6th Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under - 2.3

Australia, January 20-25, 2004

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News for January 20, 2004

By Karen Forman in Adelaide

Renshaw tops Olympic qualifier

A week ago, world team pursuit gold medallist Mark Renshaw was feeling a tad down and out after failing to clock the required Olympic qualifying time for the individual pursuit in an effort at Sydney's Dunc Gray velodrome. Under Cycling Australia's rules, he had just one more chance to prove himself and to take it up, he had to miss last weekend's national road championships in Ballarat and journey to Adelaide to clock in at the Superdrome just a few days before starting the 2004 Jacobs Creek Tour Down Under with his new FdJeux.com professional team.

Thankfully, the move paid off. After failing to break the required 3.21.01 in Sydney with his 3.22.03, he managed an adjusted time of 3.20.7 on Saturday night, January 17, well inside the 3.21.7 required for the velodrome. The temperature was 21 degrees celsius.

That was only the start of what has already turned out to be an awesome week for the Bathurst rider. On Tuesday night, before a crowd of 60,000 people, he finished third overall and won both the SA Lotteries sprint classification and the Share the Road Best Young Rider (under 23) classification, in the first stage of the JCTDU over a 50km street circuit in East Adelaide.

"I am feeling awesome," he told Cyclingnews afterwards. "(But) I was really disappointed tonight. I was third in the overall, but I was caught up in the peloton with a lap to go. They should either pull out or pull over to one side."

He was referring to a debacle in the final lap of the race where the breakaway group of 12 was caught up in the midst of the peloton as they drove into the sprint from behind in the straight. Renshaw had been a member of the group, which got away after the first sprint at the 20km mark.

"It was dangerous," he said, "really bad. There were guys sprinting who didn't need to. I think it would have been a totally different podium if that hadn't happened. As the break came they merged in with us in the last 100 metres."

Still, he's smiling. Looking back to his first Olympic qualifier attempt in Sydney, he says he "overgeared myself...It was big, too big, you can put that down. It was two seconds over the time it was supposed to be."

Naturally, he was stressed afterward, knowing he had just one more chance. "It made it real painful to have to come to Adelaide and do it again. I was meant to go to the road nationals. As a result of that, Matt (FdJeux.com teammate Wilson) won and I would have liked to have been a part of that."

He redeemed himself in Adelaide, however, after freshening up a lot more. "I am pretty relieved, yes. Very relieved, actually. And feeling awesome now."

Wooldridge's new wheels

New Comnet Senges signing Stephen Wooldridge will start his first season as a pro by realising a long-held dream - to ride the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under. The 26 year old World Team Pursuit Champion from Sydney will ride with Team Australia this week following a timely invitation from national coach Shane Bannan, and he says he's rapt.

"This is the perfect way to kick off the year," he told Cyclingnews. "When I got asked by Shane Bannan I was really happy. I had heard all about this race. Every cyclist wants to ride in the Tour Down Under. You always hear about how big it is, how it's Australia's biggest race, how great the atmosphere is. I am really looking forward to tonight, to the crowd, etcetera."

As well as doing his best for the Australian team in Adelaide, Woollie, who will join his new German team for its 2004 presentation in Germany on January 29, has another important task: To road test a new racing bike for the Proton Motor Group of Malaysia. For the next week, he will ride the first of the company's carbon monocoque T-bikes to be seen outside of Malaysia, coming up with a test report after each stage.

It's a brave rider who climbs onto a strange, untried bike the morning before he begins an international class six-day stage race, but Wooldridge is looking forward to the challenge. "Normally I ride a US bike Campbell/Cunefare and with my new team I will be given an Il Diavolo, which means The Devil in Italian," he said. "I only saw the T-bike for the first time this morning, but it looks really good."

Cyclingnews will check in with Woollie after each day's stage to see how the newest addition to the ever growing stable of bike manufacturers is faring. He's hoping the news will all be good. "I am fairly fit, I guess, at the moment," he said. "I didn't race the nationals, they weren't exactly on my circuit. I did the last stage of the Sun Tour there and it wasn't easy. The Tour Down Under is the perfect way to kick off the year."

Wooldridge has spent the past couple of months easing into training for the new season, after joining the FdJeux.com training camp near Sydney in December. "I have been training in Sydney with Brad McGee, Matt White, Ben Brooks, Rod McGee and we all have similar outlooks on the season. I have changed my focus a bit this year Like, I didn't do the Bay Classic for the first time in five years because I was aiming for the TDU."

He says his really big focus for the year is the Olympics. He is hoping for selection for the Australian track endurance squad. And he also wants to ride well for his new team, of course. "I think the first big race will be the Fayt-le-Franc, which is a 1.3, then the Giro del Capo in South Africa and the Niedersachsen, a big German tour," he said. "I will be back in Australia in May for the World Track Championships as a lead up to the Olympics."

He said his new team had been most supportive of his national commitments. "I think German teams probably embrace track riders more than say, the Italian teams," he said. "Probably because they have such a big track culture, like the six days. I think that to have a track champion on the team, they think that's pretty good."

Wedding bells for Safe, but still up for women's crits

Former individual pursuit champion Amy Safe is living in Adelaide these days, so there's no way she will be missing out on contesting the inaugural women's criterium series at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under this week.

After narrowly missing out on a medal at the BMC Software National Road Championships when she was caught with a lap to go after holding an eight-lap solo breakaway at Ballarat last Saturday, Safe, 28, is certainly fit enough and keen enough to contest the series, being introduced for the first time this year.

The former Olympic rower will line up with her compatriots from last week's Nationals - including winner Oenone Wood - for the series, starting on Wednesday at Kapunda at 2pm and continuing on Friday on the Echunga circuit, from 10.30am. But as to whether she will show for Saturday's race, between laps one and two of the TDU, is anyone's guess (including her own). Safe is actually getting married on Saturday...to fiancé and former rowing coach, Simon Gilletts. Gilletts was head women's rowing coach from 1994-96.

And while the wedding is set to happen in Adelaide, it's fair to surmise that she will spend Saturday preparing for her nuptials rather than lining up with the girls. But she's not sure yet. "The wedding is at 5pm and I am not sure what time the crit starts, so I am not sure I will race yet," she told Cyclingnews today. "My mum and a few other people aren't keen. I had entertained the thought though, I must admit."

Still, with five bridesmaids to organise and her own preparations, it's unlikely she will appear on the start line. "We won't be having a honeymoon for a while," she added. "That won't be until October or November." In the meantime she hopes to ride a qualifying time for the Athens Olympics at Adelaide Superdrome on February 3 or 4, with her eye on getting a berth in the pursuit.

Big week for new AIS women's road coach

New national women's road coach Warren McDonald is spending his first week on the job in Adelaide, getting to know his charges at a combined AIS-national squad training camp set up to coincide with the Tour Down Under. McDonald, formerly the ACT head coach, based in Canberra, told Cyclingnews he was delighted to see a women's criterium series had been included for the first time at the 2004 TDU and had got the women together in Adelaide to show some support for the event.

"I am hoping the TDU organisers, if they see a need, might next year incorporate even more women's racing into the event...and possibly even introduce a complete women's TDU," he said. "The criteriums aren't big racing, they are just half-hour crits. But they provided an opportunity for some racing and training after the nationals."

The camp started on Monday and will wrap up on Sunday night. "Basically we are getting everyone together to meet each other, talk about the year ahead, do some research on the girls, some testing, and see what they are all up to."

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