The Tour Down Under has just wrapped up here in Adelaide and what a fantastic 7 days of cycling it has been. A great selection of stages, up and down through the Adelaide Hills and south to Willunga. The race was decided yesterday as Rohan Dennis, who had snatched the lead in stage 4, leading out Cadell Evans, duelled it out with Richie Porte up Willunga Hill. Richie won the stage with the time bonuses, but Rohan achieved second on the stage with just enough to retain the jersey (2 seconds). Who says cycling isn't exciting ?
The atrocious pile up at the end of stage 4 wasn't good though.
Today was a bit of a formality, 20 laps around a 4.5km circuit of Adelaide. I went in to see Adelaide at its finest, beautiful weather, crowds everywhere, great atmosphere and men on bikes riding at silly speeds.
Not sure if there was any coverage over there in Blighty, but some pics:
- climbing Montifiore "Hill"
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- Past the Adelaide Oval
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- Around the North Adelaide Cathedral
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- Orica Greenedge, leading out the chase on an early lap.
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Quite a remarkable day, being able to walk around the whole course, access over the barriers and then return to the "Tour Village", set up at Victoria Square. A terrific spectacle.
Might have to invest in some Lycra
.