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Stage 1 - October 18: Mataranka - Roper Bar, 182 km
Dream Team battles heat, road and corrugations
By Christi Valentine - Anderson
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It was a typical stinking hot day in the Never Never, the humidity of Darwin a distant memory as was any sign of water. With the cloudless sky hosting an angry sun which cooked the bitumen to temperatures in the 40's, the peloton rolled out of Mataranka anticipating a relatively easy day on a technical level. The course consisted of 140 km of bitumen with not one meter of cover from the solar enemy. Only in the final 100 meters did the peloton see the croc infested waters of the Roper Bar Aboriginal settlement.
When the Gatorade Dream Team hit the first feed station, 40 km into the searing stage, they were already down to four. Moerman, who had arrived at this year's Outback adventure was still recovering from an injury sustained in the T-Mobile mechanic's truck, where he tripped over a can of cheeries. Moerman had been unable to train for the race and so is going to have to ride into form over the next 1600 km.
It was Jurgen Van de Walle who appeared to be ready to take a stage as he was in a good position in the front group of 6 at the 120 km feed. The group of six containing the powerful Adam Hansen as well as Van de Walle's professional team-mate Christophe Stevens. Alas it was too hot, too early and way too far to Roper Bar in the hot Northern Territory winds for this group to stay away to the finish. In fact conditions took a big toll on all but one of the escapees. Jurgen cramped so badly that the corrugations gave his terrible stomach pain resulting in a time of 40 minutes to complete the final 5 km. He was blown.
The Dream Team's Alberto Elli expressed frustration with his Belgian team-mate's choice to go with the break. He remembers how the Outback's unforgiving weather can crack a man if he is too long out of his comfort zone. Elli had started this first real stage with approx a beer glass of liquid sitting on his right knee and pain on the down stroke. He was not going to be a hero today, rather he would look after himself and wait for his moment. Elli is not an explosive rider over these distances, but he was handling the stage and actually looked relatively supple.
Not until the final feed at 160 km did the Italian's plan become apparent. He overtook three of the escapees before the final 10 km, and had to leave a nearly vomiting Van De Walle behind.
The Dream Team's American Lars-Erik Johnson had the quote of the day when he turned the wrong way two kilometres from the finish and ended up well off course. Johnson who had actually been kicking himself for signing on to this nightmare... rolled into the campsite and realized he had not seen the final course marker and with a tear welling in his dehydrated eye he screamed, "Where is the @#!&-ing Finish?! Damn you Chopper!"
The Dream Team's gun mountain biker, Marzio Deho was disarmed by the flat road stage. With all of his tricks and technical prowess of little or no advantage today, he was left to deal with the roadie challenges on his own. All alone sipping on a boiling Redbull, the Italian was suffering in silence. Unlike Elli, with Deho, there was no arm waving and calling out to the vast emptiness, he just kept pedaling knowing his moment would come in the dirt.
In the end all five of the Dream reached the finish and jumped into the first water they saw with the Aboriginal children who played with them. It was a tough start but the team will have their sights on Hansen who was simply amazing today!
Polar Heart Rate Statistics
Alberto Elli - Max: 184; Ave: 144
Marzio Deho - Max: 174; Ave: 145
Jurgen Van De Walle - Max: 185; Ave: 150
Perry Moerman - Max: 160; Ave: 145
Lars Erik Johnson - Max: 180; Ave: 150
