I don’t need to say it again. I will though. The Great Silverback. That is all… Nah, I’m kidding, I’m back. It’s true, though, he shredded again in the Tour Down Under.
Lotto Belisol opened up The Textbook of Lead Out Perfection, and concisely coordinated a delivery of Andre Greipel to the final 150m in optimal position.
Mark Renshaw made us all gulp, but Greipel just clicked into the 10 cog and it was all over. He must do nearly 2000 watts, that dude.
Amazing, so amazing. Not an ounce of fat on his 80+kg body, and with such pedalling efficiency he nails it when given the chance.
Today we saw an interesting array of riders attacking in an unusually short pro tour race.
At 90 kilometres total, speed was increased into the high 40s and many european riders who have found some form in the week of racing had a crack.
A lot of pros wouldn’t have had any speed work in their legs, only base kilometres (long slow/medium miles), so to pick up a racing bunch and put hard and fast kilometres into the legs for a week straight definitely brings some fast twitch adaption into sluggish winter legs.
The riders will come out of this race a step up from where there went in, and this will serve as a building block for the remainder of the season.
This is why early season races are important, racing fitness is unlike training fitness, unless you make motor pacing a part of your diet – with a skilled motorbike rider that has extensive cycling experience – you’ll struggle to find ‘racing legs’ in training.
Most Grand Tour riders motor pace a lot in compensation for a lack of racing before their main event.
So the Euros leave the biggest island on the planet for another year. The Tour Down Under put on another world class professional cycling event, and everyone tuned in to see who came out on top.
In the end it was the Dutch Tom-Jelte Slagter and the German Greipel. There were few others, but those two had most prominence.
Once again, history has been written at the Tour Down Under.
@adamsemple
Lee Rodgers
Expert
Amazing thing about Greipel is that he keeps close to his peak all season. I can't begin to imagine what his training has been like over the past two to three months, with almost no racing, yet still he arrives in this unbeatable form. Once was the day, not really too long ago, when even the pros wouldn't touch their bikes for a couple of weeks or a month, but not these days. One thing about the Gorilla though, he seems less flexible than Cavendish. I don't mean physically, but in regards to making last minute re-calculations in the finale. Cavendish can get there without a lead-out man and have to jump wheels and still win, whereas Greipel I think needs more support. Cav's like a rapier, Greipel's a machete. Should be a very interesting year, to see what Cav makes of Omega, and how much Lotto can get from their train...