The Sun Tour in particular is shaping up as a thrilling contest with Chaves and Froome set to headline and organisers today revealing an exciting new course. The race will again begin with a 2.1km prologue time trial in the heart of Melbourne, before making the trek to north-east Victoria for stage 1.
Starting in the rural centre of Wangaratta, the stage will go over the popular Tawonga Gap climb, before finishing with a 26km ascent towards Falls Creek. The stage will end 3.8km shy of the village — at the Howman’s Gap tollbooth — to avoid the steeper final section to the resort.
“Originally we looked at not going up any of the major mountains, but when you suddenly have two of the world’s greatest climbers, you’ve got to put a platform for them,” said race director John Trevorrow. “And Falls [Creek] is perfect I think because if you went over [Mount] Hotham or [Mount] Buffalo — a steeper climb — it would really decimate the field.
“This way, even though everyone’s only talking about two bike riders, I believe there’ll be more still in the mix after the first day.”
Stage 2 starts in Mount Beauty and features a tough 10km climb to Stanley, before finishing with a rolling 9km descent into Beechworth. Stage 3 will be the only chance for the sprinters, with a largely flat day starting in Benalla and finishing inside the Mitchelton Winery.
The Sun Tour’s popular race-ending summit finish at Arthurs Seat is gone in 2017 and will be replaced with a circuit around the town of Kinglake.
“They’ve got enormous new infrastructure there [at Arthurs Seat] with the chairlift, which I’m sure will be great for the area,” Trevorrow said. “But when our planning was all going in there was a lot of uncertainty about road closures. It was just very hard.
“In reality, we’ve been there [Arthurs Seat] quite a few years and what we do is … this race moves around. So I’m quite excited about Kinglake — I think we will get a huge crowd and it will be a wonderful day.”
Starting in Kinglake, the stage will comprise four laps of a 30km circuit which includes a long descent out of Kinglake and a 5km climb on Kinglake-Glenburn Road which peaks 2.5km from the finish line.
The main climb from St. Andrews — one of Melbourne’s most popular training climbs — won’t be used in the race and will instead be kept free for fans to access Kinglake.
Anybody watch the National RR? I enjoyed it. I mostly enjoyed the game of eliminating riders based on how strongly the Phil, Matt and Kathy were talking them up. First it was Caleb Ewan, they kept telling us how strong he looked, how he was following every move. Until he was dropped. Then it was all about Lachlan Morton. He was really shaking things up. Until he couldn’t. Then Cam Meyer. When he made his move he would stick at it, Kathy told us. He made his move and it didn’t stick. Then poor old Brendan Canty celebrating his win, one lap too early.
Then they all came together and it was Gerro’s race to lose, which he did. He was beaten by Miles in the end. Or 5 metres anyway. Gerro waited while Durbridge did the chasing then came around for his customary second.
Just watched that interview. A pretty great response given how gutted he proabably is/was that soon after the race.
Overall I think the race was awesome to watch. Durbridge was a bloody machine, the last attack to win was perfectly timed. That new BMC is pretty awful so I’m expecting whatever kit they come up with to be pretty bad. Although the last few efforts wouldn’t take much to beat either.
Caught the last 20k, and even watching that much was surprised that Gerro lent on Durbridge chase Scotson on that attack. A great attack though, its one of my favourite ways to see someone win.
Last few laps of the Rr were amazing to watch (from the KOM)… the efforts being put out by the front group (lachie morton was lighting it up repeatedly on the climb), and Cantys effort to bridge was awesome.
It’s easy to call shenanigans from the couch but it was freaking hot out there and that climb at that pace is no joke, then do it 18x.
Gerro played it smart and to his strengths (he was hiding all day), and if it wasnt for the prescence of a newly aged up TT/pursuit champion who had nothing to lose (and was kinda bummed about a lacklustre TT result days before) he’d likely have been throwing elbows with Haas for the finish.
Scotson played the best card he had and played it very well… Deserved win. The crowd went crazy when he launched the move. I had Gerro in the StCloud sweep and even I was cheering for him.
Worth noting Troy Herfoss (aka ‘the man in black’) who decided to have a decent crack at this road racing thing recently and seems to have some skill at it. He narrowly won the “Pedaleur d’charme” award on the day for best spirit/attitude over Alby (aka ‘the peoples champ’).
Favourite exchange of the TDU so far…
“Stage 3 looks like a Peter Sagan stage with a nice technical finish?” To which Peter Sagan replies, “every stage is a Peter Sagan stage”