Starting at King William Road, Elder Park, the Adelaide City Council final stage of the Santos Tour Down Under (TDU) was scheduled to begin Sunday afternoon. The criterium format meant that there would be 20 laps on the city streets, serving up a flat (save the small climb up Montefiore Hill) and very fast finish to the first event of the ProTour 2010 season.
After what many said was the most exciting stage of the TDU’s twelve year history on Saturday, there was much anticipation as to what would play out for the final stage, racing through Adelaide. Would Greipel hold the Ochre Leader’s Jersey to finish as tour champion? And the final stage victory, to whom would it go? Valverde, or perhaps Evans? Or maybe a Team RadioShack (TRS) rider, still due after Gert Steegmans near miss with 2nd place days earlier? All would unfold on a hot Sunday afternoon in South Australia.
As it was last year, Lance Armstrong (TRS) and Robbie McEwen (Katusha) were the last riders over the start line as the race got underway. The riders were all together through the first lap, with two HTC Columbia riders leading the peloton. Then the real action commenced, with a Uni SA, then BMC rider attacking, ultimately to no avail.
Attacks throughout the early part of the stage came from all sides: Francaise Des Jeux, Astana, AG2R La Mondiale had riders break free for a bit, but it didn’t last long, and the break was sucked back into the peloton’s vortex.
The riders were seriously strung out heading into the first sprint at Lap 8. Astana, SaxoBank, and Garmin-Transitions all tried to position for a run at the line, but it was ultimately Greg Henderson of Team Sky over the mark first, with second going to Robbie Hunter of Garmin, and third to Baden Cooke of Saxo Bank.
Over Lap 9, no attacks were able to break, but Team Katusha and HTC Columbia were at the front heading into Lap 10 and first of two King of the Mountain (KOM) contests. As the peloton sped on, Katusha and HTC lost their advantage to riders from Francaise Des Jeux (FDJ), Astana, and Milram. First over the top was Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), second was Valeriy Dmitriyev (Astana) and third to Thomas Rohregger ( Milram).
Leading into Lap 12 and the second sprint, the peloton was bustling as riders again jockeyed for position and attacks were launched. Rabobank had a rider in front who appeared might go uncontested. But then seemingly out of no where, as he’s done so many times in the past, came Robbie McEwen of Katusha to win the second sprint, ahead of Robbie Hunter and George Hincapie (BMC).
At lap 15 the second KOM at Montefiore Hill was contested, with new names for the week, first place to Fabio Sabatini of Liquigas-Doimo, second to Wesley Sulzberger (FDJ), and third to Trent Lowe (Garmin-Transitions). Sulzberger’s position with the break after the second KOM must have caused a bit of a stir with HTC Columbia.
If the break could maintain its lead over the final laps, and with Sulszberger only 30 second behind Greipel in the GC standing overall, Sulzberger would win the Santos Tour Down Under. Drama was building in the final five laps! HTC Columbia, Astana and Caisse d’Epargne lead the front of the peloton at that point, in effort to reel the break in with four laps to go. The breakaway was averaging 45 kmh, but the peloton was averaging 49kmh. The monster would catch the break riders before the finish.
At the end the breakaway was absorbed, and it was Sky and Team Radioshack charging to the line, with McEwen (Katusha) looking for one last push. Team Sky was victorious in the end, with Sutton and Henderson of Sky in the one, two slots, and Graeme Brown of Rabobank in third. A final charge by the Shack’s Gert Steegmans saw him finish ninth for the final stage, giving TRS’ red jersey a spot in the top ten once again.
Andre Greipel of HTC Columbia retained the Ochre Jersey as the GC winner of the TDU 2010. Speaking to Cycling News after the last stage, Johan Bruyneel praised Greipel’s accomplishment, and also the show put on by another new team to the ProTour 2010, Team Sky. Bruyneel commented further that although Team RadioshackS didn’t accomplish their stated goal of one stage win for the week, he was happy overall with the team’s efforts. So closed this first race for The Shack in the 2010 season. As Lance Armstrong tweeted upon departure, “Thanks for everything, Adelaide. You guys rock!” Yes indeed!
By Jeff Ludlum, staff writer
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Great recap, Jeff!
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