Today's stage start was in Unley, a short walk south of Adelaide. I went for a tea at a local coffee shop before heading to Unley and was pleasantly surprised to see Cameron Wurf of Cannondale pick the table next to me to sit down for his morning coffee.
I arrived in Unley to be greeted by the local marching band playing all the hits, including Waltzing Matilda, Thriller, and the Final Countdown.
There were bikes and chains and wheels decorating the main street.
The crew remembered to lay down the start line. Unlike the finish line, which has sensitive electronics, the start line was a piece of masking tape.
The teams arrived and the sign on was under way. I had a prime location in terms of both rider access and my fellow spectators. On one side was a Scottish man in his 60s and on the other was a woman with a newspaper and a marker, looking for autographs. She and I made a good team and we pulled in more than a few autographs! Below: a small media scrum surrounded Simon Gerrans.
Below: a huge media scrum engulfed Cadel Evans.
There are often VIPs on hand at the TDU. Brian Cookson, president of the UCI has been in town and Christian Prudhomme was at the stage start, but it was the 2 joeys that all the riders wanted to take a picture with.
…in front of me…
…and to my right.
Twenty year old Rick Zabel in his first year as a pro.
The mayor fired the starting pistol and the race was officially underway.
As soon a a the last race vehicle had pulled out of Unley, the crews got to work breaking down the barricades.
The spectators dispersed.
The 148.5km stage took the riders south to Victor Harbour but I was headed to the nearest TV screen. Public transport wasn't an option for this stage, but this meant I'd get to actually watch an entire stage live. It did indeed come down to a sprint and Greipel's focus paid off as he took his 15th ever stage win at the TDU.
Just down the street from me is the race HQ. This was my first time getting there before the teams returned so it was oddly quiet inside.
The lawn where the team vans and the race card park looked so different empty.
Two hours later, the place was bubbling with action as fans watched mechanics at work.
The lawn turned into a parking lot once more.
The riders have to pass through here on their way to the hotel so fans gather for a chance to see their favorite riders. Katusha seems to be no one's favorite team and so those riders have a little peace and quiet.
Jens Voigt, on the other hand, was stopped every three paces for photos and autographs.
I wandered over to the hotel where I was due to meet a friend (a non pro cyclist friend) and bumped into Crikey Cadel.
A few minutes later, who else should wander up but TDU leader Cadel Evans himself. He got a real kick out of Crikey Cadel and handed his phone to a soigneur to take photos.
Stage results
1st Andre Greipel (Germany, Lotto Belisol)
2nd Jurgen Roelandts (Belgium, Lotto Belisol)
3rd Elia Viviani (Italy, Cannondale)
General classification
1st Cadel Evans (Australia, BMC)
2nd Simon Gerrans (Australia, Orica GreenEdge)
3rd Diego Ulissi (Italy, Lampre)
Today's 18 autographs: 3 Ben Hermans, 6 Rick Zabel, 37 Stig Broeckx, 64 Bernie Eisel, 67 Ian Stannard, 82 Andriy Grivko, 95 Kevin Reza, 102 Marco Haller, 106 Aleksandr Porsev, 115 Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier, 117 Geoffrey Soupe, 123 Jose Ivan Gutierrez, 152 Jack Bobridge, 153 Stef Clement, 154 Graeme Brown, 163 Davide Cimolai, 165 Manuele Mori, and 195 Neil Van Der Ploeg.