt Lofty, not Norton. There's a big parking lot/visitor's centre that would make a good finish venue.

Yes, the state has a lock on it, the teams love it that they can sleep in the same place every night, and they don't want it to be too hard in January.

I for one am glad to see the organisers responding and tweaking so it's not just a sprint-fest. Also they've realised that circuits are good for spectating (6 times Stirling this year!)

 

[Tragic]

Should do it classics style and find some hills with grass on them and go offroad up them

They tried an unsealed section over Myponga Dam one year (?04-5?), the riders complained bitterly with the dust. (Well, it was well over 40C that day)

 

[barn yard]

the climb up corkscrew road and descent of montacute road will produce the best photos from the TDU to date - it is very nice around there

 

[auscyclefan94]

There is plenty of good climbing in south east Australia; well there are >2000m peaks, so I assume there is better climbing there than we see in the TDU. But I think in the TDU they stay arround Adeleide, where there are only some hills.

I'd love to see the TDU take an Adeleide - Sydney; there could be more serious climbing stages at the end near Sydney in the mountain range that goes through southeast Australia.

It's a good thing they are adding more hills in the 2013 edition though, glad to see it's moving forward

Yes, you get a lot of longer climbs in Victoria that get up to a high altitude but nothing really that high in South Australia. Tour Down under should move to Melbourne. We are the Sporting Capital of the World.

 

[Tragic]

Yes, you get a lot of longer climbs in Victoria that get up to a high altitude but nothing really that high in South Australia. Tour Down under should move to Melbourne. We are the Sporting Capital of the World.

Well, ACF wants to rekindle an old war. For those that don't know, one of the original motivations for development of the TDU was that Melbourne "stole" the Formula One from Adelaide (and they're welcome to it).

It's a nice race, in a nice place. If "The Sporting Capital of the World" thinks they can do it better, then go ahead.

(mini-troll, I confess)

 

[RedheadDane]

A grass start on Stage 4! That is quite amusing. What is the point of that if it is going to have no influence on the race/result?

I gotta say that would only be possible somewhere like Australia where the chances for rain seem to be rather slim. Here... baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad idea!

 

[iZnoGouD]

Machado will win!

you heard it here first