Tour Down Under Stage 3 – Bling Boogie!

It was a scortching hot day at the Tour Down Under and a great day to take it easy on the bike. After the past two days of riding in the hills around Adelaide I was ready to relax and soak up the race.

I started the day by going for a light ride along the coast with Dave Olle and his group. They call themselves “Eight Legs” and have one of the smartest looking kits in Australia. The name Eight Legs comes from a team time trial four of these guys did a few years back and it all took off from there. A great group of guys who all love their cycling for the right reasons.

Today was a great day to ride to the startline in Unley, see the riders off, then cut over to Stirling to see the race come through 3 times.

I’m blown away by Michael Matthews. I realize it’s early in the season and some of the other sprinters are not in form, but it’s increadible that he was racing B grade only a couple years ago. Matthews is being talked about as Australia’s next great sprinter, but people forget that he’s a phenominal time trialist, and he can make it up over the climbs. He has a great future ahead of him. And how good was his victory boogie across the finish line today. Bling!

Gossy also had an impressive ride scoring 3rd place and getting back the leaders jersey after crashing and chasing back on (with the help of Renshaw).

One of the fun things about the Tour Down Under, as I’ve said before, is you can ride to watch many of the stages. Since this is basically a short training race for the PROs, they’ll ride home after the stage is over. This allows you to tag along to their bunch and roll home witht them. We all turn into fanboys when this opportunity comes up.

Tomorrow is going to be an awesome stage to watch. If there’s one place you go to see, it’s Checker Hill. I’d love to be there slugging it out with you guys, I’m very fortunate to have been offered a spot in the BMC team car. Not team car 2, not the BMC van back in the convoy….Team Car #1 with Director Sportif Mike Sayers and Chief Mechanic Ian Sherburne. I’m very excited to say the least.

Photo courtesy of Veeral Patel, James Broadway, and myself.

Stage 3 Results
1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team 3:11:47
2 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto
3 Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad
4 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling
5 Luke Roberts (Aus) UNI SA – Australia
6 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar Team
7 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
8 Allan Davis (Aus) Astana
9 Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
10 Simone Ponzi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale

Stage 3 General Classification
1 Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad 9:56:25
2 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:02
3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Radio Shack 0:00:04
4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team
5 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling
6 Allan Davis (Aus) Astana 0:00:14
7 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar Team
8 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre – ISD
9 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team
10 Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Procycling