Today’s the day before it all kicks off down here in Adelaide. We’ve already been here for 10 days, getting over the Jetlag and getting a good bit of training in before the start. It seems a small group of us out here, after the two big camps we’ve had over the winter with all the riders and staff, but it makes you feel more of a team when there’s only a few of you.
We had the Cancer Council Criterium last night. A 50km race of 30 laps in the city centre run at a pretty quick pace. It was a nice way to wear the new Omega-Pharma – Quick-Step colours for the first time, and get my first race experience as a professional in front of a good crowd. We tried setting Gerald up for the sprint, but it was pretty hectic and didn’t get it together as good as we could. Hopefully sometime through the week we will be able to get it right and show what we can do.
Today was just a 2 hour ride with a stop at a cafe. It looked like every other team had the same idea, passing other groups everywhere, but nothing too hard before the first stage tomorrow of 150km, from Prospect to Clare. Then a bit of lunch in the dinning room here in the Hilton hotel where every team is staying, with a massage then a bit later in the afternoon., We will have a team meeting later on this evening for what we are going to try and do, so I will tell you if we managed to pull it off tomorrow., Matteo saw 43 degrees on his quarq today, but it was probably more like 35, but whatever it was tomorrow looks like it’s going to be a hot one!
Andy