CYCLING

Bevin talks Tour Down Under - Stage 6

By Aaron S Lee

Cannondale neo-pro Patrick Bevin finishes first WorldTour stage race in top 10 as rivals Orica-GreenEdge claims four stage wins and overall.

ADELAIDE—Cannondale Pro Cycling may not have rode away from the 2016 Santos Tour Down Under with any wins, but what they did ride off with is a handful of results and a solid foundation to build what should be a very successful team in the not so distant future.



Cannondale’s neo-pro trio shined during the week, with Canadian Michael Woods taking third on stage x and fifth overall, while New Zealander Patrick Bevin finished sixth on stage 2 and finish 10th on general classification (GC) and Dutchman Wouter Wippert finished with a podium on stage 1.

“The morale of our team is pretty good, and I think you can tip your hat to Simon Clarke for that,” said Bevin about his Australian teammate and former Orica-GreenEdge rider. “He’s our leader on the road, and like I said earlier in the week, he’s a guy I personally look up to and can always seek advice.

“It hasn’t been a perfectly smooth first race of the year because we are a fairly new team riding together, but for a first outing I think we’re pretty happy with how it’s going and it’s only going to get better from here with Simon’s leadership and the team gelling so well together.”

For Orica-GreenEdge, it appears four was the magic number as the first and only Australian-registered WorldTour team claimed four stage wins en route to Simon Gerrans winning the Santos Tour Down Under (TDU) on Sunday for the fourth time in his illustrious career.

Ewan sprinted to victory over compatriot Mark Renshaw (Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka) at the end of the 20-lap, 90-kilometre city circuit to claim his seventh win of 2016, and his second at this year’s six-day stage race – not including the People’s Choice Classic criterium that he won seven days ago to kick off the festival of cycling in Adelaide, South Australia.

“It was always going to be hard to come to this race and chase both stages (wins) and overall victory,” said the 21-year-old sprinting sensation and Australian criterium champion.

 “I’m so happy that we came away with four stages and the overall.

Ewan’s teammate and fellow Aussie Gerrans (AUS), who also took two stages this week, had little chance of losing the ochre leaders jersey on the sixth and final day. But was thrilled with the thrilled with the result.

“It's certainly a dream result and we couldn't have asked for more,” said Gerrans. “We are so lucky to have this race here in Australia.

“The boys did a sensational job today, they kept me at the front, out of trouble and delivered Caleb (Ewan) as close to the line as possible,” he added. “What a fantastic week it's been for us.”

Last year’s stage 6 winner Wippert (NED), then riding for Drapac, finished 10th after being boxed after in according to Bevin.

NZ Bike caught up with the national time trial champion after the race to discuss the both the day and the week that was in Bevin’s final diary entry of the TDU.



Bevin’s diary entry: Stage 6 – Adelaide City Circuit, 90km
It was actually a bloody hard day backing up after racing two laps up Willunga Hill yesterday! A crit like today was not the most pleasant thing on the legs and I had a bit of a nudge early on at one of the intermediate sprints with a couple of guys up the road. There was just a single second up for grabs, but that would have put equal with ninth overall, but I didn’t quite get it right.

I took a lot for me to come right after that to get ready for the finish. In the end, we appeared in pretty good position on the last leg and fought through to drop him off, but unfortunately it wasn’t a result.

I had been in the wind from the top of the hill so I had to drop him off on Mark Renshaw (Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka), which was all I could do. From where I was he looked as though he got boxed in from the way the wind was coming in quite hard on the barriers there. Obviously if you have to wait you are not going to win when other guys are opening up there sprints.

It is what it is, but overall it was a good week.

Obviously every time you make that step up you wipe the slate clean a fair amount so it was nice to turn up and be compete in my first WorldTour race – it was awesome.

I haven’t raced at this level before, and haven’t raced period in four months, so you just don’t know what to expect. To turn up and be competitive is a great start to the season and hopefully something I can build on and continue to show that I belong at this level.

The biggest difference in me from the People’s Choice Classic seven days ago until now is I’ve leaned not to use the brakes as much. If you show you any weakness, you’ll find yourself going backwards pretty quick.

My next race is at La Provence in France at the end of February, and I definitely take a lot of confidence with me from my experience at the TDU, along with the realisation that both my teammates and me belong at this level.  

In the meantime, thanks for allowing me to share my first WorldTour experience with you.
Until next time, stay tuned.
-Patrick Bevin

Stage 6 results (top 5)
1.    Caleb Ewan, AUS, Orica-GreenEdge                                    1h55:02
2.    Mark Renshaw, AUS, Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka      s.t.
3.    Giacomo Nizzolo, ITA, Trek-Segafredo                                    s.t.
4.    Adam Blythe, GBR, Tinkoff                                                      s.t.
5.    Alexey Tsatevich, RUS, Team Katusha                                    s.t.
 
Final general classification (top 5)
1.    Simon Gerrans, AUS, Orica-GreenEdge                           19h11:33
2.    Richie Porte, AUS, BMC Racing                                             0:09”
3.    Sergio Henao, COL, Team Sky                                               0:11”
4.    Jay McCarthy, AUS, Tinkoff                                                   0:20”
5.    Michael Woods, CAN, Cannondale Pro                                    s.t.
 
Aaron S. Lee is a cycling and triathlon columnist for Eurosport and a guest contributor to NZ Bike Magazine.  Photo credit: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo.