Quelle journée pour Sam Welsford ! Alors que la 1ère journée avait été un long fleuve tranquille pour l'Asutralien de la Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, cette 2e étape du Santos Tour Down Under autour de Tamunda était loin d'être aussi simple... mais la finalité reste la même puisque Welsford a de nouveau levé les bras. Pris dans une chute dans la première heure de course, il a ensuite traîné sa misère tout au long de la journée, se faisant même décrocher dans la dernière ascension, avant de revenir et de s'imposer au sprint, après un très gros boulot de son équipe.
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SportTranscription
00:00What did you learn about yourself today?
00:04You crashed early, got dropped, got pulled back, won the sprint.
00:08What does that tell you about your own character?
00:10Yeah, I think I always wear my heart on my sleeve out here and I really wanted to show
00:16the training I've been doing and the prep I've done over the winter that I can suffer
00:20on these harder days and still produce a good sprint at the end today.
00:23Yeah, I was really, really happy to pay the team back after their work.
00:27I mean, they believe in me and commit to me 100% in any day they can.
00:31So for me, my legs were screaming in that lead up because I was already on the limit
00:36for so long, but I just knew that I had to do it for them because they looked after me
00:41so well for me.
00:42What was the pain like, on a scale of 1 to 10, with the scratches?
00:45It was a little bit annoying, like, yeah, the right cheek was a bit tender and then
00:50every time I would get water or sweat on me, then I would always get a jolt of pain, but
00:56I mean, it's just a bit of skin off, so thankfully nothing broken.
01:00And tomorrow?
01:01What's the plan for tomorrow?
01:02Tomorrow, Stage 3 is very different, so I think we'll be maybe helping other people
01:07today, I mean tomorrow, but we'll see, I mean, we're the leaders jersey, but I think a lot
01:12of it is up to a lot of teams, what they want to do.
01:14I'd say Stage 3 is the hardest stage of the tour, you know, I think for GC, this is the
01:18big, with the big shakedown, so it'll be very tactical and very strategic, what teams throw
01:24out there tomorrow.
01:25Last one, final one, you're the world's fastest wombat, what's that question, what's that
01:28nickname all about, where's that come from, the important stuff, Sam?
01:32So wombat actually originated from, actually, Michael Hepburn, in 2016 we were at the World
01:37Championships in London on the track, and I think we were looking at the efforts before
01:41the race, and we were doing a team pursuit effort, and I was finishing the last two laps
01:47and I was really going, like sprinting, and then I was rocking all over the bike and he
01:51said I looked like a wombat running, because my arse was shaking around or something.
01:54So that's how it started, and then it's literally stuck since then, and now it's just part of
02:01my identity, which is really funny.
02:03Thanks guys, thanks for the news.
02:05Hello and welcome back to South Australia as we continue to celebrate the 25th year
02:11of the Santos Tour Down Under, we're on the second day today with the Hell Partners, a
02:15circuit race based on Tanunda, in the famous Barossa Valley.
02:21We go and just catch up with the new leader this morning, these are live pictures now
02:25as he signs in here, and getting ready to wear that ochre jersey of race leader with
02:30pride, that's Sam Welsford.
02:32Mayor of Tanunda, fire the gun, we've seen the race return here on 12 occasions previously,
02:40this is number 13.
02:41We're getting underway now, and we're going to start the attacks right from the gun I
02:46think here.
02:47ARA, Australia national team, at the forefront.
02:51No further reaction from the peloton at the moment, oh and there's a crash.
02:57Well that's a crash on a straight piece of road, they're right in the centre of the peloton,
03:01there's a lot of EF Education First riders in pink, they're involved in it.
03:05So our race leader Sam Welsford is involved, just to the back of the picture, he just got
03:09up, one of the riders from Sudal, quick step, just getting back to his feet.
03:14Oh this is the worst possible situation, Mayor Welsford now moving off, you see the ripping
03:18he's short, so he's gone down heavily, Jonathan Naves as well, on the ground, so I wonder
03:24if this will prompt a go slow from the rest of the peloton at the moment, that will see
03:28the breakaway go well or clear, because when the leader goes down in a crash, in a situation
03:33like this, it's very often the case that gentleman's agreement, an unwritten rule, we wait until
03:39the race leader returns to the bunch.
03:42Browning not afraid to put a lot of effort in at the front here, he wears the leader's
03:46jersey in the competition, the FX King of the Mountains, and ten points now have moved
03:51into 31, the two riders behind him, as he goes through and takes the ten points without
03:56any challenge, that's their first point in this competition, so he's had a good day already.
04:02Yep, his day is already almost made.
04:06There is the race leader, oh he's found his legs now, he's going down the line of riders,
04:11the Israeli Premier Tech there, just letting them all know as he finds his teammates, I've
04:16loosened off again now.
04:19Browning may be keen to try and take the three seconds, because he's already sitting in the
04:22top five overall, after the bonuses picked up yesterday.
04:24He would be second in the race, OK, but it doesn't mean I was in a week's time, but a
04:29few days' time.
04:30Zimmerman wants them, and so does Patrick Conrad.
04:34I was about to think, I thought, oh, he's still on there, crushed him in a little bit,
04:38but it's OK, Conrad takes that, he gets the small bonus, no interest from Browning, he
04:43gets the one second time bonus, which is Ziptrack's competition.
04:48Now it's 40 seconds, and they're not quite at the top, but it looks like Browning will
04:52take it.
04:53Yep, well that's honourable, that's honourable.
04:59He's got another ten points now, which gives him 41 points in the competition, and the
05:04other two riders will move into, I think, third and fourth, because they haven't quite
05:10got the points of Zach Marriott, the team-mate of Fergus Browning yet.
05:16Three two and one seconds come off your overall race time, and well, here we go, it's Conrad
05:22Gunn chasing Jörg Zimmerman at the moment, and again, Fergus lets them go, but he's still
05:29going to make up a bit of ground.
05:32I think Zimmerman just hung on.
05:35Well we'll have to wait for the judges to tell us that.
05:38So here it is from the overhead, Zimmerman on the left, Patrick Conrad ranging up, and
05:42ooooh, see, without being able to see the front wheel, because there were different
05:47sorts of lunges as well.
05:50Zimmerman still in front, still in front, not much of a throw from Zimmerman, but his
05:57bike was in front, and it was in the line, and then Conrad's throw was a bit better,
06:01but a bit later, I had the impression, yeah, I'm going Zimmerman.
06:06It almost feels like the calm before the storm at the moment, Phil.
06:09And that's exactly what it is, there's two races here now, there's the sprinters who
06:14know that tomorrow may not be for them, and there's the riders who want to win the race
06:19on Sunday in Adelaide, and they don't want to make a mistake now, because there's two
06:23big days for them coming up.
06:25So how does a move like this help a rider like Luke Platt?
06:29He's keeping it hard, and it enables Luke Platt to hold his position easily, when there's
06:33not much around him, but the response here, coming from the Movistar team, number 127
06:39is Javier Romo, he's going to go over the top of Chris Harper, and he takes the FX King
06:49of the Mountains, there he is, Javier Romo, from the Movistar team from Spain, a lot of
06:56looking over the shoulders, and a long line, but no big gaps in the group.
07:02Look at Welsford, going deep, looking for help.
07:07Just need to bridge that gap.
07:11Rocking and rolling on the shoulders.
07:13Huge effort required.
07:15Up through the middle, and is that Edmondson who is coming through for Picknick-Postenel?
07:21Ben Swift is up there for Ineos Grenadiers as well.
07:23Anderson.
07:24Yeah, and I don't see the Brennan white jersey there either.
07:29Van Poppel takes the lead now.
07:31This could be a big one.
07:32Anderson Lund on the wheel of Sam Welsford now.
07:35Bauhaus behind him, the sprint opens up.
07:37Van Poppel opens it up, oh this is going to be an amazing victory for Sam Welsford.
07:44If ever, the way he put his arms up there, and he said, did I really win that?
07:49That was a ride.
07:50There it is Robbie, and it was even clearer than the win he got yesterday.
07:57I don't see the white jersey coming in that little group of cock-eyes there.
08:01Now watch this moment, Van Poppel is almost ready to pull away out to the left-hand side
08:05to let Sam pass up the right.
08:09Anderson goes to go through the middle, just gets shut down again by Van Poppel, and then
08:13it's over.
08:14Sam Welsford has already won.
08:15Two bumps and shoves.
08:16Not happy.
08:18That was Anderson, and he's not happy as well.
08:20He's claiming that Danny Van Poppel's come back across.
08:24That will get looked at.
08:26It will not affect Sam Welsford, but the action of Danny Van Poppel, you deviate ever so slightly
08:32from your line.
08:33They are definitely going to take a look and see if it warrants any further action.
08:38We knew if we got on, we'd be in for a sniff, and I said to the boys, I said, get me on,
08:42you know, I'm going to bloody win this thing.
08:45What's your assessment of the damage that's been done?
08:47Um, yeah, not too bad, just a bit of bark off.
08:50I had worse.
08:53I just healed my left side from Nationals, and now my right side is just the same, so
08:58at least I've balanced it out a bit.
09:00Well what we can organise is a new ochre jersey.
09:02You'd better get yourself to the podium.
09:03Yeah, that'd be great, this one's stinging.
09:07After two days of racing, he holds firm, Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe, Sam Welsford.
09:15Your Yamaha Most Competitive Rider of the Day, give it up for Sam Welsford.
09:45Well it's any wonder, isn't it, when you win the first two stages,
10:15with it comes the sprinter's jersey for Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe, Sam Welsford.
10:39And this young man, he is going for it, he really is, and don't we love it, for the
10:44Australian National Team, two days running, Fergus Browning.
11:06Well thank you very much, Sam, and he lived every moment of that stage, that's for sure,
11:11and he needs a big thanks, and he's given it there to his team.
11:14That's the situation, when we go into stage three tomorrow, he leads by just 14 seconds,
11:19so on merit.