Before the Santos Tour Down Under (TDU) began on Sunday, Lance Armstrong and others indicated their expectation that the Team RadioShack (TRS) squad would perform well in this first contest of the 2010 ProTour season. It hasn’t taken long.
After a good showing in Sunday’s criterium, Team RadioShack made the most of the 141km Stage 1 from Clare to Tanunda. As expected, another fast day was underway from the start. With 30km to go, all seven TRS riders were close behind another American squad, Team HTC Columbia, chasing the break away that had been established earlier in the race. Team Sky, whose rider Greg Henderson had claimed the previous day’s victory, was also part of that chase.
The pursuing peloton had no time for the views of Barossa Valley from atop Menglers Hill, designated the King of the Mountain segment for the day’s race. The peloton closed the gap from eight to three minutes with just 27km to go after the climb up Mengler. Tim Roe, the young Aussie racing for UniSA, captured the first KOM jersey of the tour. He was doubly rewarded in fact, as he was also named the Most Aggressive Rider for the day. Both accomplishments were certainly welcome news to Lance Armstrong among others, as Roe recently signed with the Trek-Livestrong’s U23 team (when not racing with UniSA).
In the end it was the sprinters who carried the day, with HTC-Columbia’s Andre Greipel, a pre-race favorite, unleashing a ferocious effort to cross the finish line first. TRS still had reason to celebrate, as their own Gert Steegmans finished just a bike length behind Greipel, in second place for the day, and secured a six minute bonus for the effort. Little surprise that Steegmans was in the mix at the end, as he’s known to be a sprinter on par with fellow Belgian and world-class sprinter Tom Boonen.
The other Shackers finished as follows: Lance Armstrong, 46th; Daryl Impey, 82nd; Tomas Vaitkus, 84th, Yaroslav Popovych, 86th; Sebastien Rosseler, 87th; Jason McCartney, 130th. As the TDU stages unfold, little doubt that Steegmans will again be in the hunt for a stage win. Overall The Shack’s is sure to be coming fast in the remaining race days in South Australia, a distant early warning for the future.
By Jeff Ludlum, staff writer
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Well, a six MINUTE time bonus would be great for TRS, but Perhaps a six second bonus would be a better choice.
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Way to go Gert!!!! Hopefully, TRS can keep up the support and get Gert a podium finish this year.
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