Tour Down Under - Stage 4: Norwood - Strathalbyn, 124km

[auscyclefan94]

Tour Down Under - Stage 4: Norwood - Strathalbyn, 124km

Friday 21 January 2011

Start Time: 11am (The Parade, Norwood)

Skoda King of the Mountain: Checker Hill Road, Kersbrook

Jayco Sprint Locations: Main Street, Gumeracha and Onkaparinga Valley Road, near Balhannah

Feed Station: Macclesfield

Finish Time: 2.28pm

Preview of Stage 4

Weather: 34oC - going to be hot again.

 

[Ferminal]

Looks like the last 500m are at 5%?

 

[taiwan]

Looks like the last 500m are at 5%?

By the profile it looks like 15%+.

I think.

Sorry, maybe like 10%, but more than 5 anyhow.

nvm.

 

[Barracuda]

Nah ...gonna be a drag race ...slightly flat if anything .........

Used to live there .... speeds will be high if bunch sprint.

 

[hughmoore]

When they enter Strathalbyn, its a left turn on to West Terrace for 400 metres, right on to North Parade for 100 metres, then right onto the finish straight which is Commercial Road which is 500 metres straight and if anything is downhill.

As in previous years, this will be a bunch finish, will we see another head butting incident like 2008.


Regards



Hugh

 

[Jukebox]

I predict Greipel, he has to win one evenutually.

 

[buster1]

Cant see anything other than a bunch finish for this stage. Griepel should be right up there but i cant go past goss, hes in great form and got the best lead out train in the business!!!

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

By the profile it looks like 15%+.

I think.

Sorry, maybe like 10%, but more than 5 anyhow.

10% is correct. About 50m altitude difference in 500m length, makes 10m/100m=10%

That is, if the profile is accurate...

 

[jens_attacks]

ok is that last 3 km profile for real?how many of these were wrong until now?if it's real then matthews again for the win.

 

[Moondance]

ok is that last 3 km profile for real?how many of these were wrong until now?if it's real then matthews again for the win.

If the finish is really 10% then I don't think any sprinter is in with a shot, even Matthews.

 

[theyoungest]

Graeme Brown's preview:

It's a nice hard start to the race going through the Gorge. Any Australian has probably ridden through the Gorge about a billion times. Stuart O'Grady's bike just rides through there by itself. Checker Hill is hard and it's quite steep, although it's less than a kilometre. It's hard to go up the hill – the road is dead straight but it's all about being in the right position with two kilometres to go because you turn onto a smaller road. It's more of a Belgian Classics style of ride.

If you're at the front it's a piece of cake. If there's one lesson I've learnt for this stage it's not to ride on Lance Armstrong's wheel like I did last year because you get hit by hands all the time going ‘There he is! There he is!'...

It will be a bunch sprint again but it will hurt. Sprinters that don't have top form or don't climb quite as well are going to struggle because it's just up and down all day.

The last 600m could be affected by cross winds. 1150m you turn left, 800m you turn right. At 640m it's a straight line to the finish. In a blink of an eye the race is over. If Mark Cavendish didn't get lucky on stage two, expect to see his train going full gas here. But I reckon Andre Greipel will suck his doors off.

Doesn't sound like the actual finish itself is that hard, so the profile is probably wrong... as it has been every time, so that's not very surprising.

 

[Moondance]

Graeme Brown's preview:

Doesn't sound like the actual finish itself is that hard, so the profile is probably wrong... as it has been every time, so that's not very surprising.

Sigh....

Here I was, thinking it was going to be a bruising last 500m

 

[auscyclefan94]

If the finish is really 10% then I don't think any sprinter is in with a shot, even Matthews.

Well the Wilunga final km profile has it being a downhill finish when it is more slightly uphill.

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like the last 500m are at 5%?

Y'know.. that could be todays profile.

Like everyone, im getting more and more convinced their profiles are wrong.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

10% is correct. About 50m altitude difference in 500m length, makes 10m/100m=10%

That is, if the profile is accurate...

OK, my calculations were totally wrong, since the altitude difference is only 25m

But that still makes 5% uphill

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

10% is correct. About 50m altitude difference in 500m length, makes 10m/100m=10%

That is, if the profile is accurate...

No, the lines are every 25m, not every 50m, so it's about 5%, like he said.

Edit

Apologies, just spotted the self correction.

 

[badboyberty]

Profile for last 500m looks wrong to me.

There is a decent breeze up on this side of the range, so slight chance we might see some excitement after the peloton turn left at Ashbourne. It's a nice rise which should be exposed to a decent crosswind, followed by a fast tailwind run into town. With a bit of luck and some good timing someone like Bobridge should at least be able to create some panic.

Of course in reality come 12pm the wind will probably drop right off and HTC, Radioshack and OPL will probably have the peloton in lockdown from Meadows.

 

[taiwan]

Balloni (Lampre), Cimolai (Liquigas), Horrach (Katusha) are in a break.

 

[Ferminal]

Seems like there's been a few attacks today, not quite sure of the groups on the road.

 

[stefank]

I wouldn't mind being able to see what I'm reading on the live updates on the TDU site. Is this the UCI points system actually doing some good?

 

[Ferminal]

Sprint 1:

McEwen
Goss
Ventoso?

Are the bonuses 6, 4, 2 or 3, 2, 1?

 

[Ferminal]

Break has finally gone... got a couple of minutes.

I think its:

Wilson
C. Meyer
Ten Dam
Kadri
Ruijgh
De Gendt

 

[Moondance]

Break has finally gone... got a couple of minutes.

I think its:

Wilson
C. Meyer
Ten Dam
Kadri
Ruijgh
De Gendt

Are they away? It was the usual suspects who took the intermediate sprint?

Edit: Hmmmm, apparently so. Kadri, ten Dam and co. were reported as attacking before they mentioned the sprint results, but now they're ahead again.

 

[Ferminal]

Sprint is 3, 2, 1

So GC is now:

Goss
McEwen +3s
Greipel +4s
Matthews +6s
Swift +6s

Yeh they are definitely away (different group to the one which attacked over the KOM), the bunch must have just wanted the sprint.

 

[Moondance]

Meyer and Wilson in the break. Garmin are clearly on maneuvers after 3 disaster days for them.