The Break, The Goat Herder & The Broken Heart!

Alex in his second TOB and the Virgins, Miha (The Goat Herder), Jordan and the statistician Roger “The Goat” Burgess were all running in the very strong field of the Masters 1,2,3 race. There were teams from previous A grade races there, ex winners of the race, ex pro triathletes, top Masters cyclists from around the country and our boys from KMD. Alex and Miha were coming into the race in pretty solid form and were the chosen riders. It sounded like Jordan and Roger should’ve been setting up for the sprint as it wasn’t very hotly contested. But they were there to protect the form riders (you might have to ask Al and Miha how well they were looked after)? They started 10 mins after B grade and with the quality field they were every chance to make the catch on B grade. The first sprint went by with not too much of a murmur and all was going to plan. The turn for Rosewhite happened and the hammer went down at the front with some clever blocking going on from the Elders and O2 teams. Miha saw this going on and in his brash virgin like manner went for it. He jumped, Alex was caught napping with Jordan a little too far back in the bunch to move. I think my only advice to the guys was when you get to the turn make sure you’re in the front few wheels as its really hard to pass on that stretch of road………….

Never mind they had a presence in the break of roughly 15 riders and a strong presence in Miha. When we got pulled over for the Masters to come by and I saw Miha in the break, my only concern was him doing too much work. By all reports the load as shared petty well as they knew they needed to,put the hammer down to get clear of the bunch. With so many in the break it was going to be unlikely that the bunch would get organised enough to reel them back in. Alex was sitting in filthy he wasn’t in that break given he was keen to really race up Tawonga, he had done the training and wanted to put it to the test. He would get his chance but not at the GC as it was slipping away with the break. It was on Miha to come up with the goods for KMD and on his first TOB attempt that was a big ask. The Slovenian Goat Herder knows how to go into the red and made his way there petty early on in the climb, Tawonga is a solid 7-8km and pretty steep all the way but in form a solid power climb. Miha hung as best he could to finish only a minute and a half down on the lead mountain goats. Alex rode the climb and blew all to pieces that were trying to hold his wheel. Would he have captured the stage win? Would he have at minimum stayed on the front few IF he had got across to the initial break? Those will forever be unanswered questions and possibly burn deep inside KMD’s top rider for 2011. Alex, Alex, Alex what were you thinking? I know, break always never survive at Bright, the bunch never allows that!!!

 

Cycling is such an opportunistic game and you always need to be prepared to WIN the race, but when might that be, which one is the right break, should I go, should I stay. I think Al may have just had the legs this year and stage 3 will tell a story of unfinished business for the GEEZER.

Back in the hotel room Al was battling with his demons, he as now going to have to ride for someone else, this was unknown territory and something that wasn’t quite sitting right. Miha had done his best and stayed within reach of the leaders and Al was going to have to sacrifice his own ambitions to help Miha get closer. There was a TT first though and Al gave it his best to get as close as he could. He had a very solid TT on his road bIke sneaking into the top 10  and moved up in the GC. If only Al had a TT machine, my bet is a podium finish at minimum in the race of truth. You probably can’t win the TOB with a great TT but you can lose it. Miha on a road bike was never going to get close to the top TT riders in the Masters race but certainly had a fair crack on a roadie. he had lost positions and was now over 3 mins down. Jordan knocked out a great time in the TT and was racing a solid race in his first TOB, Roger had STRAVA and previous KMD riders times on his agenda. He wanted to systematically knock them off one by one………keep trying mate you get some eventually

Stage 3 and the boys get the same message as us, the race is shortened.

That would effectively quash Miha’s chances with the toughest 10km of the race now gone the climb up Hotham was going to be quick and brutal with little chance of making up too much time. Danny and I could Rogers sigh of relief when we were at he base of Hotham 10 mins ahead of them that the race was cut short, we were filthy given we could see tears rolling down Rogers eyes had he been made to tick those last 10km of the mother climb…… Next time mate. He now had Jordan’s 30 second buffer in his sights and hoped to beat Jordo up the climb. Jordon has been riding strong of late and Roger was going to be right up against it reeling in 30seconds. It wasn’t to be and Roger rolled in after Jordon but felt he’d done enough to beat Danny up the climb proper.

A download of the now infamous STRAVA file and Danny toppled in by a miserly 30 odd seconds.

Meanwhile ……. In the real race, Miha had cracked at the Meg but Alex was thinking stage win. He needed some retribution and personal solace. He made it over the meg with the small bunch of main contenders, a few jumped out by a few lengths and Alex took the opportunity from a Lance moment and checked out the other riders in the bunch. They were all in the box and he was feeling good, bang straight into the big ring and smack it across to the break, he now made it 5 which dropped to 3 and then 2. Alex and the Jayco rider were away and working well to get well clear of the bunch. They caught me with about 5km to go and were flying, shows how fast I was going…….

I had the gap at 3 mins, but that got shut down to about a minute and a half by the line, but would Al hold on. He got gapped by a few meters and pleaded with his legs to keep going, he started playing mind games with the other bloke, he played the “I’m gone mate, I can’t come around you” he let that poor sucker tow him to the line and jumped him good and proper. The stage win was going to be his come rain hail or shine, it just so happened that in the last 100m Danny was groveling his way to the line and I’m sure in the photos it will look suspiciously like another famous Fixed Wheel lead out!  The stage Victory was Al’s in the big Hotham climb even though it was 10km short it was an awesome effort and one to be proud of.

Another cracking trip at the TOB, the after race shenanigans will POSSIBLY be disclosed in following blogs. Let be known that there is now a coveted and prestigious KMD top rider medallion up for grabs. The current holder being Alex Gardiner, game on. It can only be passed on by the current holder and doesn’t need to be a win to obtain it. It comes with a sacrifice for team or self or simply a courageous ride

Bring on RADELAIDE

 

BUZZ