Tour Down Under - Michael Woods

[Rolf]

If you're not following the Tour Down Under this week, then I commend this race clip to you.

It shows 29 year-old Canadian "neo-pro" Michael Woods climbing, descending, and sprinting his way into global cycling renown. He's a runner from Ottawa who became a North American pro only 4 years ago, then this year jumped in with Jonathan Vaughters, Cannondale and the big boys on the World Tour (coincidentally(?) at the same time Hesjedal jumped ship to Trek).

The clip above shows him climbing at the front of some of the world's best, descending at 105 km/h and then still pulling off a sick sprint.

It will be fun to follow another Canadian at the top end of the sport—one who doesn't have any doping history (yet revealed, anyway.)

[sylvan]

Tonight's the big one, the Willunga Hill stage. Finish expected sometime shortly after 8:00 pm. Lots of video links here...

[AJ Neale]

Thanks for the link Rolf ..... that was pretty exciting to watch. It was funny when Michael went on the steepest part of the climb and Phil clearly didn't know who it was ..... I thought he almost said: " It's Michael Woods from Canada, without his hockey stick!".

Let's hope Claire doesn't see it lest she get the idea that you can turn a runner into a cyclist.

Andrew

[Stéphane Tran]

Thanks for the link. That was one of the most exciting race clips I've seen in a while, even without the Canadian connection.

[ghomer]

Not just any runner. He ran a four minute mile as a teenager...

[Rolf]

Woods pulled a corker on Old Willunga, fair dinkum!

As Phil says at 8:23, "Woods ... has confirmed ... that he's a top World Tour man[!]"

[Claire]

Let's hope Claire doesn't see it lest she get the idea that you can turn a runner into a cyclist.

Nah... But you can turn a cyclist into a runner, and back into a cyclist again.

[Lund]

But you can turn a cyclist into a runner

Yeah...but why would anyone do such a thing? That's just mean.

And stoopid.