Day 2 - Cranbourne - Traralgon

Day 2


April Fools Day – 1st April.

Category Jersey Winners


Versol Lexus Camp Quality Yellow Jersey for Commitment: Vaughan Kerr for setting up the kickoff day activities at Federation Square and using his endless contact within the media and entertainment business to secure our place on morning television and radio.
Pratt Foundation Prostate Cancer Blue Jersey for Guts: Awarded to Max Walker for his tenacity and battle to get fit for this years tour despite endless overseas and local work commitments.
Morph KOM Polka Dot Jersey for Focus: Stuart Crompton for his endless bar raising when it comes to fundraising and anything else.
New Idea Breast Cancer Pink Jersey for Support : James Buttelman for his selfless support of rider on the roads by constantly ensuring the peleton was clearly visible to our fellow road users.

Day 2 started out with the pleasant surprise that the showers forecast for today last week had failed to arrive and we were instead left with blue-bird skies and a chilly 10 degrees for breaky. A special thanks to the team at the Comfort Inn Mahogany Park in Cranbourne for hosting us for the night and a putting on a wonderful spread!

We were greeted in the briefing by the news that Phil Mouret (Team CSC) had thrown the gauntlet down early with an amazing verified donation of 2000 Euros (AU$2943) from Verosol Europe, sending him smashing through the $35,000 mark in personal donations!

We were also greeted the news that a new publicity opportunity had arisen over night which meant 60km had been added to the day, taking the ride to 195km. This was received with a mixture of nerves from some and slightly lunatic excitement from others!

The Tour de Cure welcomed special guests Andrew Lavery from CSC and his 15yr old son Jack (whose training consisted of the ride to school and back a few times!) to come along for the ride today. The TdC peleton rolled out with a degree of trepidation but smoked through the first 50km; smooth, flat country back roads, no wind and fresh morning air allowed us fire along in tight formation at +40km/hr.

This stretch featured the first KOM (King of the Mountain) points opportunity: a nasty “Cat 4” (ie short 1km) pinch which allowed the riders to raise the heart-rarte. Garrin Cronin of Team O’Sullivan Pullini claimed the points cresting in front of a steaming Crommo (Team Travelforce) and Gary “The Unit” Holland of Team Choice Hotels. Clearly though the real General Classification hopes are holding back for later in the Tour, with Team ICAP keeping their lead rider Michael Bolt well protected in the back half of the peleton.

At morning tea Tommy “Pup” Hogbin took the opportunity to raise Team Travelforce’s funds with the local Senior Ladies and ended up with kisses from some of the town’s finest over-60’s! The combination of the Puppy charm and mentoring from “Obi Wan Denver” (full-time Mayor of Manly and part-time Jedi Love Master) obviously leaves ladies of all ages utterly defenceless…

Lunch at Yarragon featured 3 highlights – the food (obviously) and the generosity of the township and the 2nd Points opportunity – the Main Street Sprint.

1. Food: Java Curry with Beans, Vietnamese salad backed up with Mousse and Ice cream….
2. Generosity: Renae, Pup and Denver were again a cyclone of energy canvassing the local stores and came up trumps!!!! Firstly, with our truck up ahead containing the Powerade, the local Yarragon Milk Bar produced 2 cases of icy Powerade for the crew!!!! Then entering Annabel's Gift Shop, the team met a lovely lady named Mary who had lost her parents to cancer and currently has both her brother and sister ungoing treatment. Mary had set up a collection tin on her counter for spare change from shoppers and her own cash register to try to help contribute to finding a cure for cancer. She happily and VERY generously donated this to the Tour de Cure.

3. Main Street Sprint: The first Sprint points were located at the far end of the Yarragon Main street, and involved a 300m flat chat sprint from a standing start taken out by the reigning Australian and World Champion Bike Mechanic Alex “The Russian” Malone of Team Ella Bache showing uncharacteristic speed from a known climber to dominate out of the blocks leaving Cougar (CSC) and Unit (Travelforce) to argue over the minor placings

Upon being told that the altered route for today and 195km was actually an April Fool's Day prank, the tension within the bunch eased significantly (although some sicko's actually looked dissappointed...) We set off for the final leg into Traralgon and quickly the road surface on the break down lane deteriorated: The lead car worked hard with Evo and James clearing debris such as retread, rocks, and a full (yep, used) nappy, adding keeping Australia beautiful to TdC’s list of achievements. The KOM boys also worked overtime changing 8 tubes, 2 tyres and dragging cyclists back to the peleton time and time again as the gravel and glass took its toll.

Arriving into Traralgon, we were greeted by local media and the friendly team at the Quality Inn La Trobe Conference Centre. After a quick unpack the TdC stretched and relaxed in the sun by the beautiful central (and chilly) pool briefly before getting into the daily chores and joining some locals for dinner. In true form the cyclists were in bed by 9pm (aside from team ICAP who are probably still trying to complete this blog of the day's sensational events...)

Special thanks AGAIN to

Comfort Inn Mahogany Park, Cranbourne

The team at Yarragon Milk Bar, the finest milk bar in the Western Gippsland region!

Mary from Annabels, your story only strengthened our resolve to help find a cure

Team ICAP