Black Fish Training Intensifies

With only days to go until the 2013 Tour Down Under, the Black Fish roster for the big event has been finalised. GC contender Sam Whittle will be ably supported by four super-domestiques. The combination of the climbing prowess of Sam "Schleckwards" Edwards, the flatlands power of newly-svelte Richard "Lambert-Eaton" Weeks, the all-round ability of Finola "Queen Fionala" Dwyer, and the freakish physiology of Alex "Jeanne Triplepeaks" Rodgers will undoubtedly place the team in a position to challenge for victory.

It is hardly surprising, then, that the team has spent all of 2013 doing little but training.

And the results have been highly impressive. The team now has a combined body fat that is lower than the captain's head and neck fat mass in this 'before' photo:

But the most remarkable training regimen has been that embraced by Triplepeaks Rodgers. Having spent most of the off-season cleverly avoiding this...

...he finally exploded into action this week by pulling off his signature ride:

The much-feared "Triple Peaks". 

Here is an artist's rendition of Rodgers as he crested each of these terrible peaks:

The Lofty-Greenhill-Norton treble is not for the faint-hearted, particularly in the white heat of an Adelaide January Wednesday afternoon. But, as expected, Rodgers emerged from the ordeal as a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis: sleek, beautiful, awe-inspiring. And no longer in need of this sort of sustenance:

Ok, that last bit might not be true. Intra-ride snacks are to Triplepeaks as extra erythrocytes are to US Postal.

Anyway, he's now in tip-top shape and ready to tackle the feared Col du Novotel.