The Ingkerreke Commercial MTB Enduro
Stage 2
Media Release - Rapid Ascent - Chris Ord / 22.05.2011
A Hollywood scriptwriter couldn’t have written better than what transpired at the pointy end of the pack in today’s Stage Two of the Ingkerreke Mountain Bike Enduro in Alice Springs, with Andy Blair snatching the stage win and the leader’s yellow jersey in storybook circumstances.After yesterday’s drama of being relegated from equal second to third place following a finish line protest, Blair wheeled out into the MacDonnell Ranges this morning “with something to prove.�
Blair went out hard, determined to push yesterday’s stage winner, Jason English, and the instigator of the protest, Aiden Lefmann, to the brink of dropping off his tail. But with ten kilometres to go before the Alice Springs Velodrome finish, he had failed to shake the pair and a repeat of yesterday’s sprint finish was on the cards.
This is where Blair’s pre-race strategy came to the fore. Saturday prior to the race, Blair had visited the final killer hill of the stage, located not far from the velodrome, knowing it held the key to the 39km stage. Most had judged it unrideable. Not Blair. Knowing it could be a crux of the race, he was determined to break the back of the mini-mountain, attempting three times to conquer it in the saddle, all to no avail.
Fast forward to today’s race and Blair’s rivals remained steadfast on his hammer. Easing the pace, he decided to conserve energy, his thoughts already working on a line up that hill. Blair knew in all likelihood that English and Lefmann would be forced from their bikes – even elites have to walk sometimes.
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