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6th Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under - 2.3
Australia, January 20-25, 2004
Rider Diaries
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The Last Hurrah: The Patrick Jonker diary
Nationality: Australian/Dutch
Team: UniSA
After 10 successful years as a pro rider, Patrick Jonker has decided to make the transition back to normality. The Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under will be the final race of his career, and the lanky Aussie has all intentions of going out on a high, with the aim of winning the race held in his own backyard.
Diary entries
Stage 3: Thursday Jan 22, Goolwa - Victor Harbor, 150 km
Here's hoping I pull up alright...
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Like I said yesterday, we predicted the attacks and they happened today. A lot of riders are pretty sure they have a chance for the overall, or a stage, and there was some pretty aggressive riding.
There were a lot of attacks on the way out towards the first KOM and then after the first KOM we got away with a small group of about seven riders. No big names in particular, really, but because I was in it we got caught soon.
Then a good group got away with Baden (Cooke), Robbie (McEwen), Mikel Astarloza and two other FDJeux.com riders, Philippe Gilbert and Bernard Eisel, so it was a good group. Also Alexandre Botcharov and Giuliano Figueras were there and they were all driving pretty strongly, driving the maximum.
Yeah, we really struggled to get a minute. We had a group of strong riders, but we had to really push hard for more than an hour to get one minute. There were a few teams who missed the break and were driving the peloton which had split at that stage.
Once we got to the dirt section we had a minute and a half and that was a little bit more comfortable. Basically the last bit of downhill and flat, boys like Robbie and Baden really put the work in. We had a few sitting on, but not many, everyone was doing their fair share of work. Then we were heading into the finale of the race. Baden and Robbie obviously the big sprinters, the two hotshots to win the stage, the two best sprinters in the world, but Gilbert and my team mate Gene Bates were a bit quick for the two sprinters and they attacked in the last few kilometres and they were lucky, they hung on for the win.
Robbie and Baden obviously were on their wheel on the line, but the finish line was just a bit early for those guys.
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I was in a group with Baden and Robbie and that was enough to get the yellow jersey, enough to take the race lead. I figured out once we got to two minutes that we would take the yellow jersey. I just basically narrowed my opposition to 10 guys which is better than having 30 guys breathing down your neck.
So, tomorrow it's going to be a hard day for UniSA. The guys are going strong. I think if we all dig in together hopefully we can defend the yellow jersey successfully and take it day by day. It's so hard to defend a jersey, you're better having it as late as possible as you're basically a sitting duck, with people shooting at you. I am expecting Philippe, McKenzie, Figueras, Botcharov and Cooke to be the boys to really look out for.
With just three days to go before I retire, I am looking after myself, getting sleep, rest, massage, eating and drinking. And hoping I pull up alright the next day.
