October 12/06 5:33 am - Rollin at the Herald Sun Tour, Symmetrics Chihuahua Report Stage 1

Posted by Editor on 10/12/06
 

Dominique Rollin at the Herald Sun Tour
Courtesy Sportcom

Translated by Amanda Leigh Cox

Dominique Rollin, of Boucherville Québec is apparently rather pleased with his current position of 6th place at Australia's Herald Sun Tour, after an admittedly "difficult stage five of 182 K, where the finish line was a 22 K climb."

The 24 year old athlete completed Stage 5 (today) in 12th place, coming in 3 minutes and 50 seconds after Australian Matthew Lloyd, who won the stage in 4 hours, 39 minutes and 25 seconds. "I don't consider myself a fantastic climber, so I surprised myself today. I wasn't expecting to climb that well. The Yellow Jersey (Simon Gerrans, of Australia) only finished 1 minute and 43 seconds ahead of me." explained Rollin, who was ranked third in the GC prior to stage five.

Rollin also reports that the race pace hasn't slacked in the past few days; "For four days now we ride fast for the first hour getting to roughly 50 K / hr - essentially until the break is made. Today, there was a group who got away with an advance of four minutes on the pack at the base of the climb, so it was clear that the stage was going to be decided there." Rollin also estimates that his chances of staying near the top of the GC are good, "I think I can gain some ground in the 12 K time trial in Melbourne, this Friday. With a solid time trial, I can get around my closest rival in the GC - who only has a 15 second advance on me."

Fellow Québécois Bruno Langlois is also present with Team Canada at the Herald Sun Tour, and finished 58th in Stage Five; Langlois holds the 64th place in the GC - close to 47 minutes from Gerrans and the Yellow Jersey.


Vuelta a Chihuahua - Symmetrics Stage 1 Report

Canada's number one pro team, Symmetrics Cycling, had another strong day in Mexico yesterday (Wednesday, October 11th) with the second stage of the Vuelta a Chihuahua. Although the day didn't go perfectly, there were still some strong results.

It was a 80km circuit race on the same 4km course as the prologue. The S-Team was trying to keep it together for a field sprint so Andrew 'Pinner' Pinfold could take the win and Svein Tuft would keep the jersey after his victory in the Prologue.

With 16km remaining the field was together, and at that point Pinner flatted. Symmetrics sent 4 riders back for him and at the same time an attack went off the front which Svein tagged. Although it didn't have any GC guys in the move, it was opening up a gap, so Svein started to drive the break to put time on GC guys. It opened up about 30 seconds on the field and Svein finished 4th.

Today, the team should ride a more traditional jersey defence as Svein is feeling confident Symmetrics Cycling is the strongest team. Time will tell...