Running man poses Porte’s biggest threat
CANADIAN former pro runner Mike Woods has been dubbed the biggest threat to Australian star and Willunga king Richie Porte winning his second Tour Down Under, which starts today.
Woods, who was third in last year’s world championships on a hilly course in Austria and fifth at his TDU debut two years ago, will lead a strong EF Education First team that has been training in Australia for two weeks.
Former TDU winner Rohan Dennis said Woods was the man most likely to challenge Porte for the ochre jersey this week.
“There are two guys to watch – Richie obviously and Mike Woods,” Dennis said.
“Mike looks like he’s in good form, he always looks pretty lean but I believe he’s been looking to start the season off on a high.
“No doubt he’s been training pretty hard and we saw what he could do at the world championships last year in Innsbruck, coming third, and that was a very steep climb – steeper than the Corkscrew or Willunga, so I think that he’s going to be right up there.
“And Richie for obvious reasons. He’s won Willunga the last five years and he’s always going to be up there.
“One day one of us might beat him but we have to hope for the best.”
With the temperature expected to nudge 40C and 41C the next two days, the first two stages have been shortened.
The circuit finish to Stage 1 from North Adelaide to Port Adelaide today has been removed amid fears high winds could disrupt the general classification, while Stage 2 from Norwood to Angaston has been cut by 26.9km and will be 122.1km long.