The Tour Down Under uses the phrase, ‘any closer and you’d be in it’ in its promotion for the event – and it’s true, and in fact I felt like I was in it!

Everything about this event exceeded expectations – here are the key numbers:

• Over 750,000 spectators watched the six stages and opening criterion.
• 144,000 people watched the final stage on an exciting street circuit in central Adelaide.
• Over 7000 riders participated in the Mutual Community Challenge recreation ride – there were 56 Kiwis in this event.
• 133 riders from 23 countries competed – there were three Kiwis on the start line in three teams.
• About 3500 bottles of water, 800 bottles of Powerade and 200 bottles of Coca-Cola were consumed by the pro riders and staff working on the event.
• There were 400 accredited journalists.

The star attraction was of course Lance Armstrong. The Lance factor in this year’s event was huge. His participation created massive media and public attention and was without doubt the major reason for the record numbers and record media coverage of the event.

The event had eight times more international media coverage this year – before it even started!

Armstrong praised the quality of the event and has said he will be back in 2010. Thousands of fans lined the streets, waited outside his hotel, the team village and after the finish of each stage to catch of glimpse of Armstrong, photograph him or ask for his autograph – it was truly the stuff of a rock star and was unbelievable to see up close.

How he handled the pressure from media and the public was outstanding. It was a very relaxed Lance Armstrong who came, rode and got his race legs – and ‘look’ – back.

Armstrong confirmed he was paid an appearance fee to race in Adelaide but no one officially said how much it was – the rumour mill put it at US$1 million and whether this is true, I have no idea. He is riding for the Astana Pro team for free, and stressed he had not felt so motivated about being on a bike since 1998, and he was riding for his ‘love of the sport’.

But Lance Armstrong Incorporated is a business, and it is normal to pay high profile sports people appearance fees, and in my opinion it was money well spent by Events South Australia, the major events division of the South Australian Tourism Commission – the results speak for themselves; Lance was the main reason I wanted to be there this year.

Lance Inc raced, made himself very available to the media – saying he’s had time to think about his relationship with the media during his three years off the bike, and given a ‘second chance’ realised he could do better – fielded questions and joked with media and the public, had his photo taken countless times, stopped to sign autographs, spoke at a Legends dinner, chatted whenever he could with fans and visited cancer patients.

There is no doubt Armstrong is an inspiration – we all know the well documented story, diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996, beating the disease and going on to win a record breaking seven Tour de France titles.

There is no doubting that Armstrong’s survival has made a massive difference to a huge number of people around the world. The Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised almost $US300 million with a variety of fundraising activities, including the yellow wristbands.

If by wearing the yellow Livestrong wristbands you are just trying to say, ‘I’m a cyclist’ you are missing the point.

He described his performance on the bike in Adelaide as somewhere between exceeding and matching his expectations.

It would be fair to say there were some high expectations in some quarters, expectations he was quick to downplay on his arrival in Adelaide.

‘It is crazy some people expect me to win,’ he told a packed media conference at the start of the week.

‘Tell them I’ve been drinking beer for three years,’ he joked, going on to say he did actually ‘work up a sweat’ most days while off the bike and did run a couple of marathons, eventually getting his time down to 2hr 40min.

Asked if he ever wonders ‘why am I doing this’ while suffering, he said the only time he ever thought like that was when going 102 kilometres an hour downhill.

‘But you try not to think about those things at that moment. I like to suffer, although I know that sounds weird. I know why I’m doing it, I want to do it and I’m having a good time.’

Early on during the tour his described the racing as a ‘suffer fest’ but said he felt better as the week went on as he adjusted to the speed and demands of being in a pro bike racer again.

The crowd went wild when he attacked in the final stages of the final day’s street circuit to briefly lead the field and fans were incredibly supportive at every opportunity.

‘I felt pretty good so I thought I’d give it a go, just didn’t have the firepower to keep it going, when you have 45 guys breathing down my neck. That’s best I’ve felt all week, when you feel good and have good legs you go for it.’

Armstrong said it was a ‘good re-entry back to sport, hard racing with enthusiastic crowds.’

‘The most important thing is it tells me I’ve been training hard. If you put in the miles and hours, it’s a good indication of what I’ve done so far. I’ve still to fine tune things, get lighter, fitter, work on certain aspects of conditioning.’

‘I’d say we’re on track, if I was not focused on July I wouldn’t be riding Tour Down Under. It’s two months advance [of where I am normally]. We will see how things go before the Giro.’

‘It’s given me reassurance that I can still race at highest level. The body deteriorates, as you get older. I’d rather come back and race. I think we’ve started something really great here with the cancer initiative, having the centre named after the foundation. I’ll be back to continue that relationship well into future. I could still be on the bike next year.’

Armstrong transcends sport – he is so much more than a cyclist. He said on every occasion possible that his return to the sport was more about raising awareness about cancer than it was about bike racing.

Near the end of the week South Australia Premier Mike Rann announced a new $32 million cancer wing at Flinders Medical Centre would be named in Armstrong’s honour.

‘This year, the comeback and my racing is going to be about balancing the cancer fight with riding,’ Armstrong said.

He discussed he will scale back his commitments to the Livestrong cancer campaign to focus much more on the riding as the more serious events loom larger on the radar, like the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France.

While in Adelaide he spent time with cancer patients at the hospital and made several public appearances, including the Legends Dinner on the Friday night before the final days racing.

‘This comeback is for at least a year - I will see how it goes but it could be for two. If racing next year, I will be back [in Adelaide] for sure.’

The seven-time Tour de France legend finished in 29th position overall 49 seconds behind Aussie winner Allan Davis and declared himself happy with his first hit out since his last pro bike race in 2005 which was the last of his Tour de France victories.

It did turn into a bit of a benefit for local Australian riders obviously keen to do well in their own backyard, with Davis followed closely on general classification by Stuart O’Grady (@25sec) and fellow Australians Wesley Sulzberger, Michael Rogers and Mathew Wilson filling 5th, 6th, and 7th positions on GC.

Another young Australian rider who made a name for himself was 19-year-old Jack Bobridge. Although he did not win a stage he attacked constantly throughout the tour, crashed, recovered, won some sprint points and is an exciting prospect for the future.

The Tour was made harder than previous years, with more climbing, and even had Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen complaining it was too hard this early in the season – harden up Robbie is what many thought, myself included.

But even with the harder stages it was still a sprinter’s benefit with breakaways caught and all of the six stages coming down to sprint finishes – even the ones that were slightly uphill!

The longest hill climb was the three kilometre Old Willunga climb at 7.5%, and riders went over it twice. It was here that many expected Armstrong to stamp his mark on the tour, which he did.

I was in a great position to see ‘the look’ as he challenged the bunch to chase down the breakaway heading up this hill the second time. He looked strong, he was up the front of the bunch, but he didn’t ride off into the sunset like many fans expected – it is early days, but those who saw him up close on this climb they were left in no doubt he is on track for a successful comeback.

In my mind it is already successful – after three years away from the sport he rode at the front, looked a great shape, afterwards was relaxed and it was a course that didn’t play to his strengths.

Reflecting on the win of Allan Davis, Armstrong said it was a ‘great victory for Allan.’

‘He has been seemingly invincible here; he controlled the race very well, controlled his team very well, never panicked, and raced like a true pro.’

At the Armstrong media conferences all the usual questions were being asked – how his legs felt, tactics and what he thought of the course so I asked a few different questions – here are his answers to my questions:

He confirmed there was no movie about his life being planned and that Matt Damon was not being looked at to play him, although he said he would ‘never say never’ about a potential movie about his life.

He said he enjoyed his three years off the bike, had a good social time and enjoyed going to restaurants and eating ‘whatever I wanted, and having an extra drink if I felt like it.’

And he paid tribute to Hayden Roulston, who spent some time on Armstrong’s Discovery Channel team in 2005, and how he has got back on the bike after his own health challenges which he could relate to, saying he could relate to being told to ‘stop doing what you love to do’ and then ‘getting that part of your life back makes the quality of life very important.’

I pointed out that Roulston should do very well in the prologue at the Tour of California – we’ll know about that result by the time you are reading this – and in the tough 15km prologue at the Tour de France, potentially beating the Texan in his comeback to the event he owned. He didn’t have much to say about that, which was understandable, but many journalists in the room were wondering ‘Hayden who?’; come July I bet they know.

And for those of you with Lance as a friend on Facebook, sorry to disappoint you, but according to his manager Johan Bruyneel Lance is not on Facebook.

One way to track what Lance is up to is to get hooked up with social networking site Twitter.com; he is addicted to it.

One journalist pointed out he knew he was in the air on his way to Australia because he hadn’t made a comment on Twitter in 10 hours.

Three Kiwi’s lined up on day one. Julian Dean (Garmin-Slipstream), Greg Henderson (Columbia-High Road) and Tim Gudsell (Francaise des Jeux). Unfortunately Gudsell came to grief along with nine other riders that included defending champion Andre Greipel on stage three, and his tour was over.

Gudsell suffered the worst injuries, breaking his collarbone in an ugly crash. He had a plate inserted in his broken collar bone the night of the crash.

It is a major setback for the Feilding-born rider who turned professional by signing with French team Francaise de Jeux in 2007. There must now be some doubt whether he will recover in time to start his second Giro d'Italia after a strong showing there last year.

Henderson was at the tour to work for his higher ranked team-mates that included Armstrong’s best mate George Hincapie, but did feature in the final dash to the line on the final stage which saw him finish 4th after the 90 kilometre street circuit, and 72nd on GC 29 minutes down on winner Davis.

He said has is changing the structure of his cycling in 2009.

‘I have given up the track for a couple of years so I can be 100% focused now on the road which is going to make life a hell of a lot easier.’

‘Having to switch codes is tough, both of them are so specialised. To be a track rider you have to spend a month on the track and you lose all of your road fitness. Then to try to come back and join the Pro Tour is so difficult and last year I really struggled.’

Comparing the associated risk with riding track and road, Henderson added, ‘When you commit to something, you have to commit 100%. It is the transitional time, it is just really difficult. They are almost two different sports, unfortunately they don’t complement each other that well, especially at the highest level, so this year I am really looking forward to just focusing on one and staying road fit.’

Henderson said his 2009 season will depend on what focus for the team will.

‘It depends on what chances they give me. If you look at the team it is full of “rock stars” so whatever chance I get I will grab with both hands you know and run with it. Last year I was given the opportunity at the Tour of Georgia and I managed to come away with a couple of victories. So as long as I am in good condition, stay healthy, stay fit and who knows what I will be up for.’

New Zealand’s leading Kiwi road cyclist Dean said that the huge numbers of people who turned up to watch the racing were there to ‘witness the first step on a comeback trail of potentially one of the great comebacks in sporting history.’

Dean, racing for the Garmin-Slipstream team, said the Tour Down Under ‘sets a fantastic standard’ for pro bike racing events.

‘Outside of Europe you don’t see anything like this. It’s a shorter sharper tour than something like the Tour de France – sort of like a 20/20 version of a Grand Tour,’ he said.

‘It’s spectator friendly, very easy to get around and get close to the teams – it’s a great week.’

With a few of the younger guys from the Garmin-Slipstream team Dean’s focus for the tour was on guiding his team-mates through the week and building up some race miles as he looks ahead to the larger events in Europe.

‘Obviously the first thing is I need to get picked for the larger Grand Tour events, and they are a long way off. The Tour Down Under offers a great chance to get some early season racing – I will build from here.’

Dean confirmed he was disappointed not to be wearing a Black and White Garmin-Slipstream team outfit in the tour and that it won’t feature in Europe this year after not winning the national road title back in January.

He revealed his team had even produced a black and white bike for him to ride – but more on Julian in the next issue of endurance sport... stay tuned, back to the Tour Down Under... Dean finished it lying 111th on GC 53 minutes off Davis, with some good hard race miles in his legs for later in the season, and I have to say, he is one of the nicest elite sportspeople I have ever met – no ego there, just a really genuinely nice guy!

A highlight for me was participating in the Mutual Community Challenge, riding the 155km stage 4 of the tour with over 7000 other cyclists from throughout the world.

There were three distance options and it was amazing to see everyone decked out in the same yellow cycle jersey. I managed to stay in the front bunch for most of the ride – it wasn’t really a ‘ride’ at the front, feeling much more like a Benchmark Race at home – and rode most of the distance with former Pro, 2004 Tour Down Under winner, and ambassador for the tour Patrick Jonker.

Having over 500 kilometres in my legs in the week leading up to the event wasn’t ideal but riding in Skins compression gear, including a Skins ICE top that kept me really cool, proved to make a real difference.

I did have a couple of scary moments. While leading my bunch we came up to an intersection with traffic lights that were red, but like at home I figured I’m at the front of a ‘ride’ with 7000 cyclists behind me so it will be marshalled and under control – I was wrong!

The Aussie guys behind me let me know as I raced into the intersection and into oncoming traffic – it was a recipe for disaster I narrowly avoided and was left thinking there was no way they could get away with that at home.

I was still hanging with the front bunch at the 75km mark when we hit a town called Williamstown only to get run off the road by a large 4WD that decided to turn off the road as I was on its inside trying to get past as it blocked the road. A quick reaction saw me avoid the 4WD and after some cross-country found myself dropped off the lead bunch that had disappeared up the road.

I chased for a bit eventually settling down with some other cyclists that had been dropped. For the record I did the ‘ride’ in 4 hours and 26 minutes and the guys up the road went through in 4 hours and 20 minutes – there was a hill climb between where I got dropped at 75km and the finish at 155km where I have no doubt I would have struggled to hang on to the leaders.

Seeing thousands of recreational cyclists come through the finish line was really amazing, many throwing their arms up as they came through as a sign of their own personal wins and challenges overcome – all shapes and sizes.

The Tour Down Under is a magnificent event. I really was once in a lifetime stuff; getting that close to living legend Lance Armstrong and the other pro teams, meeting legendary commentator Phil Liggett, getting to ride back to the team hotel with the pros after a couple of the stages, riding large portions of the course each day before the pros hit the road – I know I was the only media person working on the event riding the course each day – watching the exciting action and realising that Adelaide really is a great city with fantastic cafes, awesome cycle routes and outstanding beaches.

Lance is back that is for sure, now all eyes will be on Europe come May and July – it’s just those eyes will be a bit further away from the action I saw in Adelaide; any closer in Adelaide and I would have been on Lance’s team!