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Cadel's Corkscrew victory ranks amongst TDU's best

23rd January, 2014
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Cadel Evans in the Ochre Jersey at the 2014 Tour Down Under (Image: David Hill/The Roar)
Expert
23rd January, 2014
20
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The Tour Down Under has provided some wonderful moments for Australian cycling fans throughout its history.

These included:
• Stuart O’Grady winning the first and third editions of his home town race;
• The Armstrong circus in 2009;
• A rainbow clad Cadel Evans, Alejandro Valverde and Luis Leon Sanchez on Willunga in 2010;
• Simon Gerrans and Valverde on the same slopes two years later;
• The immense power of Andre Greipel demolishing all comers in the sprints and forcing Race Director Mike Turtur to change the profile of the entire race.

But few will stand the test of time as well as Stage 3, 2014.

I wrote yesterday that if Cadel Evans wanted to win the TDU this year then he had to make a move on the Corkscrew. But as hard as I tried, I couldn’t convince myself that he could put the time needed into Simon Gerrans to claim the Ochre jersey. And a lot of people agreed.

The question as to who would be the ultimate strong man on Corkscrew, was a conundrum. Gerrans, Porte or Evans? Or of course, would it be someone else?

In the end it was no contest, Australia’s “grand old man of cycling” was on a different planet, just as he’s been for so much of his remarkable career.

Cadel may struggle to express himself in words, but does it really matter when you can ride like that?

You could sense BMC had it right from the moment they began the descent of Kangaroo Creek dam, a series of sweeping left and right bends, where speeds would hit 100kmh.

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As Simon Gerrans himself said on the start line, “positioning is key” and so it proved as both BMC and Sky had riders to support Evans and Porte on the approach to Corkscrew Rd and beginning of the climb.

This meant neither had to fight for position once they attacked the climb. The duo both soon had clear air over Gerrans.

The race leader quickly found his groove though and close to half way up the climb, Gerrans was in clear third, albeit losing time to Evans and Porte.

But you could hear a collective intake of breath when on the steepest part of the climb Cadel suddenly gapped Porte, and then changed into the big chain ring as the gradient eased in the final 700metres.

Watching the race we ran a stopwatch over Cadel’s climb.

Give or take a few seconds we recorded a time of around 6:30 (24.5kmh) for the 2.5km ascent that averages 9% but through the difficult bit ranges from 14-19%.

Robert Gesink is officially recorded at 6:58 (20.2kmh) and Cadel put around 25 seconds into him, which gives all of us some perspective on our relative abilities.

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The beauty and challenge of the Corkscrew isn’t just the climb but the descent that follows. As we saw last year when several riders misjudged the difficulty of the first few corners, one mistake can be costly.

But Cadel’s past as world champion mountain bike rider served him beautifully. As did his meticulous preparation.

We learned during the day that the BMC team had ridden the Corkscrew descent seven times during training.

At one stage, Evans increased his 15 second advantage at the summit to 25 seconds, but the 11-strong chase group brought it back to the status quo by the finish in Campbelltown.

Talking to himself as he grimaced through the final few hundred metres, Evans gave a typically modest salute as he crossed the line to secure a win for the ages.

His lead of just 12 seconds seems scant reward for his effort today, but it’s more than most people expected. A few so-called experts tipped Evans to win the stage but felt that Gerrans would still be in the Ochre Leader’s jersey.

Now the question is, will Cadel be beaten?

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Sure Cadel can be beaten but I don’t think he will be, even though Gerrans says Orica-GreenEDGE will “throw everything at him, that’s for sure.”

In some ways what we saw on the Corkscrew yesterday was a little “Col du Galibier moment”. You know you’ve seen something special, one of those defining, decisive rides.

Sure, there might be still three stages to race but in reality only one, matters for GC.

Today will be a virtual day off for GC men as a break will get away and the sprinters get their chance to shine in Victor Harbor. The break should also have enough riders to take care of the intermediate time bonuses.

Sunday is also a largely ceremonial day, as again the sprinters get to play.

That just leaves Saturday and the two climbs of Willunga Hill.

Cadel should go into that stage with his precious 12 second lead. It’s just a case of marking every move Gerrans makes. Even if Gerrans wins on Saturday, as long as Evans finishes second or third, he’ll have a comfortable enough lead to take into the final day.

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Not that anyone should be thinking that far ahead.

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