The De Bortoli Tour is a 3 stage 2 day race with a classy field, big climbs and beautiful rolling vineyards. This year Richard Jenkins and Adam took down a few riders to test their metal against the cream of Victoian cycling. For a full report see cyclingnews.com
Richie Jenkins won Most Agressive Director Sportiff
We stayed at this cool place that used to be a Sattelite tracking station for the 84 Olympics Valley Farm Vineyard which had a spa, wombats and great hosts Greg and Louise
Friday Morning we all met up for a team meeting at a cafe in Healesville, and after narrowly escaping being locked inside a toilet, we set out to ride the crucial parts of stage 1 (the finish, KOM and major climb) and stage 2 the TT. What a lovely area, but bloody cold
After a bit of motor pacing behind the teamcar, everyone was in the box, but pumped for a huge weekend.
Klayten Smith dons the leaders jersey for a grade moments before the start of Sunday's ride. Klayten finished 4th overall and calimed a grade's most aggressive rider. Klayten was a wealth of experience for the younger riders from Randwick. Thanks Klay.
Josh Marden had a blinder of a weekend in B Grade, especially considering his stomach problems. Josh finished in the 2nd group on Saturdays hilly morning roadrace, and then, first time ever on timetrial bars, piloted his Fuji Roubaix to 2nd in the BGrade 15km timetrial. Sunday he won the sprint for 5th, puttin him 6th overall.
Pete the Machine thrived on Sundays 4 lap mountain stage. The last 5km of the 14km climb were dirt as seen above. Pete got in the break 10km from the start (thanks to Klayten "PETE.. GO!) which soon got 3 minutes by the top of the climb in the first of 4 laps. Richard and I were cheering Pete and Klayten along at various locations around the course ("PETE... GET OFF THE FRONT!") (KLAYTEN...5 MINUTES!) The break got up to 5 minutes and shelled riders from 8 down to 2 on the final climb. Klayten's fragmenting group were chasing hard, fighting for KOM scraps. Pete and David Pell hit the top of the climb together, but Pete gets dropped on the winding slippery descent..... There is a small rise before the 500m downhill finishing stretch, and Pete get back onto Pell's wheel. They fight it out like a dragrace down the straight... Pete get's it ! Wooooooo, I am yelling, my voice breaking and sounding very uncool. Pete punches the air and yells for about 500m past the line. Klayten comes in 5th and we find out he has been relegated to 4th overall by 2 seconds.
Pete finds out at the presentation that he has come 2nd overall behind David Pell, and experienced overseas campaigner. An awesome result
FRF's Chris Jenkins had a fantastic weekend in B Grade, seen below powering up to the KOM on Stage 1
At the turnaround we all got snowed or sleeted on.
Chris rode a very strong race and led the sprint out from about 600 to go.
No one came round and Spongee was in the leaders jersey which he wore most of the night.
!
Spongee came 2nd in Stage 3 with another strong ride, which put him in 2nd on final GC.
The organisers made the other 2 on the podium bend over, to make Chris look taller. This made Chris very happy.
Stage 2 was a timetrial. This is Pete's TT machine. (actually it's Olis Ironman machine). A Cannondale Ironman 5000 10 speed durace with the best wheels on the market. Full carbon Velomax Tempest 2. Pete came 4th overall in the TT
This is Chris Jenkin's team FRF issue Argon 18 Platinum (one of Chris Boardman's top 3 bikes ever ridden), beatiful comfy ride, but noticably stiffer thru the transmission for sprints and hills, also equipped with Velomax tempest 2. Over 6.8kg ? I dunno ! Both Argon18 and Velomax are in store now. Give us a ring to arrange a testride.
Klayten came 3rd in the TT thru the beautiful countryside
Next adventure is the Tour of Bright on December 4. We will probably make it a little alpine training camp for the week leading up to the race if anyone is interesting in doing some cool mountain climbs. See Adam for more info
