Team spirit will win the tour
19 January 2007
Everyone
who was not riding a bike today was celebrating the rain but what it did for
the race was make the riders go a bit faster. In fact this was one of the
fastest runs for this stage in the history of the race.
For Team UniSA-Australia today's run from Stirling to Victor Harbor has gone very well indeed. The team is working as one - all efforts are focused on the ochre jersey and making sure Karl Menzies retains it.
Each team member has a commitment to that and is operating as part of a protective network around Menzies.
When they say cycling is a team sport many newcomers to road racing don't quite get what that means. It means sacrificing individual glory for overall advantage. It means dealing with the fact that people don't quite understand that a stage win is sometimes not as important as what is going on at the back of the race. It means the team must operate almost like one organism - with riders playing the role of defenders and each taking their turn at contributing to the success of the whole.
Today Mitch Docker and Chris Jongewaard were the ones to find their way into the leader's break. They have done a fine job and Chris forged on to take out second place. The fact that all the big threats to the jersey were not even in the breakaway is testament to the efforts of the other team members. Despite being one rider down Team UniSA-Australia is holding on. There are only seconds in it and tomorrow will be crunch time. Willunga to Willunga has a lot of history for the team - it has been home turf for a few of the riders over the years (including myself) and it was the scene of jubilation last year for Russel van Hout. I am not going to predict what will happen but I know they will be giving their all tomorrow.
If Menzies can hold on this will be one of the biggest moments in his cycling career to date - I put a fair bit of faith in his reputation as a rider with the strength and grit of 10 men - 10Menzies is an apt nickname.