Monday, October 4, 2010

Aussies top medal table at Worlds

Queensland's Allan Davis has given more than 150,000 parochial fans something to cheer about on the final day of racing at the 2010 UCI Road World Championships sprinting home in third place to put the Australian Cyclones on top of the medal table for the second straight year.

In one of the most exciting races in Championship history the 30-year-old 'Bundaberg Bullet' launched himself into the fray in the final sprint up Geelong's main street but couldn't overcome powerful Norwegian Thor Hushovd who claimed the gold medal with Denmark's Matti Breschel in second place.

The bronze medal gives Australia a complete set after Luke Durbridge opened the medal campaign on Wednesday with a silver medal in the U23 men's time trial and Michael Matthews followed that up with a gold medal performance in Friday's U23 road race.

"It is one of those special moments that you'll never forget, I will tell my grandkids about this," said Davis. "Its goose-bumps stuff, one of those things you ride and dream of as a little kid.

"(This) is something special definitely, here in Australia as well, it's something that I'll never forget and I'd like to thank all my teammates and all the staff as well, it's been a huge success for us as an Australian team and for cycling in Australia."

In a first for the event the race start and finish lines were in different cities with the 262.7km race getting underway in front of 20,000 fans in the heart of Melbourne's central business district.

The first move of the day went almost immediately and eventually saw five riders gain a massive lead of close to half an hour. This sparked concern they might lap the rest of the field on the 15.9km Geelong circuit but the peloton realised the danger and by the time they reached Geelong had brought the break back to 23 minutes.

However it wasn't until the top of the climb on the third last lap, around 37 kilometres from the finish, that the final breakaway was reeled in.

During the chase the peloton split with Australians Simon Gerrans, Stuart O'Grady and defending World Champion, Cadel Evans in the front chase group and the rest of the Australians in the second group.

Gerrans drove hard to try and keep the small group clear but Spain was equally determined and the composition of the front groups changed several times over the remaining laps of racing.
The Italians played their hands with numerous attacks but were unable to get any to stick while Evans was superb in front covering every move.

On the final lap pre race favourite Phillipe Gilbert of Belgium launched a solo attack on the last time over the major climb and rode out to a lead of 22 seconds with five kilometres remaining.

But Evans hit out after him and as the riders powered over the flatter final kilometres 25 riders, including Davis and Evans, came together at the last corner into the 800 metre uphill drag to the finish line.

"We had different options today, which is great as you don't want all your eggs in one basket," said Davis. "I think that really showed today as when there was a split, we had guys in there, like Cadel was in everything, and Stuey (O'Grady) and Gerro (Gerrans).

"Cadel rode fantastically well, I think he defended his World Championship (jersey) in stunning style today and Thor (Hushovd) was the strongest out there so I'm not going to take anything away from him that's for sure."

Davis says racing at home was a once-in-a-lifetime experience he'll never forget and that despite the dramatic twists and turns of the race the Australians remained calm throughout.
"Having the Championships back here in Australia, it was an awesome atmosphere and although we had a lot of pressure on us, I thought we kept our cool," Davis explained. "I was back there with some very good riders, I just never panicked and I played my cards in the sprint when that's what it came down to."

Gerrans says the atmosphere was phenomenal.

"I have never ridden with a crowd like it, the noise they were making was just nothing like I have ever seen," Gerrans said. "Allan really finished off a good day's work from everybody and I don't think the team could have done much more in setting him up for the finish, so I think everyone is pretty pleased.

Stuart O'Grady, who along with Mathew Hayman, was one of the captains on the road believes the medal capped off great teamwork.

"We never really had one plan, we have plan a, b and c for every kind of occasion, but the course worked out to be a lot harder than everyone expected, it was an incredibly tough circuit," said O'Grady.

"I think we rode a very good race, we always kept one or two riders on the front and we were never on the back foot."

Perhaps the proudest person roadside was Cycling Australia National Performance Director, Shayne Bannan, who says topping the medal table and performing the team did has made this a 'fairytale World Championships' for Ausralia.

"There was a little bit of home town pressure in wanting to do well for the sport in this country and the guys really stood up today in that every rider rode exactly how they were asked to," said Bannan. "Cadel and Allan were just really fantastic, particularly in the last two laps, so we are pretty proud.

"If you look at the elite group, they are guys who ride in the ProTour who have been around a while, but there is some younger talent emerging there," he said. "In the Under 23, Michael Matthews will go into the ProTour next year and maybe one or two of the others will get a contract, so obviously there is some great talent coming through there as well.

"With the women for Shara Gillow to finish eighth in the time trial at her age with her limited international experience so far is tremendous and her team mates have shown some good consistency this year and although they may be disappointed with their performance in the road race, I really think that in the next few years you will really see them emerge and blossom." 

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