Tour Down Under

http://www.teamsky.com/video/0,27287,17549_5867669,00.html

Stage 1 Highlights

YouTube- Tour Down Under 2010 Stage 1 Race Highlights

wow, so much power in that final sprint by Greipel.
Look out for the local young guns in the UniSA-Australia team, Jack Bobridge was part of it last year and got noticed.

This time covering the the race from the start rather than just the finish.

YouTube- 19 January 2010 - Stage 1 Santos Tour Down Under News Feed

Tim Roe: "I spent a fair few bickies out there today..."

Impressive victory.

Greipel was about 3 bike lengths behind as the sprint was at full tilt and he came over the line with nearly 2 bike lengths clear lead..... mental.

Given that Greipel and Cav don't tend to go head-to-head, it makes you wonder what would happen if they did.

wow that sprint by greipel was awesome!

wow that really was impressive - i do get the impression though that cav is a big step up from greipel, and that there are also a few in between them as well, even though this sprint made him look the business.

henderson looked all over the shop, total lack of rhythm, each pedal seemed to sway him so much. And moving from the middle to the left of the road must have lost him speed and probably forth (even though i guess he was trying to get in griepels slipstream - to late by then)

it all looked like a bit of a mess i think. All the lead-outs failed. Lots of elbows and shoulder contact, but great to watch!

what team do you think they'll take on the TDF? its pretty sprinter heavy for TDU but guessing it'll be climber heavy for france? (especially seeing as thats probably wiggins weakest suit)

at a stab id say;

wiggins, arvesen, augustyn, cioni, gerrans, henderson, bosson hagen, calzati, flecha

a team of 4th overall TDF, 4th overall GIRO, and 3 TDF wins, 4 GIRO wins, 2 vuelta wins.

leaving out pauwels, passoni, sutton, barry.

Maybe barry should be in there?

Really enjoying the coverage!

(also obviously depends heavily on how year pans out! guessing is fun though)

Their main GC rider is Wiggins so they're going to support him in the biggest possible way, but as you say depending how other races go in the lead up, they might try and put together a strong sprint contingent, although with Cav being so fast, its got to be a bit of a tough call

Did the Lance ride too.
As the leaders rounded the Bower Rd roundabout I was approaching it. Saw Armstrong with a big grin and punching the air. He was looking at all the riders following along Military Rd.
In a later interview he said the normal 'Lance' rides were a circuit, as this one was out and back he could see all the riders out for the ride, and was stunned at the number.
I did the 'Ride Like Crazy' yesterday as my last big ride before Fridays 160km stage.

same same, enjoyed ride like crazy, great that it was a loop to and from city...ie no transport required.

160 on friday....hope its not hot!

Stage 2 Highlights... last 10K and another sprint finish.

YouTube- Tour Down Under 2010 Stage 2 Race Highlights

Their main GC rider is Wiggins so they're going to support him in the biggest possible way, but as you say depending how other races go in the lead up, they might try and put together a strong sprint contingent, although with Cav being so fast, its got to be a bit of a tough call

id be suprised if they went for a strong sprinting team - were your thinking for flats that with it they could sit on the front and drag back breakaways?

i would've thought wiggins, arvesen, gerrans, henderson, felcha would be strong enough for that

i would have thought there would be no real reason to try and out do cav as there'd be nothing to gain for wiggins, the only reason i could think of would be showing cav its greener on the other side in an effort to sign him up. (although i have to say even with a great train henderson surely wouldnt beat cav 9 times out of 10)

with no team trial and lots of climbs i just have a feeling that against contador/schlecks/radioshack/sastre wiggins will need all the climbing help he can get.

i find it strange people saying sky are weak though, maybe compared to radioshack but other than that id say they're pretty strong?

gerrans will be invaluable to wiggins.

pereiro is a great signing for astana and contador though.

Greipel seems to be so much faster than every other sprinter in that race.

Doesn't he though. Both were pretty much free-for all sprints in which he came from behind without any real aerodynamic help from any other rider just pure power.

He's a flat track bully. He wins minor races but when it comes to the big events his record is poor. He showed some signs of changing that at the Vuelta last year but the competition was pretty average. Cavendish would beat him 99 times out of 100.

I love the understated PR blurb about him on the Columbia Team site...

"Known in the team as the strongest man on earth..."

stage 2 highlights on sky website are here

http://www.teamsky.com/video/0,27287,,00.html

He's a flat track bully. He wins minor races but when it comes to the big events his record is poor. He showed some signs of changing that at the Vuelta last year but the competition was pretty average. Cavendish would beat him 99 times out of 100.

Interesting. I was always wondering why he hardly got a chance in major races. Perhaps these two come-from-behind victories suggest that he isn't terribly good at positioning himself in a sprint, which Cav obviously is, and wins them by sheer power even if he's been out-manoeuvred and he's coming from far behind. I don't know if that's the pattern with all his victories, but it certainly made these two quite enjoyable--'where's Columbia? where's Greipel? he's nowhere--no, hang on, there he is, powering past everyone'.

He's won it before. You'd expect a strong showing from him.