October 13/06 1:41 am - Herald Sun Tour Report & Photos

Posted by Editor on 10/13/06
 

Herald Sun Tour Stage 6 Time Trial - Kew Boulevard, Melbourne

Monique Hanley, our intrepid assistant from the Road Worlds, is back in her native Melbourne, Australia, which happens to be the site of today's time trial at the Herald Sun Tour! So, luckily for us Monique was at the race today and spoke with many of the Canadians, as well as taking lots of Photos.


Team Manager John Pritchard

On the strategy for the week:
Once we got Dom (Rollin) into third place (on stage 2), the strategy was to look after him and make sure he finished at all costs and held his place. We attempted to send one rider up the road if a break went on, as once there was a half hour time gap we could bet there would be riders up the road no one really cared about, so we would send one of our guys up the road so the rest of the fellas could sit back and protect the big guy (Rollin). Yesterday we had one in the break and then Eric made an awesome ride getting across to the break which put two of us up there while the other fellas looked after Dominique, who rode really well. Just tempo'ed it up there (the final 22 kilometer climb), once he got past the first five kms which were the hardest, he was just passing people as his power came in and he was fine.

On the time loss experienced by Rollin on Stage 5 to Lake Mountain:

We expected to lose time. We expected to lose third place and we would have been surprised if we had moved up on the GC. I think Canada is happy, Jacky (Hardy) the coach is happy with our performance. We've all worked together and it has gone well. I think he is happy to be taking home a rider in the top ten.

On the time trial course:
I think the course suits Dom. I ride round here a bit and it's an undulating course that will suit his power. It's not that technical, he just needs to use his power and he will do okay.


Team Coach Jacky Hardy:

The team has gone well. We had a focus in this race and this focus was to get UCI points and we planned to ride to protect Dominique Rollin and Eric Wohlberg - Eric for the overall and Dominique for the sprint and the overall. For the other guys the focus was to learn from this race.

I am not that surprised with the performance of Dominique as he has raced in Europe with a French team. Eric is also experienced with this race and we expected him to do well. For the other guys it has been more difficult as they have not had this sort of racing available to them in Canada, but each day we had one guy in each breakaway. It was a good situation for us. We have seen a very good Rollin yesterday as he is not a climber - he can climb when he has good condition so it was very good for him yesterday. Hopefully he can make up a place today and move into fifth. We also expect Eric Wohlberg to go well today and perhaps he can win some points. So I think we can go home okay.


Brandon Crichton:
On their newfound notoriety:
We had a ten minute show here, counting situps for Eric Wohlberg (for local TV Channel 10).

On the time in Australia:
Its been unbelievable. We've had wicked support, the people from Bicycle Superstore have been awesome. Its been amazing weather so its been a great way to finish off the season.

The competition has been really hard, but it has been good for us. Dom has been doing really well and we've been there to support him. We're looking forward to the last day tomorrow to hopefully move Dom up (the GC) further.

Who is the lead out for Dom in a crit?
Dom. He is a one man show (laughs). I don't think we know yet, that should be determined tomorrow.


Dominique Rollin:

On his time trial efforts which moved him up a place on GC:
Really? Sweet, I didn't know! I knew I was second fastest when I crossed the line but I didn't know what the other guys behind me were going to do. So I am happy with that.

The plan was to do as good as I can. But for the TT I had no equipment: no bars, no disc. It could have been a disadvantage but I don't know, it went good for me. The course suited me.

Yesterday in the hill - that was my weakness but I managed to keep sixth place so it turned out pretty good for the team.

On his plan for tomorrow's final stage:

Tomorrow I say I will be competitive again. I am hoping to crack those guys. Just having fun in the crits. Try to stretch it out in a break.


Mark Walters:

On the tour so far:
Its been a good tour. Just trying to ride aggressive even though I came down with a cold the night before I left so I've been struggling to recover from that since I arrived here. But Phil (Zajicek) has been riding really well so we've being trying to take it day by day to protect Phil on the GC. I've mostly been trying to set Phil up but also looking for stage opportunities for me. There is still one more stage to go and the top four are really tight and there are some time bonus sprints so we plan to look for more opportunities to get Phil up on the GC and to also look for a stage win, most likely with Hilton (Clarke) because he is our best sprinter.

Will Hilton lead out Phil tomorrow?
If that works out yeah, but it all depends on how it pans out tomorrow. We've heard that there might be some rain tomorrow which looks pretty good in terms of our odds. We've been really dominating crits in the rain for the past couple of months. Every time it has rained we have basically ridden away with the race. So I have my fingers crossed for rain which is a bit unusual for me!

On his performance today:
I was pretty mediocre. I had trouble getting air into me so I didn't have much power on the climbs.