THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Stage 3: Davis dashes to stage win Down Under
The finish may still be three days away, but there's every possibility the 10th edition of the Tour Down Under will come down to the wire. And get this: The winner may well be the sprinter who can climb best.
For the third consecutive time, Thursday's 139km leg to Victor Harbor was a battle of fast-twitch fibers. A late breakaway capture that saw FDJ's Philippe Gilbert caught less than 500 meters out and a tricky finish only added to the growing list of variables, but UniSA's Allan Davis thrived amid the chaos to deliver an emotionally charged victory in Victor Harbor ahead of Mark Renshaw and Mathew Hayman.
Thanks to a six-second time bonus, Renshaw regained the ochre leader's jersey he lost two days before, but not by much — just two seconds separate Davis from the in-form Crédit Agricole sprinter, and High Road's Andre Greipel is just six seconds in arrears, on the same time as previous race leader Graeme Brown.
Renshaw said that while he was initially disappointed to surrender the jersey, the brief respite may pay dividends down the road.
"It gave my guys a bit of rest today. I didn't have to put them on the front to ride. That was the responsibility of Rabobank,” he said. “That's the first thing my director said this morning, it's not such a bad thing to lose the jersey, and it could be the thing that wins Simon [Gerrans] or me the Tour Down Under."
In fact, Renshaw punctured some 40km from the finish, just when the peloton started flying, and it took three teammates to bring him back into the fold.
"It was probably the worst time of the race; the bunch just started to wind up and we started hitting some little climbs as well and dead roads," he recalled.
"It certainly made it a lot harder to get up to the front, but once I got there, it probably took me 10 or 15 kilometers to recover and I was right for the sprint. There was a little bit of a mix-up on the last corner; Jeremy [Hunt] kind of got caught on the wrong side of the road and I ended up being by myself. But I just launched the sprint from a fair way out and just missed Allan [Davis]...
“Bit of a disappointment, but it's great to know the form's there - I haven't been out of the top three or four since the week started, so it's only getting better." Good enough to make him the new sprints leader, in fact.
For the beleaguered Davis, victory came with great relief. After having been linked publicly with the Operación Puerto scandal, with which he vehemently denies any involvement, the Queenslander had a few words for his detractors.
"It's been a bit of a roller-coaster ride the last 18 months, and anyone who's doubted me or said something [negative] about me, you can stick this right up you," he said, angry and frustrated.
His teammate Wes Sulzberger's participation in the day's early break - a three-man getaway that was caught just 4km from the line - allowed the UniSA team to save their legs in the event of a sprint finish, and when that became the case, the team of young guns showed they could match it with the best.
"I was in a good position coming into the S-bend at the finish and probably started my sprint a bit earlier than I would of liked," said Davis. "Philippe Gilbert had a really good gap and I had to go at about 350 [meters] out; with 50 meters [remaining] I had a look between my legs and there was no one there, so it was really good to get the win."
Davis remains without a professional contract, and VeloNews asked him if was important to know he could still beat the best.
"I've always known that. I've proven it all through my career,” he replied. “I think I'm coming into a pretty good phase of the next five or six years. I think all the sprinters in the world know when I'm there, I'm there, and that's who I am. It's always a fierce battle between five or six of us and over the next couple of years, it'll be down to two or three and hopefully I can be one of them."
Regarding the Puerto scandal, Davis added: "In my power, I've done everything you can do to clear the whole situation. The talks we've had here with the high rollers in the game, I think a lot of people are very embarrassed and feel for me personally, and hopefully the tide's changing."
One of those high rollers happens to be Ray Godkin, vice president of the Union Cycliste Internationale. Such is his belief in the former Discovery rider's innocence that Godkin has declared his intention to meet with UCI president Pat McQuaid to clear Davis's name, once and for all.
The same, only different
For the third consecutive day, a three-man break left le peloton after 19km. This time, it was Mickael Delage (Française des Jeux), Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas) and Wesley Sulzberger (UniSA).
However, the notable difference was that this trio looked really good together. Sharing turns at the front, contesting the intermediate sprints with the ferocity of a final (in the hope they'd stay away and bonus seconds would decide the new overall leader), and enjoying a six-and-a-half minute advantage 47km from home, this trio was given more than an outside chance.
Up until that point, Rabobank had been setting the tempo in the bunch. Then, suddenly, five more teams came to the front and began chasing hard - very, very hard.
Said Davis, whose UniSA team wasn't obligated to chase with Sulzberger in the break: "I think once the teams knew that Rabobank weren't going to close the gap, the overall [classification] was out on the road, so it had to be closed. It meant not only Rabobank had to do the chasing, but CSC, Caisse d'Epargne, High Road and even teams without sprinters really got on the front, because they could see the overall slipping away on today's stage."
While the cooperation within the peloton wasn't perfect, with so much firepower, it was enough to retrieve the escapees just 4km from Victor Harbor. A bunch sprint was in the cards, but not before mountains leader Gilbert gave his all a kilometer from home only to be swept up meters from the line, as Davis triumphed in the chaos that ensued.
"It was definitely a hard sprint with the road curving around to the right and the wind from the right also," explained Renshaw, "so it was pushing riders to the left and making us go the long way around. I kind of cut through the right-hand side to make [my line] a bit shorter and only just missed Allan [Davis]."
The road ahead
From Mannum to the east of Adelaide down to Strathalbyn in the south, Friday's 134km fourth stage is mapped like an upside-down “L,” and in all likelihood, it will once again be the speedsters turning themselves inside-out before the crunch stage in Willunga Saturday.
