TransPortugal Garmin Bike Race
This is the "real" Alentejo
Louize Hill/Agnelo Quelhas / 06.06.2009
The Alentejo region is known for its rolling landscape, cereal fields and big skies. That is exactly what surrounded the racers today. Only a few years ago the Alqueva reservoir was built, changing this arid area into a fertile one, and the first half of the course follows the reservoir. Since the reservoir has been filled many of the tracks that used to exist in the area have been flooded, so the race links sections of road with sections of track.Today the only racer not to start was John Bullens, he had struggled in the stage yesterday, and lost a lot of time. He was already sick and today he had a high fever. Hopefully he will be better and able to ride again tomorrow.
Today\'s stage was particularly marked by the wind. It was so strong Sandra Correia said you even had to pedal down hills, and often it was a cross-wind that would blow you off track. This made the stage really tough, so tough the lead riders came in more than 40 minutes later than they did last year on the same stage. The wind also meant riders generally rode and worked together much more in packs. A further motivation to ride in a group is the number of gates on this stage as it makes opening and closing them easier. Erik Bakke decided to do the gates his own way was easiest. Plus he is tall enough that the gates were not a challenge to him, he just passed his bike over the gate and jumped over.
The large groups of riders were a challenge for the marshals on the checkpoints, trying to catch all the numbers as the groups come through is almost impossible, so they took photos of the groups to double check afterwards. The checkpoints during the stage are not essential, but are as much so the athletes remember there are other people around during the day! The race uses GPS to control each riders route and navigation during the day.
Once again João and Frans were at the front this stage with Tom Letsinger and Matthew Barton hot on their wheels. João and Frans left Tom and Matthew someway before the finishing line, but Tom and Matthew came in 3rd and 4th place. Matthew\'s final 100 m left many of the staff holding their breath, we could see him approaching along the road, and at the exact same time a train came thundering along the track running parallel to the route. Had Matthew seen it? Once the train passed we all held our breath to see whether Matthew was ok, he was!See All Event Posts
