photo from cyclingnews by Roberto Bettini
Sometimes we get caught up in the absurdity of ranting comedians, angry motorists and heated banter. After a week over so much negativity we have passed by the opportunity to celebrate one of Australia’s biggest cycling achievements in history – Cadel winning the world title!
I was watching the replay of the race yesterday and it was just as exciting the second time around. The first time I saw it I only had a streaming internet feed without sound. This time I had the pleasure of hearing Matt Keenan and Phil Liggett calling the race. It’s unbelievable how much more emotion these guys can add. They could make watching paint dry sound exciting.
It was also great watching the race in hindsight while paying close attention to what the whole Australian team did for Cadel and how well they played the race. The team support that Cadel has had in Silence/Lotto over the past two years has been far from ideal. He certainly showed that he can come through with the goods when he has top notch team support like on Sunday.
What’s also amazing is that Cadel is the first World Champion who is a GC specialist since Abraham Olano in 1995. This is a massive achievement in a race traditionally dominated by national dream-teams (Italy, Spain, Belgium) stacked with one-day specialists.
Could you imagine if this Aussie National team was assembled to make a ProTour team? It get’s me revved up just thinking about it!
Everyone have a great weekend and I hope you’re inspired to race by Cadel’s victory. SKCC, CCCC (and probably many other clubs) start their crit racing this Sunday which signifies the start of summer! Don’t forget daylight savings.
Also, good luck to everyone racing in the Master’s National Champs in Canberra this weekend as well as the World Master’s in Sydney the week after.
I’m off on a team training camp for the next three days so I won’t see you there but have fun, ride hard and don’t crash.
