Tour Down Under Stage 5 :: Australia Day Win!

I always say it - a great stage race is one where you don't know the overall winner until end. We saw how good Tom Slagter (Blanco) was in Stirling and today he put on a tremendous effort to bridge up to Gerro and take the overall lead. I never would have expected Geraint Thomas to falter and lose the race on a climb after showing such good form on stage 2. Tomorrow's stage is nothing more than a formality and barring disaster Slagter will take home the biggest win of his promising career. Happy Australia Day everyone. Apologies for the brief post but I'm going out to celebrate!

Bernie Sulzberger came in 39th in today's stage (1:36 down) and we can see his Strava data here (however, I feel there is something wrong with the 422 watt average power. It is probably 100 watts too high). He came in 3rd in the Old Willunga Hill leaderboard behind Luke Roberts and Jussi Veikkanen (FDJ). All of their times are in the 8 minute range.

: Simon Gerrans kicks back before the stage start.

: Trek’s custom painted “Shut Up Legs” Madone for Jens Voigt

: South African national champion Robbie Hunter (Garmin-Sharp)

: The peloton cuts through the vineyards of McLaren Vale wine region

: The early breakaway contained Jens Mouris (Orica GreenEDGE), Calvin Watson (UniSA), Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM), Tomas Marczynski (Vacansoleil-DCM), Klaas Lodewyck (BMC), Manuele Boaro (Garmin Sharp) and Koen de Kort (Argos-Shimano). The peloton allowed the group a gap of nearly 3:30 before beginning starting the chase and catching them at the base of the Old Willunga Hill climb

: The beautiful shores of Maslin Beach (which the southern half was officially declared as Australia’s first nude beach)

: Matty Hayman sets the pace as the breakaway group is chased down

: Gerro kicks at 100m before the finish and manages to outsprint Slagter on Willunga Hill. Photo by my mate Esjay.

: Simon Gerrans broke away in the final kilometer up Old Willunga Hill and Tom Slagter was the only one able to bridge up to him. Gerro takes the stage win, Slagter takes the overall.

: Matty Goss after a successful stage for Orica-GreenEDGE

: The wounds of Julian Kern (AG2R) are beginning to heal after his crash while descending on stage 2.

: I think this photo says it all. Andy Schleck - 127th overall (second last place) and nearly 40 minutes down. Andy usually bounces back for the Tour, but at very least he could at least look like he cared.

: As Gerro says, “winners are grinners”

: Tom Slagter’s first professional win was on stage 3 in Stirling. I’ve never heard of Slagter before, but I’ll be watching out for this young gun from now on.

[rrsumm raceid=910]

Guest

Last one. Podium Girl ;-)
- PhotosofchickspleaseVeeral
  
  he has true talent for that Guest…
- Xbonesx
  
  Looks like she’s asking the same question as most “so, who are you again?”
purpletezza

And the other great surprise of the day is how excellant Robbie McEwan is at TV commentary!
Conconi - The Original Master

Brilliant photos. Again.

Lets just hope that Jacopo Guarnieri gets around the street circuit all okay tomorrow. If the Astana rider doesn’t, it’ll be another feather in the cap for Andy Schleck and his growing palmares of disappointing results.

So glad Mike Turtur didn’t talk Andy up before the race, saying he would be a key player in proceedings. Oh that’s right. He did. But then again, Turtur also famously said back in ’09 that Lance Armstrong would easily put two minutes into everyone else on the Willunga Hill Climb.
http://www.facebook.com/james.broadway James Broadway

best ever photo of Andy - well done Veeral!
http://profiles.google.com/aglogan Andy Logan

I love the photo of Gerro crossing the line, with the bloke in the red shirt and black hat, I think it shows such the raw emotion of Gerro taking the win
Steven Francisco

So many photos of shaved legs. Reminds me I need to do some trimming myself…
Sue

Goodness, every time I see a picture of Guillaume Bonnafond I cringe. Thank God he is healing. One thing, I wont forget his name.
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  Sorry - I made a mistake. It was Julian Kern who has the road rash on his face, not Bonnafond. I’ve corrected this in the captions.
  - Sue
    
    Thank you. I picked it up myself later when I watched the next stage. Still cringe worthy.
Jacob Tubbs

I’m confused by the Strava data - how did Sulzberger avg 422w for 3h 38m? I realize he’s a pro, and that the only weight data I could find may be out of date (65kg, from here: http://www.unisa.edu.au/Business-community/Team-UniSA-Australia-Supporters-Club/Team-profiles/Bernard-Sulzberger/), but even if it’s off a little, 422w average by a 65kg rider means he was averaging roughly 6.5w/kg for almost 4 hours. Even in the top fuel EPO heyday, that would be mindbogglingly high - Armstrong, Pantani, et al were barely hitting 6.6w/kg for an hour. Either I am missing something, his powermeter is way off, or he is the greatest cycling talent the world has ever known.
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  There’s definitely something wrong with that value Jocob. It’s probably 100w too high.
  - http://twitter.com/jamescbdunn James Dunn
    
    It’s not the true power number and Strava doesn’t account for bunch riding so it’s estimated based on the speed.
Anke Wartemann

Many thanks to Veeral for the great pictures! One little thing, the beach showing in picture 8 is actually Aldinga Beach ;-)
Anke Wartemann

Many thanks to Veeral for the great pictures! One little thing, the beach showing in picture 8 is actually Aldinga Beach ;-)
Anke Wartemann

Many thanks to Veeral for the great pictures! One little thing, the beach showing in picture 8 is actually Aldinga Beach ;-)