Once they reach Yarramalong, which is at the 42 kms mark (about), the bunch should still be together. Then it is left and the fun begins. Bumble Hill confronts them. This is not your 23 per cent Keutenberg type hill (which is a really mean but short hill near Valkenberg in the Netherlands which the Amstel Gold race goes up and which I have the pleasure of living near when I go away each year).
Bumble is at its steepest about 15 per cent, but it is 3.8 kms long and pretty constant. I go up there a lot and I use a 42 by 19 when I feel strong and a 23 when I feel weak. Some days when I feel weaker than that I scream for a 39 on the front or long to have my MTB with me. The riders will suffer today on that climb.
After that they do the "Kulnura Triangle" which is about 8 kms and has a couple of mean hills on it and the point of the triangle is the top of Bumble again and down they go. It is a rotten descent. The road is lumpy, especially on the racing line. I have seen a few falls in races there. It is pretty scary coming down and someone falls in front of you and you veer left and the precipitous drop of the side of the ridge confronts. I live to tell the story!
Once at the bottom it is back the way they came, almost, save a deviation at Wyee to take the alternate road to Munmorah Power Station which is another Pacific Power installation and is about 5 kms due east of Vales Point closer to the ocean. It is undulating along the way back with no serious climbs.
So the weather this morning in this area (about 20 kms from where I live) is cool and wet. Light rain has been falling all morning. There is no wind to mention, a light south-easterly. The descent will be slippery I think. It looks like the same sort of overcast drizzle that one sees at the start of the Tour of Flanders at St. Niklaas. But, of-course, the temperature is cool but still about 22 degrees. Anything colder than that up this way is freezing!
I update with results later.
Well my update for today comes via some convoluted technology. A mate of mine is riding motor bike support for the Tour. So every now and then he rings me up on his mobile phone, and either I or my secretary starts my tape recorder and he talks into the tape recorder and then put it up on my web site when I get a moment. Not bad eh?
So from mobile phone to tape to you, here is what happened on Stage 10. Chris Lillywhite was quoted in the news tonight, BTW as saying that while he was not confident that the English Ampol-Caltex team could hold on to the yellow jersey until Sunday, they were riding strongly as a team and at least had given the Motorola team a run for their money."
The start was at Vales Point Power Station and there were many attacks going off from the start. At the 12 km mark the major and decisive attack (as you will see) went off, first initiated by Olivier Senn (Switzerland-Coca Cola), who was quickly joined by Rod Ellingworth (UK-Ampol) to cover for Lillywhite.
Several riders tried to get across to be in this move and get a chance to hit Bumble first, although position on the hill is not a big deal. Of those, Steven Swart (NZ-Motorola) and second on GC at 15 secs, Mike Weissman (Ger-Bosch) got across. The four work well with Swart driving hard.
Soon, Stefan Gottschling (Ger-Bosch), Padrinos (Czech-Bohemia Glass) and Ric Reid (NZ-Sanitarium) join the break and it is looking very serious. Big question is - where is Lillywhite? He only had to cover Swart and Swart is away making hay! They are hammering down Hue Hue Road at over 50 kms an hour.
Turn right into Yarramalong Road and down over the bridge into the Valley. The break is consolidated now. Back in the main field the UK Ampol team is looking disorganised. Swart is now GC on the road and Lillywhite does not seem to be able to get his team going to chase.
Swart is really hammering off the front and the gap is now at 1 minute and they haven't got to Bumble yet. At start of the climb, the gap is out to 1:14 and Lillywhite is now at the front of the chase. First off from the top group is Weissman. Lillywhite, Tanner (his team-mate) and Swede Andersson are driving the chase. Ellingworth gets dropped from the top group. Swart is powering and Sen cracks next. Now the break is down to 4, Swart, Gottschling, Padrinos and Reid.
Main field is breaking up badly. Four groups are evident with the back group crawling up Bumble. Andersson is leading the main chase group. Gottschling leads over the KOM and Reid is dropped in the last 50 metres as Bumble veers to the right in one last sharp bite. Andersson and Tanner are driving the chase, but Tanner keeps waiting for Lillywhite who is struggling.
Over the KOM, Gottschling gets the 10 second bonus, then Padrinos, then Swart all together. Reid is 4th a little back and then Sen. Then the chase group 1:07 down. Over the top part of the course (its a plateau with some sharp hills) the gap stays at 1:07 but now the UK team are being organised by Hunt and the chase is on in earnest. Main field is 15 secs behind Hunt, Damien McDonald (AIS-Giant), and Hincapie (US-Motorola) at the bottom of the climb again, Andersson is leading the main pack, and a huge pack of 30 riders have formed again at the top of Bumble and are coming down.
So there are three chasing three and they are all being chased by stacks. The gap b/tw Swart and Hunt is 45 seconds. Hunt is joined by Lillywhite and Tanner who are now seriously clawing back the gap. As they come into the last km the Motorola Manager, Hennie Kuiper is shouting instructions to Swart. [BTW, I saw Hennie Kuiper in Newcastle the other day on a brand new Eddie Merckx Motorola bike, and all the trappings riding around with his stomach being ably supported by his top tube. I had some words with him in Dutch and he said he basically still rides a bit. BTW2, I saw Phil Anderson down at the Crit on Sunday and he was telling me that he hardly rides anymore. I said he hadn't put any weight on and he said he was running a lot up in the hills near Jamieson in Central Victoria)
Back to the sprint. Swart and Gottschling are going for it and the German just pips the NZer.