Norwegian coach Steffen Kjærgaard has been testing his riders, with the exception of Thor Hushovd, on the World Championship circuit in Geelong. The circuit has been described by most observers as being too tough for the pure sprinters, but Kjærgaard feels that it suits his riders.
The bulk of the Norwegian team has been in Australia for a week longer than most teams; he is wary though, of spending too much time on the on the circuit, as riders may become too familiar with it.
“It is beneficial to spend some time on it,” he said in an interview with Dagladet,no, “but it can easily be too much. Riding too many laps of the course, one can be over-focused on becoming familiar with it. It may sound strange, but a cyclist needs it to be special. Our riders have ridden some gentle laps on the course today, and so there will be two, three on Tuesday. I think that's sufficient.”
What the riders thought of the course, Kjærgaard didn’t yet know, but he was confident that they were comfortable with it.
“They have not been updated me properly on how they experienced it yet,” he said, “but I think they think it went smoothly. There were not any big surprises.”
For the Norwegian, who retired as a professional rider in 2003, after spending three years with the TVM team and four with US Postal, it was more important for the riders to adjust to the fact that they are on the other side of the world, in a time zone eight hours ahead of most of Europe.
“The most important reason for coming down early was not to discover the course,” he explained, “but to take the time difference as smoothly as possible.”
Kjærsgaard had been quoted on Norwegian TV station TV2 that the course was tougher than he had thought, something that he now wishes to retract.
“I wonder a bit how that came out,” he said. “When I was asked, I said that it was a little harder than I thought. What I was trying to express was only that the second hill was a little steeper than I thought. But it is shorter, because there’s no more altitude.”
Although Kjærgaard still rates the course as not too tough, he still thinks that it is beyond a rider like Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish. The Manxman will be the protected rider in a three-man British team, but the Norwegian feels he has misjudged how well the course suits him.
“I think he came up with a reasonably detailed assessment at a too early stage,” he said. “It's hard to believe there’s something bombastic about what he says, but I think he’s thinking about the course too optimistically in terms of himself.
“I stand on what I said before,” he added, “I do not think there will be a mass sprint.”
Norway’s three-man team, on the other hand, will start the race with two captains in Thor Hushovd and Edvald Boasson Hagen, who will be supported by Alexander Kristoff. Both riders pack a powerful sprint, and both are capable of being present at the end of a tough race. There are no team orders, but if they both arrive at the finish in the front group, Kjærgaard doesn’t think there will be any problems.
“I expect that both are so open and honest that they are able to make a decision on the way,” he said.
Like most people who have inspected the course, Kjærgaard feels that the race will suit a classics rider.
“There will be a strong correlation between the result list here and a typical list of results in the Ronde van Vlaanderen,” he said. “But the difference is that the race goes on in Belgium in April, while this is in Australia in October. Whoever is in form in April and October may vary. It can be anywhere between 25 degrees and sunny to four degrees and rain.”
Hushovd and Boasson Hagen both spent very different Septembers, with the former riding the Vuelta a España, winning a stage and coming second in another; the latter followed his third place in the Eneco Tour with the two new Canadian ProTour races, finishing second behind Thomas Voeckler in the GP Québec.
“I think [they’re on top form],” he said. “If you look at what all three of them have done in recent months, I am confident that they are in good form.
“They are extremely motivated. We will ride a test race on Sunday [in the Herald Sun World Cycling Classic in Ballarat] for most of the ones we have with us that should be included. Maybe even Thor Hushovd [who had arrived in Australia the previous night].”
The fact that the race is to be contested in an Australian spring, rather than a late European summer, should suit the Norwegians, Kjærgaard thinks, as the temperatures will be far closer to what they are used to.
“The Norwegians often suffer from the conditions,” he said, “In previous World Championships, we’ve had a challenge with the heat. We should get away with it here.”