rooman wrote:
> Bleve Wrote:
> Now, who do you reckon is up for the Aust. Men's Road Jersey this
> year?
>
> Will the young guns take on the old masters and herald a new
> era?...Hilton Clarke Jr. reckons he is up for it, and Will Walker wants
> a go, I spoke to Mathew Wilson this week, he is going to try and get
> Cookie up there( 'cos he's miffed he missed the Crits jersey last
> friday at Geelong), and McEwen will probably have it all alone and with
> limited helpers may find it very hard to get another Aust Champion's
> jersey in 06...it's going to be a good one ...woohoo
McEwen usually is on his own at the end anyway. If I was the betting
type, I'd have my money on McEwen, but I'd want good odds. Walker's
not smart enough yet to pick the right time to go, IMO, he may tow a
sprinter out though and get a place for his troubles. Deja Vu?
Cooke won't win it, he's had nothing since 2003 and still doesn't.
*something* changed in 2004 and since then he's had no form and only
looked promising once at the Giro in 2005. Not impressive at the Bay
Crits either - I saw him race the Bay crits bot garden course 2 years
ago and win it by a mile with a huge sprint up the hill, but nothing
like that sort of form this year. Richie England's a good rider by all
accounts, but how'd he get away from Cooke? Richard has one race
tactic, and a switched on sprinter would know what it was. Hilton
didn't win a crit, he's not got the sprint to beat world-class riders
for a win, unless a very select breakaway gets away. Maybe Allan Davis
though? Hilton's quoted as saying :
"Personally, I've always come here giving everything, and I've never
rode well at the Road Nationals. I'm really looking to change that. I
have been training a lot differently this year, not doing so much
sprinting and trying to work on my endurance to try to get round the
road course, but it might take me a few more years to get round those
sort of circuits."
BTW, roo, remember a while back you claimed that McEwen wasn't riding
Ridley's, that they were rebadged somethings because the Ridley's were
junk? I had a pretty good look at McEwen's bike at the Bay crits, and
if it was a rebadge of something else, that something else was -very-
similar to a Ridley Damaged, and not just the paint job. Maybe he
(McEwen) uses the Ridley for crits but not GTs?
How about the women though? Where'd Mactier learn to sprint, and who
*didn't* teach her how to throw? Have you see this photo :
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/jan06/bayseries06/index.php?id=bayseries062/14
If Mactier had thrown the bike it wouldn't have been a dead heat!
I reckon Oenone will win it, she's got to be plenty fired up after a
pretty poor showing in the Bay Crits, and she'll have learnt the lesson
about celebrating too early! Dark horse has to be Watt escaping at
1km, and staying away
It won't be the first time, and if she can
gap the rest they won't catch her. Not even working together. None of
the rest have a big enough motor.
