Today was the first stage of the men’ s Tour of Wellington – I’m managing team BP consisting of Mike, Daniel, Jono, Andy and Chris. For the first time in many years the race started in Lower Hutt and headed over the Rimutakas.
The race was neutralized until the base of Kaitoke and within a few minutes of the flag dropping the attacks started. The pace up the Rimutakas was high and within minutes riders were popping off the back.
Drapac Porsche were responsible for most of the pace setting and managed to get two riders clear of the bunch by the 555m crest of the climb leaving a small peleton behind them followed by small groups of strung-out riders.
Descending the Rimutakas was a thrilling experience from inside the team car. The riders who had been dropped on the climb were intent on catching the peleton and were descending with serious speed. The road was closed to all traffic so riders (and team cars) were taking up the whole width of the road in an attempt to get down as quickly as possible. It was absolutely awesome to see riders hitting 80kph down the twisty, traffic-free road.
Back on the flat and heading towards Martinbough most of the peleton was together with Andy, Mike and Daniel all making the cut. Chris and Jono had descended like mad-men but were unable to get back on and ended up in the large groupetto.
On the way along Longbush I saw one of the service vans behind one of my riders, Mike. Mike had been nudged, touched wheels, and had gone down quite hard. I jumped out of the car and took over from the neutral mechanic who was doing an atrocious job of trying to straighten his handlebars. I quickly got the handlebars sorted, duct-taped Mike’s shoe to repair the broken strap, and jumped back in the car to pace him back into the race. About a kilometer down the road, and doing 60kph behind the car, his back tyre flatted with enough of a pop that I could hear it from inside the car. After a quick wheel replacement we were back at 60kph but not for long as the second big climb of the day started. Mike was still a long way behind the peleton and he did an amazing job to ride himself back into the race over the next few kilometers.
Drapac Porsche were at it again with two of their riders setting a blistering pace up the climb and getting a lead of 30 seconds at the top. The 90kph descent led to some rolling hills where the race needed to be stopped because of sheep on the road. Only in New Zealand :-)
With the sheep cleared the race restarted and before long we passed the 20km to go kite. Drapac riders Peter McDonald and Norris Lachlan were still clear of the bunch and were working well together until one of the final climbs which saw Lachlan return to the bunch. McDonald’s lead was only 22 seconds by this point but he managed to time-trial the final 15km solo. The bunch chased and lost a lot of riders in doing so, but couldnt catch him and Lachlan finished a few seconds clear.
All the boys finished safely – Andy was the highest finisher at 7 minutes back. Mike crossed the line and announced that his frame was broken – apparently at 90kph down Limeworks hill it didn’t feel quite right and closer inspection showed two large cracks on his seatstay.
Back at the hotel, and with a spare bike for Mike found, I went about swapping his cranks, pedals, seatpost / seat and wheels across and gluing a new tubular to his wheel. We got really lucky – the replacement bike was the same model Avanti Quantum in a 1.5cm smaller size so with a longer stem the fit and geometry will be very similar.
After a great rosoto for dinner (thanks Andy) the boys all hit the hay leaving me to rinse and fill the waterbottles for tomorrow and sit down with a glass of vino.
