CYCLING

Bevin talks Tour Down Under - Stage 1

By Aaron S. Lee

It was a blistering day in South Australia, so much so that the official launch of the 2017 UCI WorldTour season was reduced by 26.5km to 118km on stage 1 by Santos Tour Down Under race officials prior to the start on Tuesday in Unley.

"The safety and welfare of the riders, spectators and everyone involved with the race is always our primary concern," said TDU race director Mike Turtur of the soaring temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius. "We consulted with rider representative Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) and with our Chief Commissaire Alexander Donike, and both agreed it would be sensible to shorten the stage distance."

At the finish in Lyndoch, it was Australian sprinting sensation Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) with the win. In fact, combined with his win at the People’s Choice Classic on Sunday, Ewan mirrors his start to the season last year.

"Everyone felt the heat out there today and to have the race shortened a little bit is what we needed," said Ewan.  "I'm super happy to get that win because it was very tight in the end.

"A lot of riders ran out of gas in the lead out in that last straight because there was a lot of head wind there," he explained. "Many riders misjudged it and it was a super messy sprint."

With the win Ewan will wear the ochre leaders jersey in tomorrow’s 148km stage 2, which will start in the Adelaide Hills town of Stirling and sweep through the town five times before setting off for a sharp descent on Norton Summit and the climb up Torrens Hill Road to the finish at Paracombe.

"We have two ambitions in this Tour and we really have to use our guys conservatively and take the best out of them," said Ewan, who is sharing team support with Simon Gerrans who is hoping to defend his 2016 crown. "They did an amazing job at the end.
 
Credit: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo 

"It's going to be a really nice feeling to have the leaders jersey tomorrow."

Post race, NZ Bike once again caught up with New Zealand’s own Patrick Bevin (Cannondale-Bevin), who makes his second straight start at the TDU. The 25-year-old 2015 national time trial champion returns to the TDU following a top 10 finish on general classification last year. However teammate Michael Woods (CAN), who finished fifth last year, is back along with Tom-Jelte Slagter (NED), who won the race in 2013.

Bevin, who finished 19th on the stage just behind reigning two-time world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), shared his thoughts on the day as well as the team’s goal heading into arguably the hardest stage of the race on Wednesday.

Bevin’s diary entry: Stage 1 – Unley – Lyndoch, 118km
Today was a scorcher. We were seeing 45-plus on the Garmins, which was a pretty accurate representation of what we were feeling off the tarmac. In those temperatures, you’re not doing anyone any good. I don’t think that changes the result. You stop a few guys from cooking and at the end of the day, so it was the right call.

I love starting my season here. Everyone turns up here ready to compete. As a Kiwi, this is the closest thing we have at the moment to a WorldTour event, so it’s my home race and to have an Australian sponsor on the jersey really amplifies our goals. Our goal today was to get the GC guys through on time and unscathed. So our mission was complete.

Personally, it would have been nice to have been up at the finish, but it just didn’t happen. It was a messy run after a slow easy day, so it was very hard to call those finishes right. Those guys with the sprint trains lit it up and did it very well.

One of the things you immediately notice when making the step up to the WorldTour is that there are no soft races. Every race is really hard. For me to break ribs at Paris-Nice was a lesson in terms of looking after myself, something I did not do well in managing my comeback from the injury. That was a very big lesson for me.

When you’re fit and healthy racing is easy, but when it goes bad … it goes bad!
 
Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo 

This year, I decided to skip nationals and stay in Europe and for the first time in a long time I enjoyed an actual offseason. Aside from a couple of days on the track with the Velon Revolution, it was the longest I had gone without a race since I started cycling. No group rides, no motor pacing, it was a pure offseason.

Part of it was just hitting the reset and staying in Europe was really good for being able to do the basics. Right now my form is good, and I’ve come back fit and ready to race. We have two guys to vie for general classification, while I’m here to go as deep with those guys as possible.

Stage 2 is big and will be the toughest day of the week. There will be no hiding and after the stage everyone will know where everyone is at because there is simply no way to bluff your way through to the finish. It’s going to be all hung out to dry and everyone will know where everyone stands.
Until next time, stay tuned…-Patrick Bevin

Tomorrow’s entry: Stage 2 – Stirling– Paracombe, 148.5 km

Stage 1 results (top 5)
1.    Caleb Ewan, AUS, Orica-Scott, 3:24:18
2.    Danny van Poppel, NED, Team Sky, s.t.
3.    Sam Bennett, IRL, Bora-Hansgrohe,  s.t.
4.    Marko Kump, SLO, UAE Abu Dhabi, s.t.
5.    Niccolo Bonifazio, ITA, Bahrain-Merida, s.t.
 
General classification (top 5)
1.    Caleb Ewan, AUS, Orica-Scott, 3:24:18
2.    Danny van Poppel, NED, Team Sky, +0:04
3.    Sam Bennett, IRL, Bora-Hansgrohe, +0:06
4.    Jay McCarthy, AUS, Bora-Hansgrohe, +0:07
5.    Nathan Haas, AUS, Dimension Data, +0:08
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