Melbourne To Warrnambool Classic, Melbourne To Warrnambool Classic 278.6kms, , Victoria, Australia, Saturday, October, 17, 2015. Con Chronis
By Kit Hunders
Yesterday we witnessed a cracking 100th edition of the Melbourne to Warrnambool that will live long in the memory thanks in no small part to the daring breakaway, Jake Kauffman’s heroic chase, a record number women competing, and an outstanding sprint finish that saw Scott Sunderland lay claim to being the fastest man in Australia.
However those topics have been covered.
This is going to be a speculative look at an interesting situation that arose out on the road yesterday.
Now people have a tendency to lose their shit whenever cycling and opinion, theories, or works of fiction are all in the same article. If you’re one of those people, close the browser and walk away now, you’re only going to be disappointed.
I have it on good authority that yesterday morning in the team meeting managers were told that if the peloton fell 15 minutes behind a breakaway they would be pulled out of the race a nd would need to make their own way to Warrnambool – under normal road conditions. This sounded reasonable. The police do an outstanding job of keeping everyone safe and balance this with the needs of the people who use the roads we race on.
Once the break was established, the group of five worked well together and became six once Kauffman completed his incredible 50km bridge. After the 200km mark the group were back down to five, and started attacking each other. It was great entertainment, and all the protagonists played their part in animating the race, but…The group held the lead at 15 minutes, then 15 ½ minutes, and got it out to 16 ½ minutes for a good half an hour or so of racing – a fair whack of time.
So, should the peloton have been stopped?
It’s fair to say that not many people believed the race would actually be stopped, but that’s not really the point.
Now this isn’t a post to question the decision of the police or the race organisers. If they stop the race, that’s the right decision. If they allow the race to continue, that’s also the right decision. Everyone’s safety was absolutely paramount, so let’s make this clear, the right call was made.
But what of the six in the breakaway?
Let’s assume they knew about the fifteen minute limit and had an accord to bury themselves. Lay everything on the line. Get the break out to fifteen minutes. Have the race stopped. Catch their breath and then settle it on Raglan Parade in Warrnambool.
This tactic would absolutely affect how much petrol they had in the tank for the Camperdown climb at 200km, and the all-important final 75km into Warrnambool.
Were these six brave warriors denied an opportunity to write their names in the history books through no fault of their own?
We spoke with one of the combatants, Nick Squillari, who said
‘Without taking anything away from anyone’s results, a spectacular day of racing and a brilliant advertisement for this sport, I know there was a moment where I wondered “what if”. Not sure if any of the other five lads thought the same. But there was a moment in the original five where we mentioned the 15 minute time limit for the peloton…’
Budget Forklifts certainly went home happy, and DS Cameron Watt is something of a Melbourne to Warrnambool magician after sweeping the podium in 2013 and playing his cards to perfection in 2015, but this American can’t help but wonder if those chaps in the break went to sleep dreaming of what might have been.
