Having last raced this event in 2013, I was looking to improve on my 8th place GC finish. Again, I was riding Masters C.

I left for Warrnambool with a half assembled road bike, having just picked up a warranty replacement on Thurs morning.  During the course recon/shakedown ride on Friday, I was feeling pretty good.

The Plan

Stage 1: Catch my bunny.  Finish top 10.

Stage 2: Podium.

Stage 3: Hope for dry roads and not get droppped.

The Race

Stage 1 ITT – 12.2kms / 38.9kph

I got in a proper warm up and being off last and chasing everyone in my grade was novel.  Here I only felt taxed in the 100m before the final turn.  The aim was to ride at 40kph, though with the wattages I produced, I’d have to had churned out some crazy watts.

My bunny was caught about 1/4 of the way up the main pinchy hill.

Coming across the line, I heard the announcer say I was 9th.  Hmm.  I only could eek out an additonal 400m/hr on my 2013 bench mark time where I placed 5th.

Time down for stage: +0:00:30.76

On GC: 9th

2015 TOSW Stage 1 Results.

Times from fastest to slowest and in a spread sheet for your pleasure.

ITT Time	Time	Segment	HR av	Power av	Speed kph	Cadence av	Distance km
Av: 38.9kph	0:04:50.0	1	168	371	37.6	92	3.029
12.109km	0:04:45.0	2	170	306	37.8	93	2.995
Official time: 0:18:42.36	0:04:20.0	3	169	316	42.2	88	3.049
Recorded Time: 0:18:40.0	0:04:45.0	4	173	357	38.4	90	3.036

 

Stage 2 51.75kms / 34kph

In 2013, a lone rider was alllowed off the front.  He eventually won by over 3 minutes.  I was not allowing that to happen again!

On the first hill once the flag was in I took off.  Everyone chased.  Positioning was difficult with everyone wanting protection from the strong northerly wind.

Up the old KOM, the pace was high.  Nobody really did much until lap 2, where a solo rider was off the front after about the second hill along St Marys Road.  After the turn into Hopkins Falls Road, I attacked and solo bridged to the break away rider and we rode together along Sullivans Road.  By the turn into Wangoom Warrumeya Road, the rest of the field had caught up.

The pace quickened 5k’s from the sprint point and I had a crack.  My legs gave up about 200m out from a long sprint so I sat up.

On the final lap, this time Darryl Anderson of Warragul was off the front.  He was caught by the old KOM point and after that the pace got a tad slack.

On the second last hill along Sullivans Road, I was hurting, so along Wangoom Warrumeya Road I had a little rest before moving up to 5th wheel with about 7k’s to go.  I was soon boxed in.  Riding over the road works at the intersection of Wangoom Road and Hopkins Ralls Road, I nearly lost a water bottle due to what was now a huge pot hole.  I was also 2nd last.

As we passed Spring Flat Road, I moved to the back and launched an attack to the windward side of the bunch.  This appeared to catch everyone napping as soon I had a decent lead of the field. Given I’d hit the gas 600m from the line, I’d be a great effort to stay out front.

With about 20 meters to go, I was passed by one, then two and then three riders.  I’d finished in forth place.  The first thing that crossed my mine was “well, at least I do not have to attend the presentations this evening” and secondly, “yay, I’ve not lost any time”.

Thanks to a rider ahead of me on the GC not finishing, I moved up to 8th.

Time down for stage: +:0:00:00.00

On GC: 8th (+0:00:30.76)

2015 TOSW Stage 2 Results.

There was a bit too much erratic riding in stage 2.  Riders appeared to not be carrying their momentum forward when getting out of the saddle to climb.  This resulted many riders grabbing a handful of brakes.  Not fun when you are riding towards the back.  At one point (lap one I think), I went for a little CX ride.  On the final lap, before the old KOM hill, a rider clipped a wheel ahead of me and wound up on the side of the road (upright at least).

I would have liked to have soloed the race.  The wind made that too difficult.

Stage 3 9.39kms / 32.5kph

In 2013 I was pulled off after 10 minutes.  This year I’d last 17 minutes before being flagged off.  It appears others have greater wet weather cornering confidance than I do.  The hill on the course also does not suit me and my allergy manifested quite severely.

Due to this, I free fell down the GC to finish a lowly 23rd.

Time down for stage: +:0:05:58.00

On GC: 23rd (+0:06:37.00)

2015 TOSW Stage 3 Results.

Summary

Quit disappointing given my pb’s and wattages and my final GC result.  Maybee I should just work on my time trialling and sprinting then fill in any performance gaps later.

2015 TOSW GC Results.

2015 TOSW Sprint Jersey Results.

Thanks to my sponsor, Drouin Cycles.

Stats for the Tour

	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3
Distance (km)	12.109	51.415	9.39
Average Speed (kph)	38.9	34.3	32.1
Top Speed (kph)	57.8	58.5	46.8
Average Cadence (rpm)	88	91	88
Average Power (W)	308	256	346
Normalised Power (W)	332	308	345
Critical Power (%FTP)	310W (100%)	224W (72%)	279W (90%)
Time	0:18:40.0	1:29:53.5	0:17:27.0
Av HR (bpm)	162	156	161
Max HR (bpm)	183	191	175
Place	9th	4th	DNF
CTL	92	95	94
ATL	86	100	96
TSB	6	-5	-2
Intensity Factor	1.07	0.99	1.11
TSS	42.3	149.0	35.6
TRiMP	40.6	143.5	30.5

I have a gallery of some photos from the weekend on Flicker.  Check them out here.

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