News

Wind

By Karen Forman in Willunga

Leading the echelon
Photo: © Phil Chia

No matter how pleasant the temperature, how blue the sky, or how calm the sea, wind on the course can make a massive difference to how a bike race is fought and won. Or lost.

Take today, for example. The 91 riders who signed on for the 149km Willunga to Willunga stage were rapt to see the sun shining again when they awoke this morning and began their preparations for another day of heavy road racing.

After all, many had heard about the summer Adelaide had had. If you can call it a summer. Until virtually this week, the locals have been shivering in jackets and longuns, wondering if by some chance the southern hemisphere had become the northern hemisphere.

But then it became evident that they would be spending the day fighting off more than attacks from other riders. They would also be watching out for the effects of a blustery wind. Not only would this wind send them diving for cover behind the wheels of other riders...forcing the peloton into either echelon or arrow formation, depending which direction it was coming from on particular parts of the course.

It also meant that because of this need to tuck in, that the chance of crashing would be higher. And as nobody wanted to crash on the third day of a five-day race, particularly one held so early in the road racing season, it meant they might not be taking the chances; making the attacks they would like to.

Possibly this produced an entirely different result.

King of the Mountain jersey wearer, Australian rider Scott Sunderland, originally from the northern New South Wales cycling town of Inverell, but now living most of the year in Belgium, explained after today's race:

"The thing is, when the wind is like this, everybody gets nervous and you get crashes, etcetera," he said. "Today there was a lot of wind, particularly leading into the finish straight. It creates a different race plan. You get a lot of echelons in the wind because everybody is ducking for cover."

"You end up in the gutter, the field spreads right out and it splits the bunch. Everybody knows that is there is a crash, then the race is finished. By the time you pick yourself up and get back on the bike, the others have gone.

"You see it all the time in the classics. Everyone is pretty nervous."

It was suggested that if it had not been for the wind, perhaps Italian champion Daniele Nardello might have been successful with his attack off the front of the bunch, with one kilometre to go.

Danilo Hondo (Telekom) counter attacked, but the wind was so strong that the field came together, creating the perfect bunch sprint for eventual winner Robbie McEwen - his ideal race finish.

But as Sunderland says: "That's bike racing for you."