TDU: Cam Reaches For the Sky!

the Sky was literally the limit for Matt Goss and HTC... This was one of the closest and most exciting finishes to the Tour Down Under in race history, and it probably wouldn't be unreasonable to think that someone told overnight leader Cam Meyer the night before that "this victory isn't going to fall right out from the Sky." And if they did say that....then they were wrong! A late and completely unexpected acceleration by Team Sky teammates Ben Swift and Greg Henderson disrupted the HTC Highroad leadout train and relegated Matt Goss to a 3rd place finish (2 seconds short of what he needed to overtake Meyer.)

Cam Meyer was in one of the most stressful positions any rider can ever find himself in. Hanging on by a thread without much of a say in your own destiny. But luckily for him he had some inspired teammates out there that really picked up the pace for him (not to say he couldn't have done it himself).So now that I've used up all my lame puns involving the word sky let me see if I can take you through what happened.

After the prerace ceremony for Lance (see above) the riders got going on a quick 20 lap crit to decide whose hard work all week would finally pay off. (the pre-race situations are listed one post below this)

Right off the bat there was a quick attack by Stuart O'Grady and a few others but they were brought back easily by the HTC lead peloton just in time for the first of 2 sprint checkpoints worth 3 seconds each to the winner.

HTC gave Goss an absolutely perfect leadout for the 1st sprint but Goss unfortunately (for him!) unknowingly gave Michael Matthews a perfect leadout and last year's U23 champion was able to edge out Goss at the line for the 3 second bonus leaving Goss with only 2.

So then it was a 3 horse race. Meyer and his Garmin team, Matt Goss and the powerhouse HTC (who needed only a 2nd place finish to win because he had sliced the defecit to 6 seconds), and now Michael Matthews could have also walked away champion with a stage win.

Not much happened in the next 4 laps other than Luke Roberts locking up the King of the Mountains competition and solidifying a jersey he had worn for most of the week. But then the 2nd sprint came, and this could have been the turning point for the entire race.

Drumroll please....nothing happened. Michael Matthews was supposed to be up front but instead he was caught in the peloton while his 2 teammates launched the perfect leadout for nobody. They both immediately sat up, but it was too late and they glided across the line for the meaningless sprint seconds. Matt Goss and HTC were equally stunned, as they were also trapped in the peloton at the time. (Note that if Matt Goss had managed just a 2nd place on this sprint that he would have ended up Tour Down Under champ)

Meyer had dodged his first of 2 bullets, but the bigger one was still coming...

Stu O'Grady again made things interesting with another attack (he was voted most aggressive for the day) but the HTC/Rabobank driven peloton let them little over 20 second gap and slowly reeled them back in.

So now we'll jump ahead to the final kilometer or 2 of the final lap. I will take you through my thoughts as they happened:

"Ok I see HTC up front, Garmin right behind them protecting Cam, but WHERE on Earth is Rabobank?"

Never got an answer to that question, as Matthews and his Rabobank teammates who had worked so hard seemed to just disappear on the final lap. I don't know if they got caught in a bad spot or just ran out of legs but this made it a 2 horse race between Goss and Meyer.

"HTC peeling off one by one...but why is Sky moving to the front?"

"Wow, Sky is still controlling the front. HTC is going to have a hard time getting around them."

"Sky isn't going to give up. If Goss wants any hope at this race than he better attack NOW!"

But it was just too late and Matt Goss watched the Tour Down Under title slip from under his fingertips with just 2 seconds standing between him and ochre. Cam Meyer had no idea as he crossed the line, and only after he saw it on the big board did he believe that he had actually won the Tour Down Under.

To be clear about Sky's intentions, they couldn't care less about Cam Meyer as Swift and Henderson crossed the line. They were just going for the glory of the final stage win.

I'll give everyone a chance to catch their breath tonight, and recap my final thoughts on the race, the riders, and the future of Australian cycling later on the blog.