Wednesday, July 29, 2009

BRING ON THE TOUR !

The prologue is expected to be fast.
It starts down the road from the sports complex where the accommodation is located.
Everyone will have to remember to stay on the right hand side of the road for a week.

Matthew Augutis could be the favorite in the team to take the highest place.Especially after a strong ride at the NSW ITT champs last weekend!

2 min penalties are a set back hey Matt!

Lets hope its Yellow!

9 comments:

  1. Good luck boys, let's hope that last minute derny pacing pays dividends ;-)

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  2. All the best. Just so you know, your support is even coming from East Africa (Tanzania). Danny, I expect at least the climbers jersey!

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  3. Guys,

    Got the email and press article. A case of beer goes to the first team member (Danny excluded) who can list the 63 international tours that Danny has ridden in.

    Good luck in Tahiti.

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  4. sorry about the delay;no internet access here at this stage:updates to follow:the team has won a stage and been sick

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  5. Continued:

    Day 5. Ferry to Moorea. Craig and Jarrett got in break. Jarrett is a big motor and he drove it. Ben blew a tyre on the dirt section Pinapple Hill and the tube cam out and wrapped around his skewer. I was on the scooter and we couldnt get the wheel out. Sam was right there to swap bikes and Ben took off. This kid is all class. he chased for 15 km and got back to the bunch. Got the wheel changed and Sam chases back too. He swapped bikes with Ben and Ben chased back on again. Meanwhile jarrett was driving so hard on the dirt section that only Craig and A NZ rider could follow. Hit the final climb to the lookout and Jarrett won it; Crig attacked Ryan the NZ to get 2nd. Ben and Matt were incredible on the dirt descents and made up good time on GC; Celebrations were short lived as I took Dean in an abulance to hospital with the vomit bug. He spent 13 hours there with me. This is a nasty sickness. I got home at 1;10 am . We get up at 4am

    Day 6. Flat stage, 3x 22km lap. We stuck it to the Chileans again; They couldnt control our aggressive attacks. Put Jarrett Ben and Sam in a break and they drove it. NZ were there but not helping. Danny told the NZ manager we would shut it down if they didnt help so they were told to help us. 1 Chilean managed to bridge, another tried but couldnt, our boys were too going too good; Tried to set Ben up for the sprint he took the Chileans wheel but a Tahitian got it followed by Chile. Ben had a run at them but got 3rd. Matt is our sprinter but he got caught in the peleton. Did a superb job blocking. Rode 2nd wheel all race....lost 3 mins on GC unfortunately. Ben picked up 3 mins to be 5th on GC . He got the white jersey for best U23 hes 18. Craig is 14th on GC. Matt drops to 16th;
    Photo in paper of >Ben dancing with miss tahiti;
    We are the talk of the town. We smashed the Chileans yesterdqy and today. Our teamwork is first class. All our boys have courage. Our team motto is "if you havent ridden yourself into hospital, you havent ridden hard enough!"

    Day 6 - afternoon Team Time Trial. Sam was crook after this mornings race but he recovered. In the TTT Jarrett Sam Ben and Matt were clinical; Brilliant. Thought we might get the podium but were 4thy. Kept the white jersey which was our goal; Craig had to ride the 4man TTT alone as Danny Gerard and Dean are out. Lost 3 mins and dropped to 20th on GC. After the stage, Matt vomited and was taken to hospital with the bug. I think we all have it but it gets you after you put your body in the red zone. Gave him IV and took him home. 4 riders out now, 4 left

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  6. Continued:

    DAY 7; 122km stage fairly slow; Hilltop finish was brutal; Gave Ben the Lance Armsrong treatment with Craig Sam and Jarrett looking after him; Sam crashed at base of hill and hit Bens rear wheel jamming the brake on. Ben didnt climb well and the U23 rivals got time. We lost white jersey to the Tahitian Rainer. Ben dropped to 7th on GC; The Chileans gapped everyone up the hill for a 1-2-3 finish again. We are 29 second behind Rainer. He is very strong indeed and unless he has a problem we wont get it back;
    Had to take Matt back to hospital. They admitted him overnight; I volunteered to stay home today to visit Matt; Ive had 5 trips to hospital now and not much sleep. every morning is 4 and 5 am starts; Dunno how the boys are doing what they do with the shocking food, sleep and cramped dirty accommodation.

    imagine if we could have arrived early to acclimatise and had better luck and werent sick; I cant speak highly enough of all the boys, they are the best team here as far as being a selfless unit; Weve won a stage and got 2 white jerseys; Today is a double stage (ITT will help craig) then the champs elysse crit tomorrow. pity Matt is out, we were gonna set him up for the win. NZ and us to combine to do a number on the chileans;
    Craig is riding well. Hes been on the podium for 3rd in masters a few times;

    BTW tell derny drafter im okay. There are no phones, no internet, we have no transport. Its no holiday here but we are all okay. If someone can put this on the blog somehow that would be good. See you Tuesday night. Can someone ask Mark Davis if he can get us from the airport?

    Greetings from sunny Tahiti

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  7. do you know what time the flight gets in?

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  8. Final summary: We got Ben to 7th overall on GC a fantastic effort. Matt spent 3 days in hospital with the Papeete plague. Sam missed the last day as he got the plague and I had him admitted too. Only 3 riders left from our original 8 for the final crit. We were defending our 7th place from the NZs in 8th and 9th. They tried to get time from us but Craig and Jarrett were awesome. They controlled it and marked every attack and the NZ attacks were non stop. Jarrett set Ben up to win the bunch sprint too, just to show everyone how good we are :- )

    I am so proud of our team. Conduct on and off the bike has been exemplary and the officials are extremely impressed with our racing, tactics, teamwork, treatment of our local helpers, manners etc

    Ive admitted 5 riders to hospital, 2 of them twice. We had shocking luck but the team were always positive and we were rewarded. Each setback was dealt with calmly and with a smile. Had a big shindig at the president of French Polynesia's palace Sat night and a nice afternoon at the Radisson resort yesterday. Glad to be coming home. Have had no coffee, no hot showers, no phone, no internet, no transport. i swore when i took Sam to hospital that i would never come back, but i think i will. The people are beautiful. We were treated like rock stars. Danny is royalty here everyone knows him.
    Lots of great stories to tell.
    Thanks for all your support and well wishes

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  9. BONJOUR ! here is a brief report so far. The Chileans are making a joke of the race. Yesterday Teva the president asked us to show him that they are Pro riders. Danny went to his office qnd showed him on the internet. He wants to sent them home but the scandal would be too bad. But they will never be invited back. They take it in turns to win; I was in the Race directors car and he is fuming. I was in the back seat with his secretary who is a good sort

    Prologue. All boys rode strong about 30 seconds off the leader. Solid start.

    Day 2. Jarrett hit a hole qnd double flatted; was 5 mins behind convoy. dean dropped back to help; Danny got away with the chilean patricio they went out to 3 minutes. Danny blew big time and was sick. Jarrett got back hes strong..gave a lead out for young Ben and Sam; After the race I took Danny to hospital. He has a vomiting/diarehea bug. Put him on a drip. Photo in paper of Ben sprinting with yellow jersey at finish.

    Day 3. 3km in Dean and Gerard crashed. Dean okay, Gerard taken to hospital to get stitches in knee and elbow. 2 out now.
    Hilltop finish;;steeper than Huntley hill and about 2 km long. Ben 10th, Sam 12th, Craig and Matt placed well. Craig had to walk some of it! Dean had to ride alone all day;
    Danny kept in hospital still. In bad way. Doc said he could have died. his blood pressure was exremely low and his blood so thick they coulmnt get much out of him to test it;

    Day 4
    Sam hit pothole qnd broke frame. Jarrett swapped bikes, Dean dropped to help again; I got Jarrett a spare bike and he caught Sam and they chased but lost 10 mins. Now Sam, Jarrett and Dean are out of GC contention. Chile did the old Paris Roubaix Mapei 1996 1-2-3 finish on the Papeete velodrome. Ben got 6th and Craig 11th, Matt 14th.
    Ben is 9th on GC, Matt 14th, Craig 20th. Danny came home today.

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