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Herald Sun Tour, Australia, October 14-24, 2004
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Matt Goold's Sun Tour diary
Although it's one of the two biggest stage races his home country hosts, Australian Matthew Goold is riding the Malaysia Airlines Herald Sun Tour of Provincial Victoria as part of the multi-national Active for Life Team, alongside Canadians Eric Wohlberg and Dominique Perras, New Zealander Glen Mitchell and Jorge Libonatti from Uruguay.
Hailing from the Southern Australian state of Victoria, Goold is a former state road champion whose role in the team will be to ride support for Wohlberg in the hunt for stage victories.
Stage 1 - October 14: Melbourne, Lygon Street Criterium, 33 km
Mixed emotions
The first stage of the Herald Sun Tour always provides mixed emotions. It is a combination of anxiety and excitement, then exhaustion and elation as the stage comes to a close, we pack up and make our way to the next location.
A break just five laps into today's criterium caught all the teams off guard. Team Subaru chased to bring the leading group of three back, but it was to no avail, with Australian, Karl Menzies taking the first stage and the yellow leader's jersey.
Our team plan was to stay out of trouble and save our legs for tomorrow, and we managed to do this. The Active For Life team finished in the main bunch, with Eric our top-placed rider.
There are nine days of the Herald Sun Tour to go, with a criterium in Werribee tomorrow commencing at 11am. This will be followed by a short, sharp road stage to the You Yangs, so conserving energy, motivation and riders does become a factor.
Our sponsor, Active For Life, promotes participation and a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise per day. I have a feeling I will be doing well in excess of that 30 minutes over the next nine days.
