By Jamie Finch-Penninger – @FishysCP
On the eve on the longest Australian road race, a sense of anticipation is building around Melbourne and the cyclist population. The 100th edition of the Melbourne-Warrnambool, affectionately known as Warrny will see a top field line up with a 300 strong pack. The race includes the full gamut of competitive cycling from two-time NZ nationals champion and WorldTour rider Hayden Roulston to C and D grade riders. Most motivated are CharterMason-Giant Racing, who have taken the slimmest of leads at the top of the NRS team standings after a successful Tour of Tasmania where Ben Hill finished 2nd overall. Tom Robinson (3rd in 2010 Melbourne-Warrnambool) and DS Damien Harris spoke with Peloton Cafe about the race on the final day of preparation.
Robinson took us through how the race length makes preparation and management of your body different from other races. “You train for this race as you would for most others, maybe you throw a big ride or two in there, but a lot of our guys are coming straight off the Tour of Tasmania, so they’ve got race form. The focus is more on doing everything right in the lead-up, making sure you’re rested enough and doing the little things. Even on the day, it’s an early start, so making sure your concentration is up all day, make sure you’re eating enough. That’s the major difference from your normal NRS race, where you don’t have to bother as much.”
CharterMason Giant are very keen to hold the numerical advantage coming into the finale, and were reluctant to name anyone a protected rider in their squad. “You can have an idea who’s going good before the race, but you don’t necessarily know who’s got the legs at the end. Myself, I feel that if you can get to the last 60 kilometres then you’re in the race. We’re going to just play the numbers in that final 60 kilometres, we got such a strong team here, with Ben (Hill) and Cromey (Sam Crome) in great nick. A lot of the guys have come out of the Tour of Tassie, with plenty of racing for them so we’re pretty strong.”
When asked where the key sections of the race were, Robinson replied, “The biggest section that I’ve always thought it is the real start of the race is the hills around Camperdown. It’s hard because it comes after 200 kilometres of rolling along on the flat and suddenly there’s this berg. As soon as you hit that right hand turn into the climb, you see guys dropping out the back, and it’s not a spot where you want to get stuck behind dead wheels.”
Damian Harris added, “Even the start tomorrow, because you’re racing with C and D graders, no disrespect intended, they probably shouldn’t be starting with the NRS guys… we should get a clean run at it. Every year there is a crash guaranteed, last year 10 guys went down straight away. Half of them haven’t ridden in a bunch that size before and they try and mix it up at the front, which can make it a dangerous time for the NRS riders.”
The wind has traditionally played a key role in the Melbourne to Warrnambool, having the potential to rip the race to shreds, or to stifle the effectiveness of attacks. Harris again, “It’s a westerly tomorrow, but because the direction chops and changes so much, you can find yourself in the wind if you’re out of position. That would be ok, well manageable in a 100, 150 kilometre race, but here you can’t afford to waste any energy. It’s important to have numbers around, because even if you have good form going in, you can have bad legs at some stage in such a long race, and you need the numbers around you.”
Robinson added, “It certainly kept the race together for a sprint last year. The last 60 kilometres are going to be run into a headwind/cross-headwind, and a lot of it is along the Princes Highway so it’ll be pretty open (to the wind). If a move hasn’t gone by then, then it will hard for one to escape to the finish. You can’t hesitate when the crucial move goes though, because at the end of 280 kilometres, not many teams are going to have the strength to pull it back. It depends on which teams have the right rider in the move and if it sticks it go all the way. The ideal result is that you have more guys in that final group going towards the line than the other guys.”
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