A Superb Start (0)

If perfection is a 10/10, and the attainment of perfection is impossible, then GreenEdge have had a 9/10 first month of racing. They have won both the road and TT Australian jerseys for the year, and have won the overall on their first ProTour race. Simon Gerrans is top of the UCI World Rankings, and GreenEdge are 3rd (see the full lists).

They controlled the final stage of racing at the Tour Down Under with panache, even sending Cam Meyer up the road in the final 10km, briefly threatening to derail the sprint trains, and thus ensured that Gerrans remained in front of Valverde on the overall.

Doin’ The Math (0)

What a great stage today! And we in Australia were finally allowed to actually watch it.

Yes, Channel 9 decided that reruns of Big Bang Theory and Two And A Half Men were more interesting through the week, but with a big midday slot to fill on the weekend, they have generously decided to show some of the race live. Yes I am peeved.

Start The Show (0)

The Big Gorilla didn’t pack his climbing legs for this year’s TDU. Translation: Andre Greipel couldn’t stay with the peloton as it went up the very tough Mengler’s Hill at warp speed.

Oscar Freire, however, did, and he led a good-sized bunch over the line in Tanunda today. It was a very good result for the race as much as anything: processions tend to put the fans off.

Return To Normal Proceedings (0)

After the W Clarke bolt from the blue of yesterday, there was no way that Stage 3 of the TDU was going to be anything but a bunch sprint, and all of the key teams worked together to guarantee this today, with Andre Greipel from Lotto again the winner.

The big man can sprint! Will he finally threaten Cav this year?

Win For The Little Guys (0)

Will Clarke. Wow!

A full day up the road with only one bloke helping out, and only for a short period of time. Chapeau! A great win.

Whilst giving full credit to Clarke, this result was more due to errors in the peloton than his own ride (brilliant as it was).

TDU – Same As It Ever Was (0)

And so they’re off! Once again Andre Greipel has won a stage at the TDU, once again there is a bit of controversy about sprinters not holding their line, and once again the accused sprinter has taken the classic “What! Me?” stance. The season is underway.

TDU – Starting NOW! (0)

The pro cycling season kicks off today. Finally!

It feels longer and longer between the end of the previous season and the start of the next. But thankfully the wait is over and we are away.

The Tour Down Under is one of the easiest races of the year for a pro cycling staff member”¦ once you actually arrive!

From the TDU Massage Table (0)

From the massage table here in Australia, I’ve finally found time to write this first blog for the year… We had it moving in the one and half laps to go before the finish at the pre-TDU Criterium!

We spoke in the team meeting about the ideal situation and it was just that.

The Tour Down Under 2012 – Rolling! (0)

Alrighty!

We’ve had the little teaser of a crit race around a park on the edge of Adelaide’s CBD, which Andre Greipel emphatically dominated, we’ve had head knocks and called cops for GreenEDGE riders.

A New Season and a New Start (0)

Hello to you VeloVeritas readers! Thanks for checking out my blog here – I’ll be updating it with news, what I’m up to, and where I’m doing it throughout the season. First thing to tell you is that I met up my new Omega-Pharma Lotto teammates for the first time here in Australia, for the Tour Down Under.

We received lots of nice things from the team and our sponsors: Nike gear, Rudy Project glasses for racing in and for casual use, and loads team kit for racing and training – all nice. I also got my new Canyon race bike – it’s superb, we’re all very impressed by it – and with the wheels too; Mavic have been really good to us. We went for a nice five hour ride the other day on our new bikes and I was surprised how different it is to the older model I’ve been training on. Super nice. Better than my legs from the Aussie Nationals at any rate, which were still a tad sore!

A little late starting, but it IS a start! (0)

Allrighty. So I have been meaning to keep people in touch with what’s been going on, and have heard about this “blogging” thing ever since about 2004. I’m now getting it together. I’ll start with some stuff that I wrote, but never sent.

Things will catch up to the now quickly enough. But I feel for posterity’s sake (like posterity is an entity in and of itself, and if it were, would give a hoot as to what I did or didn’t do. Hubris. Pure hubris!) I should send the stuff from the earlier part of the year.