Woodhead staff and clients boarded the TDU bus at Chesser Street at 9:30am and headed for King William Road, Unley, manned with their showbags and sunscreen. Gaining top stop for drop off right at the Stage 3 start line, the clients enjoyed coffee and the pre race atmosphere before bidding the riders farewell and piling back onto the bus to head straight to the Stirling Hotel. From there the race leg would loop past three times, directly in front of the tables. Lunch essentially went from 11:30am to 5:30pm and on a 36 degree day, under the shade of the trees in Stirling, the G&T’s and conversation flowed… and no one was in a hurry to leave. The cycling was great too!
20 year old Canberra cyclist Michael ‘Bling’ Matthews (Rabobank) scored a sensational win in Stirling to claim victory
Matthews upstaged a world class field of more experienced rivals vaulting clear on the uphill finish at the end of today’s 129km Colemans Group Stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under into Stirling. His turn of speed relegated defending Tour champion Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) into second place with Stage One winner Tasmanian Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) third.
Matthews crossed the line in a time of 3:11:47 and picked up a ten second bonus while Goss’ third place earned him a four second bonus to put him back into the Santos ochre leader’s jersey. But Greipel is only two seconds behind him and Matthews is one of three riders four seconds off the lead.
The young sprinter, who won the under 23 road race at last year’s World Championships in Geelong, timed his final attack to perfection scampering up the left hand side of the road close to the barriers and surging clear. He even had time to begin his celebratory ‘Bling boogie’ as he crossed the line.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Matthews who rode the event last year with the UniSA-Australia national team. “This is probably one of the most difficult stages I’ve ridden and one of the most difficult in this tour. It’s really great to win this one and thanks to my team.”
The stage began from the trendy Adelaide suburb of Unley at a leisurely pace with the first ten kilometres riding through Adelaide’s south eastern suburbs neutralised before the flag dropped to signal the race start.
Friday’s Mutual Community Stage 4 will take the race over 124 kilometres from the cosmopolitan eastern Adelaide suburb of Norwood over rolling hills and farming country to Strathalbyn, recognised as one of South Australia’s lovliest towns.
Goss will wear the Santos ochre leader’s jersey but also leads in the Jayco Sprint classification and the Cycle Instead Young Rider (U/26). So Russian Aleksandr Kuschynski (Katusha) is sitting in second on the sprint tally and will wear the Jayco jersey while Matthews will wear the young rider jersey as the second placed on that classification.
The Skoda King of the Mountains jersey remains on the shoulders of South Australian Luke Roberts (UniSA-Australia) and his team mate Luke Durbridge was named the Hindmarsh Most Aggressive Rider of the Day. In the Brilliant Blend team classification, Sky Procycling leads Movistar on a countback.
Two riders didn’t start today as a result of yesterday’s crashes. Tasmanian Bernard Sulzberger (UniSA-Australia) headed home to recover from a fractured right collar bone and Sydney’s Chris ‘CJ’ Sutton of Sky Procycling was unable to start due to a deep cut in his knee that needed stitches and made it impossible for him to pedal.
Today official Race Doctor Peter Barnes treated two riders after a crash 18 kilometres from the finish. Jos Vicente Garcia lost a lot of skin after sliding on the road on his bottom and Russian Edouard Vorganov (Katusha) needed six stitches in his right hip. Sydney’s Graeme Brown escaped unscathed from the same crash.
Flood Relief Support: The 133 riders competing in the 2011 Santos Tour Down Under have come together to support those affected by the devastating Queensland floods.
All 19 teams have donated a signed team jersey for auction on eBay. Fans are urged to bid on www.ebay.com.au (http://shop.ebay.com.au/indemand_causes/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25) or to donate direct to the Flood Relief Appeal at http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html
All monies collected by Cancer Council SA volunteers during Wednesday’s stage and the prize money from last Sunday’s Cancer Council Classic, (12,000 / approx AUD16,000) is being donated to the Flood Relief Appeal.
