Kyle Ward snares stage two of Cape to Cape
On a gusty and grey day, 1200 mountain bikers gathered at Hamelin Bay for stage two of the 2015 Port to Port.
On a gusty and grey day, 1200 mountain bikers gathered at Hamelin Bay for stage two of the 2015 Port to Port. The race organisation runs like a well-oiled machine after 8 years, and we were guided in by race volunteers, past the huge Shimano start banner and through to the carpark.
You can go to a mountain bike race anywhere in the world, and the hour before the race is pretty much the same. Tyres are pumped up, then pressures constantly fiddled with. Riders of various ages do strange warm up and stretching routines, and masters racers apply warm up oil that makes the air around them eye-wateringly fragrant. And of course, there’s the talk of how they could have gone harder yesterday, but they’re saving themselves for later…
With a cool temperature of 17 degrees and an encroaching rain shower, the gun went off and we took to the climb up the road from the bay. The first small attack went as we turned onto a different road, but nothing really got serious until the bunch hooked right onto sandy doubletrack, and we were strung out.
Race leader Mark Tupalski seemed happy to lead from the front, riding with birthday strength. But as we tore through some fast singletrack, the front group was mostly together, with Paul van der Ploeg dropping off with a mechanical.
The descent down “Highway to Hell” kept many entertained, with limestone rocks piercing the deep sand on the way to the beach. The climb back had many riders struggling, with a headwind, sandy corrugations, and a long drag.
The next sandy section saw Kyle Ward create a gap that couldn’t be closed down, and he crossed the line some 15km later for a solo win at Xanadu Winery. The front bunch came in together, and Nick Morgan took the bunch kick, having saved himself from the wind in the preceeding kilometres.
Peta Mullens rode a smart race, staying out of the wind, and took another stage win, with Imogen Smith about five minutes back, hampered by a crash on some of the farm trails.
There’s been no change in the overall leads, but now the top 20 men and top 10 women are relaxing before the Sundown Shootout, with time bonuses and $1000 for each winner up for grabs.
$10 burgers went down a treat!
Love a jet wash
