Bauer attacks in Adelaide
Jack Bauer is a man on a mission in 2017, and his new cycling team just caught a glimpse of it.
Looking at the 31-year-old’s results from the Tour Down Under doesn’t paint a true picture of how well he performed in his first World Tour race in the blue and white of Quick-Step Floors.
He finished 50th place, 6min 28sec behind champion Richie Porte, while his best stage result was a 23rd placing on the opening day.
But Bauer’s job wasn’t to be in the mix on the general classification standings. It was to hunt out stage wins, and act as a lead out rider for his team-mates. And he didn’t die wondering. The frequent sight of Bauer in breakaways will have the Belgian team buzzing with their new man’s efforts in a series of statement making rides in Adelaide.
Bauer, who was backing up from winning the time trial at the Elite Road National Championships in Napier, won the most combative rider award on three consecutive days as he frequently took it upon himself to set the pace in the scorching conditions.
‘‘Winning the combativity prize so many times wasn’t a plan, as such. Looking back at the past few stages, I wanted to win stage four, as I thought there was a small chance of a breakaway winning the day,’’ Bauer told www.quickstepfloorscycling.com.
‘‘On stage five, I just wanted to sit at the head of the race, so that I could survive the climb up Willunga Hill, and that’s why I went in the breakaway.
‘‘Finally, on the last stage, I knew there was not a big chance of winning the stage, which is a very fast circuit, but I nevertheless had a shot, and at least I put the QuickStep Floors team jersey out there at the front of the race and put on a show for the fans who came out to watch us.’’
Bauer feels like he has a point to prove in 2017 after a previous 12-month period he described as lacklustre.
After breaking his femur at the 2015 Tour de France, Bauer fell out of favour with Cannondale-Drapac and eventually saw the writing was on the wall when he was left out of the team for all three of the grand tours so decided to look elsewhere.
Bauer and his Quick-Step teammates will now travel to Geelong for the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race which begins on Sunday.