Now in its 16th year, the Tour Down Under has drawn the world’s top teams to Adelaide, Australia. Nevermind that on the day I arrived Adelaide was literally the hottest city on the planet, the riders have been out all over town for training rides and checking out the city.
The following day I was in front of the teams’ hotel just as a slew of them were returning. I caught Finish national champion Jussi Veikkanen.
I was thrilled to get a photo with Jurgen Roelandts and Andre Greipel!
Fränk Schleck.
With Welshman Geraint Thomas.
Lachlan Morton! In my cyclist watching, I met a guy from Malaysia (right) and a Canadian who was kind enough to take our photo. I may or may not have crashed a professional photogropher’s photo shoot. This will be my first time seeing Lachlan race and I can’t wait to see what this young rider, known for his kitten t-shirts and his immense strength, does in the TDU this week.
Victoria Square, the heart of Adelaide, has been transformed into the TDU’s hub. While there was an area roped off for the cyclists, Jens Voigt was, as usual, on the fan side of the rope, happily signing autographs and posing for photos. I got to chat with him for a minute and was excited that he still remembered me from his charity ride and the Tour de France last year.
The riders got to meet some of the locals.
An Aboriginal dance troupe opened the night.
Paul Sherwin (left) and Phil Ligget (right), the voices of the TDU.
UniSA-Australia was the first team introduced.
Campbell Flakemore, an U23 rider who had a good showing at the recent U23 national road championships.
Nineteen year old Caleb Ewan, winner of last week’s U23 national road championships, is a great sprinter and has often been called a young Robbie McEwen.
Another Australian team, Drapac.
Sprinter Jonathan Cantwell.
Cannondale.
Guillaume Boivin, the only Canadian racing the TDU this year.
Lampre.
Belkin.
Jan Bakelants is making his debut with Omega Pharma-Quick Step as team leader.
Second from right: Matteo Trentin.
Team leader Rohan Dennis looked fit and ready, despite falling off his time trial bike at the Australian TT Championships last week in extreme winds.
Jack Bauer and Nathan Haas.
Thomas Dekker was in mid conversation with Lachlan Morton from the moment they got on stage.
Caleb Fairly and Steele Von Hoff who explained to Paul Sherwin that his name was first proposed by his grandmother when his mother said she wanted a strong name for her son.
Movistar.
Jose Joaqin Rojas.
FDJ.
Katusha.
Europcar.
Astana.
AG2R.
Team Sky.
Tasmanian Richie Porte received huge cheers from the crowd.
By the time Sky took the stage, they were the 14th team and the kids, who were supposed to hold the bikes quietly, were getting a bit antsy. These two kids in particular were amusing themselves by playing with the brakes and turning the front wheel. Bernie Eisel eventually leaned over to talk to the kid holding his bike. I assumed it was to politely ask the boy to stop messing around with his extremely expensive and finely tuned bike, but instead he must have ask the kid if he wanted to sit on the bike because the next thing I knew, Bernie and Luke Rowe had both lifted the kids onto their bikes!
When it was time for Sky to leave the stage, Luke asked the boy if he was ready to get off the bike. The boy emphatically shook his head no so Luke rolled the bike off stage, boy and all.
Tinkoff-Saxo.
Trek with crowd favorite Jens Voigt, center.
The boy from Luke Rowe’s bike figured he was on to a good thing so he slung his leg over Danny Van Poppel’s bike and looked up expectantly at Danny, waiting to be lifted up.
Meanwhile, Paul and Phil were interviewing the riders but I doubt anyone heard a word they said. Poor Danny was clearly not too sure what to make of this kid who didn’t hesitate to use the rider’s abs to help him balance.
Lotto Belisol.
It’s fair to say the riders were a bit fidgety, too, as Jurgen Roelandts and Adam Hansen both snapped pictures of the crowd and their teammates.
No surprise that Marcel Kittel got a huge roar of applause.
The kids, now quite comfortable with the routine, climbed aboard the bikes.
I’m pretty sure a mechanic or two may have been having a mild heart attack.
Showing off his Australian national road champion’s jersey for the first time, Simon Gerrans was in high spirits.
Cameras from the media and fans alike went into overdrive for Simon and Orica GreenEdge.
Simon Gerrans and Simon Clarke.
Matthew Harley Goss and Matthew Hayman.
Daryl Impey, Bling Matthews, and Luke Durbridge.
The final team of the night, BMC. Left to right: Cadel Evans, Brent Bookwalter, and Ben Hermans.
Ben Hermans, Amaël Moinard, and Steve Morabito helping the boy onto his last bike of the night.
Rik Zabel, son of Erik Zabel, and Danillo Wyss.
The presentation over, the some spectators stuck around to watch a concert while others headed home.
This is what it looks like when Cadel Evans crosses the street in Australia.
To rewind back to earlier in the day, when I wasn’t meeting riders in front of their hotel, I was meeting riders at team signings hosted by local bike stores. I met riders from Orica GreenEdge, Giant Shimano, and Cannondale and added 18 autographs to my flag. It was nice to be in the more relaxed environment of a bike shop to get autographs and talk with the riders (I spent a good chunk of time talking with Cannondale’s Guillaume Boivin, who immediately remembered me from Eneco Tour in August, and George Bennett, who I saw race in Christchurch last weekend) but I strongly prefer getting signatures at the race!
Today’s 18 autographs: 15 Daryl Impey, 17 Luke Durbridge, 21 Marcel Kittel, 22 Tom Peterson, 23 Nikias Arndt, 24 Thierry Hupond, 25 Johannes Frohlinger, 26 Koen de Kort, 27 Simon Geschke, 171 George Bennett, 172 Alberto Bettiol, 173 Guillaume Boivin, 174 Matthias Krizek, 175 Matej Mohoric, 176 Elia Viviani, and from Orica’s women’s team Valentina Scandolara, Loes Gunnewijk, and Carlee Taylor.
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