By now the second day of racing will be underway at the Tour Down Under, but the first day provided some great racing while showcasing the beautiful surrounds of South Australia’s wine growing regions.
Photo Courtesy CyclingNews.com
The main breakaway of the day included 20 year old Tim Roe, a member of the Trek-Livestrong U23 team who is from Glenelg, just outside of Adelaide. While the rest of the Livestrong U23 team is at a camp in Califormia, Tim stayed with the breakaway while they opened up a gap of close to 10 mins, and then dropped his fellow breakaway riders going up the major climb of the day, Menglers Hill. Despite a short off-road excursion on the descent, he managed to hold on a little longer until the peloton caught up as the pace quickened in preparation for the sprint finish. Tim’s riding was following UniSA team orders to be aggressive and earned him the King of the Mountains jersey and the most aggressive rider jersey, a great achievement for him.
Photo Courtesy CyclingNews.com
Once the race got to the finish town of Tanunda the pace quickened in preparation for the sprint. Team Radioshack was up near the front of the field to lead out Gert Steegmans. In the frenetic finish Gert got himself up for a fantastic 2nd place, behind stage winner Andre Greipel. This has got to be the first time a member of Lance’s team has been so closely contesting a sprint! Great to see Gert up at the front and we’re looking forward to Team RadioShack pushing for a stage win in the next few days. You can read more reports from PezCyclingNews and CyclingNews.
Photo Courtesy CyclingNews.com
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Trek Bicycle Corporation is helping to grow the sport of cycling in it’s home state of Wisconsin. Bike Radar recently did a short article on the bicycle manufacturers support of cycling through working closely with advocacy groups and government officials. The fact that Trek has a full time “director of advocacy and government affairs” goes to show how much they are committed to helping more people enjoy cycling, whether competitively or purely for transport and recreation. Great to see from such a large bike company, but probably easier to believe as it is still a family owned business rather than a public company.