Day 3 - On The Road with Team Vittoria

It was a pretty full on start to the day for Team Vittoria. Mark Starr, aka Marky Mark, left the Comfort Inn All Seasons to go to Cafe Vittoria and present its owner Ben with a limited edition box of special Vittoria coffee beans. A local haunt for many of the cyclists in Ballina, Ben was really appreciative of the gift. Marky Mark then returned to the Comfort Inn All Seasons to enjoy some more Vittoria Coffee and an excellent pancake breakfast with Leesa and Mel from Canadian Kitchens. These guys sure put on a great spread, and don't we love it!

After consuming many espressos and our pancakes, the pelaton hit the road, only to see Team Vittoria quickly take charge of the pack. Once again Team Vittoria carried Sydney City Lexus for the first 30kms at a blistering pace, that even scared the cattle on the side of the road! Lead by Stifler and Patches, the front of the pelaton was in great shape as it briskly averaged 33kms/hr heading through the cane fields of Ballina. Marky Mark had the centre of the pelaton well under control and naturally the 2 Vittoria Coffee mechanics, DC and Wonder Boy Alex, took a firm hold of proceedings at the back of the pack. Thankfully it was a day that wasn't marred by too many punches and the boys were given a bit of respite as they were brought up the rear of the pelaton.

As we passed the 30km mark, the smallest man in the pelaton known as Pantani (Adam Elias) showed great courage and guts to break the wind (a cycling term that has no reference to bodily functions) for the rest of the team. This small man put in some incredible surges as he continued to power ahead, reminicent of his stint at the front of the pelaton on Day 2. Team Vittoria had to once again concentrate and lead the delicate pelaton through some extreme conditions of road works, gravel and broken glass. But it seemed everyone was secure in the knowledge that Team Vittoria was in control.

After riding for close on an hour and a half, the posse hit a terrific rest spot on the banks of the Richmond River in Woodbyne (dubbed Woodstock by the guys). This was a superb location as selected by our logistics crew Dave and Eric. These guys are masters of knowing what we need. After muffins, coffee and a quick live cross on air to ParadiseFM, the team once again hit the road. We went from the cane fields of Ballina into mainland Australia bush for a flat stage towards lunch.

As we turned off the highway the pace quickly picked up and the pelaton burst apart with surges, attacks and an all out sprint for lunch. Four riders quickly broke clear of the pack - Stifler, Cougar, Tricky and Patches broke away by a large margin and then settled down to battle out the bragging rights over lunch. Although the jury is still out and we're waiting for the photos to be developed, Stifler raised his arms in dubilation as he believes he's got the judges decision. This wouldn't really surprise anybody given the fact that he is a Team Vittoria rider. Cougar was left to lick his wounds in 2nd, with Tricky and Patches dead heating for the podium position of 3rd.

Once the pelaton regrouped we had a spectacular lunch put on by the Treasure Chest Dragon Boat team of Dragon's Abreast. The spread was put on in their club house at Maclean withthe special guest being Councillor John. John gave a very impressive speech and welcomed the riders with open arms and proceeded to hand Sambo a very large cheque on behalf of the Clarence Valley Council. Most of the pelaton then stripped down to their shirts and sat on the bank of the river to take in some lunch and a well earned rest. After a couple of Vittoria Coffees the pack were back on the road and crossing some very rickety bridges that once again took us toward the cane fields.

Our own Cougar (Geoff Coombes) was a special guest at lunch, particularly once the ladies found out he's not only the best looking guy in the pelaton, but he's also an Australian Dragonboat representative in 2007. Geoff then gave a quick tutorial on the finer arts of Dragonboat racing which was appreciated by all.

After a half hour ride, the pack came to the Clarence River Dairy. This was a particularly special time for the guys as the deck hand's grandfather had actually died of Cancer on that day. Although a somber note, it just gave the pelaton more drive to do what needed to be done to finish another special day in the Tour de Cure 2007.

Team Vittoria took a firm hold on the pelaton as we drove towards Grafton. DC emerged from the back of the pack to issue instructions to the pelaton on how we could instigate the Team Vittoria base line. All pelaton members were participants in this event as the speed picked up and we cruised as a team towards Grafton. There were special shout outs to Flick (Felicity) who was awesome on the front, taking the pack home.

As we hit the down town area of Grafton, Paris (Con Athans) took over the role left by Marcel, in throwing himself into roundabouts to stop traffic for the pelaton - it must be an ethnic thing, as our Greek adonis bravely combatted peak hour traffic of both the cars in Grafton!

It was a welcome sight for the pack as we hit our Quality Inn City Centre in downtown Grafton. Most riders jumping in the pool full kit and all! There wasn't even time to take off their jersey and nicks. The Tiger beers flowed as did the music and conversation as the pack re-checked bikes, did the washing, washed the trucks and unwound before going to dinner at the Senior Citizen's Centre, 2 blocks from the hotel. Team Vittoria have had a big day in guiding the pack, winning the sprint and taking out the yellow jersey with Stifler, for talking up a storm and having the right attitude throughout the day. The Team Vittoria mechanics then took hold of the hardware and finely tuned the pack's gear for day 4.

Jersey winners:
Yellow Jersey for Attitude - Stifler
Pink Jersey for Support - Pantani (Adam)
Blue Jersey for Guts - Flick (Felicity)
Polkadot Jersey for focus - Eric & Dave, our team logistics managers.

The comment of the day came from Leer Jet for the Boost Mobile Team, who was overheard saying that his team was really starting to gel. Noone's quite sure whether they're getting along really well, or if it has something to do with lubrication.... we'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that one!

Many thanks to Max who has worked tirelessly worked to download and perfect our photo gallery, and also to Dani who's working tirelessly back home to keep the PR machine rolling along on the road.

More from Team Vittoria on Day 4 - so stay tuned!