Cardoso Surprises in Uphill Finish
Santos Tour Down Under
Stage 3: Unley to Stirling, 132.5km/83mi
By Cathy Mehl
Team RadioShack was looking for a win today and left no pedal unturned in their effort to stir things up in the 3rd Stage of the Santos Tour Down Under. First Sebastien Rosseler got himself into an early break that held court at the front of the peloton until the climb near the 40km mark. Then in the final 500 meters Yaroslav Popovych flew off the front in a brave attempt to get a jump on the group in the uphill finish but he was caught before the finish line. After a solid day of work put in from Caisse d’Epargne, Alejandro Valverde was looking good to take the win, but coming up the side and surprising everyone was Manuel Cardoso of Footon Servetto. The 26-year old Portuguese national champion had plenty of daylight between himself and the favored Spanish rider. Valverde slotted into second place with world champion Cadel Evans pushing it to the limit in front of his fellow countrymen to take third.
“I saw my chance and said ‘Why not?’ commented “Popo” after the race. “I saw that I could go faster so I attacked. But 100m further they brought me back.” Lance Armstrong summed up the day saying, “It was hot and that took a toll on everybody. Everyone’s jerseys had salt on them. It was never flat and there was wind. It was tough!” He continued on about the race with, “This race is hard because of new teams and news sponsors. The teams want to prove themselves a bit too early. Also the young guys want to show what they have and that’s what makes the race hard. There was no change in the overall classification and Andre Greipel (HTC-Columbia) retained the race lead for a third day.
Can you say hot? Up until Thursday the weather was generally pleasant and mild in South Australia, but the thermometer soared to 100°F/38°C in Stage 3 making for a difficult 3-1/2 hours on the bike for the remaining 131 riders. Early in the stage Rosseler made it into a break of nine riders that built a decent gap, but HTC-Columbia drove the peloton to keep them within reach as they approached the KOM. Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne) and Cameron Meyer ( Garmin) attacked on the climb as the break fell apart and left the peloton in temporary dissaray. The duo worked well together but were brought back before the move-of-the-day finally kicked into gear.
An attack included Aussie wonder-kid Jack Bobridge (Garmin) and veteran rider Jen Voigt (Team Saxo Bank). The five escapees held their lead until entering the finishing circuit but Caisse d’Epargne was dedicated to riding for Valverde in a stage tailor-made for the strong uphill finisher. By 17km to go the peloton was all together and Caisse d’Epargne controlled the main field while everyone suffered under the blazing sun. It was a mad scramble as the peloton attacked the uphill finish with Cardoso coming on strong and capturing the biggest win of his four-year professional career.
“The heat was incredible,” said Gert Steegmans. “All day we kept looking at our bike computers saying it was 38-40°C. There was a hot wind too. It felt like hair dryers were turned on us all day. For a long while today I believed I could take the victory but my condition is just not good enough yet for such an uphill finish. It wasn’t a steep climb but it was 7km long and I saw many sprinters being dropped. Bruyneel told me if I couldn’t sprint today that I needed to take care not to lose time. I did that. Good for my GC,” he concluded.
It’s three down and three to go in the Santos Tour Down Under. Friday’s longer stage at 149.5km/93mi starts out with constant rollers for half of the race, but ends in a flat run-in to Goolwa, making it a day for the pure sprinters once again. Hoping to dislodge Greipel’s grip on the race lead, Team RadioShack will look for this stage to put Gert Steegmans in the driver’s seat to capture a win in the Land Down Under.
Professional cycling takes riders and staff away from their loved ones many days during the calendar, but when it’s your daughters 6th birthday it must be rather difficult to deal with. So we send special Happy Birthday wishes to Johan Bruyneel’s daughter Victoria, knowing that her Daddy will make up for it when he returns to Spain! Daddys are like that!
Beyond the Finish Line: Kangaroos are marsupial mammals, which means they have a pouch. Some roos are nocturnal and sleep during the day. There are more than 50 types of kangaroos. They can be red, blue, white, gray, black, yellow or brown and can be six feet tall. Their tails can be three feet long and are used for balance. Some have large ears and padded feet and can eat 14 pounds of grass a day!
Top Ten Results
Team RadioShack on Stage 3
General Classification After Stage 3
Team RadioShack on General Classification
Photo: Graham Watson
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