Looking back on last weekend of sport in Melbourne, I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to see anything live. I'll have my grizzle in a minute but first I must congratulate the organising committee for the 2010 World Road Cycling Championships. It was a magnificent success, attracting 157,000 people on Sunday to the Men's Elite Road Race. With the weather and the number of people, I was mighty annoyed with myself that I didn't attend. This was compounded by the fact that I was denied entry to watch my beloved Magpies with the Premiership at the 'G, despite the fact that there were over 6,000 empty seats in the MCC reserve. I will get back to this a bit later.
Thursday's time trial was impressive - despite being overshadowed by Alberto Contador's positive dope test - with a predictable result. Just like he had done the previous year in Mendrisio, Fabian Cancellara destroyed the field. David Millar was fast, but Cancellara was much, much faster, beating him by over a minute and cruising over the line, saluting with four fingers raised aloft to mark his record-breaking World Championship haul. Honourable mentions have to go to the Aussie duo of Richie Porte and Michael Rogers, who finished 4th and 5th respectively. Porte rode out of his skin to just be denied a medal by Tony Martin, although he did benefit from Martin's puncture on the first lap. Rogers set the early pace but was eventually knocked off, firstly by David Millar, then Porte, Martin and finally, Cancellara.
I'm also rather annoyed that I missed the Under 23 road race, with Aussie Michael Matthews scoring gold on home soil. At least this gave us a brace of medals and set the scene for the main event on Sunday.
I think 3 things will go down as the enduring memories of the race. Firstly, the fact that the peloton allowed the break to get 25 minutes in front. Rather hilariously, there was panic among the organisers that the peloton would get lapped by the break, thereby effectively eliminating them. Thankfully, they got in with a bit under 90 seconds to spare.
Second was the willed attacking efforts of defending champ Cadel Evans. Many criticise him for being a bit whingey and soft but if you watched him on Sunday, you'll have a new-found respect. He was, put simply, brilliant. On a course that didn't hinder or help him, with a less-than-ideal lead-up and with a team that fell apart in the final few laps, Cadel Evans simply refused to give up his rainbow jersey. When he was reeled in for the final time with less than 2km to go, he looked utterly spent. Congratulations Cadel, you wore the jersey with gusto this year and ended your reign on a very positive note.
Finally, Thor Hushovd's magnificent victory. When you look back on it, this course suited him. Despite the fact that the Norwegian is quite tall and heavy, he is a reasonably good climber for a sprinter. He was able to stick in the bunch and with 200m to go, he jumped out of the pack and sprinted away to score easily. Matti Breschel and Allan 'Alby' Davis tried valiantly to catch him, but to no avail. For Thor, this completes his resume. A Tour de France stage winner, Green jersey winner, Yellow jersey wearer and now a World Champion.
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Getting back to the AFL Grand Final, as I said before, I was extremely disappointed that I was unable to attend despite the fact that the crowd didn't even get above the Collingwood-Geelong preliminary final attendance figure. Being a restricted MCC member, I attended the prelim final and had a blast watching the Pies annihilate the Cats. In grand finals past, if the MCC Reserve wasn't full by 11:00am, they would throw the doors open to Restricted Members in an attempt to fill the ground to capacity. However, for some reason, this didn't happen this year. I was following it closely on Twitter, membership pass at the ready, waiting for the announcement but it never came, despite repeated reports by the press that the Reserve was far from full.
This is 2010, not 1950. The full members have had plenty of chances to see grand finals, why not take on the AFL's approach of ridding the ground of corporates and giving more seats to the next generation of members to see the spectacle. This has taken some sheen off the otherwise magnificent result.
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