Was the wait worth it???

Sitting under the meagre shade of a scrubby gum tree near the top of Willunga hill at about 1pm this afternoon I and hearing the reports on the race radio, I was beginning to think the nearly 3 hour wait until the first riders would arrive might not have been worth it. But, at about 1:31 approx 10min ahead of schedule, the sirens of the lead moto followed by the commisaires car (complete with Phil and Paul) quickly dispelled those thoughts. They were followed by 19yo Jack Bobridge (UniSA) and a mulleted Klimov (Katusha)holding as small gap over a small chase group containing David Monticute (Cofidis). Then about a 30 sec gap to a larger group containing Armstrong and Hincapie, then over a minute to the peloton, followed by numerous stragglers. McEwen was obviously not in his element from a riding perspective as he was hanging on to the back of the main pack, but was making a big effort to even out his cyclists tan by rolling up the sleeves on his jersey.

2nd time up it was Monticutie solo followed closely by Matty Lloyd (Silence Lotto), Adam Hansen (Columbia) and Armstrong with a bigger group containing Davis and Graeme Browne about a minute back. From there back everyone was spread out over about a 5min period, with the 'laughing bus' following some 10min or so back (McEwen etal) having a great time soft pedaling up the climb.

I did not get back to Willunga for the finish, but listening to the race radio I heard that the 3 lead groups came together and Davis took the sprint ahead of Jose Rojas (Caisse D'epargne) and Martin Elminger (Ag2r).

And - was the wait worth it? Definitely - it was good to see Lance working hard to and it was good to see that the double circuit of Willunga broke things up a bit. But obviously not enough as it ended up a bunch sprint in Willunga. This means tomorrows circuit race is pretty much a formality and that barring any bizzare occurrences, Allan Davis will win this year's TDU.

Posted photos are 2 from the Victor Harbor stage (3)- one from the 1st KOM and one from the 2nd. The other two are from Stage 5 KOM (Willnga Hill) and then a cool one from of the Saxo Bank bikes from the bike pits. Spent a bit of time there last night checking out the bikes. Coulda got Cadel's autograph as well, but ...... well you know! No Legends Dinner for me tonight - in hindsight should have spent the 250$ to hear Lance, George and the wit and wisdom of Phil and Paul.