Tour Down Under - Stage 6: Adelaide Street Circuit 90km

[Jonny7c]

And there's the TOC again...

Tour, Giro, Vuelta, Paris-Nice, Dauphine, Switzerland...

Their view, not mine!

 

[The Hitch]

According to ACF, who has been surprisingly open minded on these issues in 2011, despite carving out a reputation for himself as the leader of the Aussie hype machine, Phil "Samu Sanchez cant descend" Liggett, said that the TDU was the 4th best race in the world.

The ranking seemed to be fairly logical at that point

1 Tour of France
2 Tour of California
3 Tour of Italy
4 Tour of Adelaide

However it seems he may have now revised this to 5th.

Why? i have no idea. Maybe he had totaly forgoten how crap the race is when he said it was 4th but facts like that that never seem to put him off his TOC hype wagon.

Presumably Vuelta is now 4th putting TDU in 5th, knocking on that 4th grand tour spot.

 

[sublimit]

Well, they did talk about how well organized the race was as a main contributing factor to that statement and I must admit that the TDU (and a lot of other races) are much better organized than for example the Vuelta. As soon as you bring prestige and sporting level into it however the statement becomes absurd.

Obviously they made a mistake when Cav and couple of other riders were left to negotiate traffic after getting dropped, But my main gripe is the useless non existent TV coverage and also Aussie broadcaster SBS blocking internet streams on the last couple of stages - to add insult to injury.

Whats the point of organising a "world Class" race to rival the big Euro races If nobody in the rest of the world can see the damn thing?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, they did talk about how well organized the race was as a main contributing factor to that statement and I must admit that the TDU (and a lot of other races) are much better organized than for example the Vuelta. As soon as you bring prestige and sporting level into it however the statement becomes absurd.

yes, so well organised that on one stage cav had to ride in traffic, and in another stage the cars lost all communication.

 

[ingsve]

yes, so well organised that on one stage cav had to ride in traffic, and in another stage the cars lost all communication.

Ya, that's true, which means they have no leg to stand on at all in that case.

 

[Polyarmour]

The so called "sprinter's tour" was stolen by a breakaway. I didn't see ANYONE predict that. Before the tour it would have been rated as impossible.

It was destiny intervening for Cam Meyer's win, I think we will see a lot more of him.

 

[euanli]

Yes that breakaway that was instantly touted as an example of exciting racing being possible with race radios.

 

[auscyclefan94]

yes, so well organised that on one stage cav had to ride in traffic, and in another stage the cars lost all communication.

Yes that wasn't a great mistake but if you talk to all the riders tyhey will all say that it is one of the best organised events and that the riders get looked after very well.

That doesn't mean it is a good, entertaining race.

 

[Sanitiser]

Yes that wasn't a great mistake but if you talk to all the riders tyhey will all say that it is one of the best organised events and that the riders get looked after very well.

That doesn't mean it is a good, entertaining race.

Yeah I don't think Cav was happy.

 

[NickBVK]

Great event, good to see different winners and breakaways survive.

The riders love it, out of all the riders there were probably less than 20 that I didn't meet, chat to or get autographs and photos with. The riders are so accessible and are all really relaxed and happy to chat.

The athletes village was also very well run. One day I sat next to Mat Hayman watching the SBS replays and on the day Cam Meyer won his stage, Travis was two people over from me watching with his family.

A great event from all angles.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Rann said that people who thought paying Armstrong to race the tdu in the past 3 editions was a bad idea have low IQ. He then goes onto say that Armstrong is the best cyclist of all time. I felt like vomiting.

 

[Ferminal]

Rann said that people who thought paying Armstrong to race the tdu in the past 3 editions was a bad idea have low IQ. He then goes onto say that Armstrong is the best cyclist of all time. I felt like vomiting.

LeMond's quote would be fitting right about now.

 

[craig1985]

It begs the question, why didn't Rann get voted out last year?

 

[auscyclefan94]

It begs the question, why didn't Rann get voted out last year?

Amazingly on a two party preffered basis, Liberal was 51.5% Labor (Rann) was 48.5% but Rann still won by 8 seats which is significant margin in a 47 seat parliament. Someone commented to me on twitter that South Australians are too dumb to know where there money goes.

Baillieu (Premier of Victoria) is thinking about dumping the Grand Prix. If he does I hope he tries to steal the tour down under. That would really **** South Australians off!

 

[NickBVK]

If he's dumping the F1, I severely doubt he'd pick up another huge international event such as the TDU.

If anything, Adelaide will get the F1 back

 

[Spare Tyre]

Baillieu (Premier of Victoria) is thinking about dumping the Grand Prix. If he does I hope he tries to steal the tour down under. That would really **** South Australians off!

AFAIK we're committed to hosting it at Albert Park until 2015.

 

[Archibald]

Amazingly on a two party preffered basis, Liberal was 51.5% Labor (Rann) was 48.5% but Rann still won by 8 seats which is significant margin in a 47 seat parliament. Someone commented to me on twitter that South Australians are too dumb to know where there money goes.

Baillieu (Premier of Victoria) is thinking about dumping the Grand Prix. If he does I hope he tries to steal the tour down under. That would really **** South Australians off!

just shows how bad the election system/process is. Then again, you don't really win elections, the other guy loses. Rann and the labour party never offer anything (other than guaranteed disaster), they just slag the others off, which seems to work for them. Australian voting public are generally thick as sh*t anyway.

As for the grand prix, it's well known that melbourne has never run it as well as Adelaide. They've never succeeded with it - if they had then they wouldn't still be fleecing their taxpayers to pay for it, and might actually be wanting to keep it...

 

[Spare Tyre]

As for the grand prix, it's well known that melbourne has never run it as well as Adelaide. They've never succeeded with it - if they had then they wouldn't still be fleecing their taxpayers to pay for it, and might actually be wanting to keep it...

Is it? I have never heard that.

I can still remember people from Adelaide telling me before the first Melbourne GP that it would be so big we'd have never seen anything like it. SO big! SO amazing! But it wasn't that big or amazing, and the novelty factor wore off pretty quickly. Too many other things on in Melbourne.

It's a nice little earner for Ron Walker's major events company though, I suspect.

 

[boardhanger]

As a European living in the USA, I never gave Austriala much tought as a destination to visit. My sister lived there and only said great things about Austraila. What I mean is the Formula1 down there, didn't influence me to visit. It was simply a race on a track with some aerial shots. But seeing the TDU has lit a light inside my head saying......maybe i'd like to go there visit and see it. That's what cycling brings to the host.....Fantastic to see the crowds, and seemed like a great atmoshere. (I did see some 'Belguim cira 1980's style dangerously parked cars along side the road which is rare of pro/world tour events ) Thank you Austraila for a shinning light from a cold northern hemishere winter!!
p.s

The World Championships also sparked the same interest.

 

[auscyclefan94]

AFAIK we're committed to hosting it at Albert Park until 2015.

I thought it was 2014 byt never mind. It is the "tour down under". Down Under is Australia. Our national event is just around one city each year.

 

[M Sport]

If he's dumping the F1, I severely doubt he'd pick up another huge international event such as the TDU.

If anything, Adelaide will get the F1 back

Adelaide will never get the GP back. If Melbourne don't want it then it will go to Sydney.

By that time I would say Victoria will have the TDU and Europeans and Americans won't be able to complain as much about flat courses, hell you will even see mountains with snow on.