Stage Two, and my legs still feel reasonably fresh. There is something to be said for a Mountain Bike Stage race where most of the stages are less than 50km long. Maybe I should just race harder?
We had a rolling start under police escort through town, and when the sirens blared once on the outskirts, it was strung out. Nothing crazy, but certainly no longer neutral. The sandy firetrail is never my strong point, so I opted to ride near the front. This worked for a while, and we had a group of about 9 clear, but not away. Soon after I dagged off the back of this group, then was ridden through by the chase group as I threw my chain all over the front rings.
I was still hurting from the opening kays, and then there was a man down on course – Nick Both (Swell-Redshift) having chosen to lie down in the singletrack. He looked alright, and we essentially rode the rest of the race together. There was some great singletrack – not as rocky as yesterday, far more open. But there was also a lot of grass shrouded sandy trail – the kind of terrain I was grateful to follow Both’s wheel along. Neither of us were having a stellar day, but we made it work.
Both has promised to pay hommage to the recently crowned Table Tennis World Champion Zhang Jike, by tearing his jersey off when crossing the line for a stage win. So far, the local ladies may need to wait another day.
The last climb today was pretty tech, and this is where race winner Andy Blair (Swell-Redshift) got a gap, by riding it clean. Word is, no one else has made it. This gave a good gap, affording Blair a great win on the Alice Springs Velodrome from Jason English and Aiden Lefmann. Jess Douglas beat Anna Beck to the line in the womens.
Check the front page for full results later today.