Canadian Cyclist

 

January 20/09 10:27 am - Tour Down Under: Stage 1


Posted by Editoress on 01/20/09
 

Tour Down Under - ProTour Adelaide, Australia

Report Courtesy Team Columbia - High Road

Columbia-Highroad’s Andre Greipel can breathe a little easier today after winning his first stage of the 2009 Tour Down Under for his team.

After winning four stages and the overall classification at the 2008 edition of the race, and continuing to win throughout the season, Greipel’s first aim was to start the season as well as he did last year.

“All I really wanted was to win a stage here,” explained Greipel. “Everything on top of that is a bonus.”

Greipel won the bunch sprint at the end of a blistering hot 140km stage set in north east Adelaide.

“I had the perfect lead out from the team, just like I did on Sunday [at the pre-tour citerium],” he said of the final kilometres. “On Sunday, we had a bit of bad luck and it was my fault at the end that we didn’t win so we really wanted to try it again. I got another perfect lead out and this time I had luck on my side and we won.”

“It was really hot all day,” Greipel said of the conditions. “Too hot for the two guys in the break away. Bernie [Eisel] started riding to bring them back with about 70km to go, but it was so hot that we didn’t need to chase very hard. We were very grateful for the ice we got in the feed zone.”

“The final part of the race was really fast. The guys did a great job. In the finishing straight I was on the wheel of Mark Renshaw and he took me all the way. Then Robbie [McEwen] started the sprint and I grabbed his wheel.”

“I’m very happy that were able to win a stage here. Now I hope we can continue to keep the jersey in the team. We will try our best,” finished Greipel.

Team Director Allan Peiper also admitted that winning the first stage “takes the edge off a little.”

“We know that it is going to be difficult to be as successful as last year,” he explained. “But we are very motivated and the guys pulled off the perfect lead out today. In addition, Andre confirmed his status of being one of the top sprinters in the world and we can look forward to a great season from him again this year.”

Greipel now wears the orange leaders jersey into stage two of the tour holding a five second lead over Australian Baden Cooke (UNISA)

Stage 1: Norwood to Mawson Lakes, 140 km
1 Andre Greipel (Ger) Team Columbia - High Road3:45:27
2 Baden Cooke (Aus) UniSA
3 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha
5 Jacopo Guanieri (Ita) Liquigas
6 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step
7 Willem Stroetinga (Ned) Team Milram
8 Timothy Gudsell (NZl) Francaise des Jeux
9 Luca Barla (Ita) Team Milram
10 Andrea Grendene (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C
11 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Cofidis
12 Nicholas Roche (Irl) Ag2R La Mondiale
13 Rony Martias (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
14 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C
15 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
16 Inaki Isasi (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
17 Martin Elmiger (Sui) Ag2R La Mondiale
18 Emanuele Bindi (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C
19 Davide Vigano (Ita) Fuji-Servetto
20 Markel Irizar (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
21 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Silence - Lotto
22 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Columbia - High Road
23 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram
24 Guillaume Blot (Fra) Cofidis
25 Jeremy Roy (Fra) Francaise des Jeux
26 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Ag2R La Mondiale
27 Jose Rojas (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne
28 Aaron Kemps (Aus) UniSA
29 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team Katusha
30 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise des Jeux
31 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Caisse D'Epargne
32 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Slipstream
33 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse D'Epargne
34 Chris Sutton (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream
35 Kasper Klostergaard (Den) Team Saxo Bank
36 Julien El Fares (Fra) Cofidis
37 Anders Lund (Den) Team Saxo Bank
38 William Walker (Aus) Fuji-Servetto
39 Matthew Wilson (Aus) UniSA
40 Sebastien Hinault (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale
41 Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne
42 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank
43 Mikael Cherel (Fra) Francaise des Jeux
44 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Francaise des Jeux
45 Scott Davis (Aus) UniSA
46 Vincent Jerome (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
47 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream
48 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
49 Pablo Lastras (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne
50 Frank Hoj (Den) Team Saxo Bank
51 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Columbia - High Road
52 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
53 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Team Katusha
54 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Team Milram
55 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - High Road
56 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - High Road
57 Imanol Erviti (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne
58 Travis Meyer (Aus) UniSA
59 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram
60 Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Silence - Lotto
61 Rene Mandri (Est) Ag2R La Mondiale
62 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step
63 Timmy Duggan (USA) Garmin-Slipstream
64 Mickael Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis
65 Martin Muller (Ger) Team Milram
66 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Ag2R La Mondiale
67 Adam Hansen (Aus) Team Columbia - High Road
68 Christian Meier (Can) Garmin-Slipstream
69 Remy Di Gregorio (Fra) Francaise des Jeux
70 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team Columbia - High Road
71 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank
72 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
73 Kurt Hovelijnck (Bel) Quick Step
74 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Team Katusha
75 Ermanno Capelli (Ita) Fuji-Servetto
76 Josu Agirre (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
77 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Quick Step
78 Volodymyr Zagorodniy (Ukr) Lampre - N.G.C
79 Francesco Reda (Ita) Quick Step
80 Frederick Willems (Bel) Liquigas
81 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Silence - Lotto
82 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Liquigas
83 Andoni Lafuente (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
84 Michael Schar (Sui) Astana
85 Trent Lowe (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream
86 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C
87 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Silence - Lotto
88 Vladmir Efimkin (Rus) Ag2R La Mondiale
89 Aitor Hernandez (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
90 Pablo Urtasun (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
91 Javier Megias (Esp) Fuji-Servetto
92 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas
93 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas
94 Sergio De Lis (Esp) Euskaltel - Euskadi
95 Serguei Klimov (Rus) Team Katusha
96 Hilton Clarke (Aus) Fuji-Servetto
97 Oscar Pereiro (Esp) Caisse D'Epargne
98 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
99 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Silence - Lotto
100 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Francaise des Jeux
101 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Team Katusha
102 Gianni Da Ros (Ita) Liquigas
103 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Silence - Lotto
104 Markus Eichler (Ger) Team Milram
105 Simon Clarke (Aus) UniSA
106 Jose Luis Rubiera (Esp) Astana
107 Mario Aerts (Bel) Silence - Lotto
108 David Loosli (Sui) Lampre - N.G.C
109 Jesus Hernandez (Esp) Astana
110 Jack Bobridge (Aus) UniSA
111 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
112 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
113 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank
114 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Fuji-Servetto
115 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis
116 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana
117 Kai Reus (Ned) Rabobank
118 Vitaliy Buts (Ukr) Lampre - N.G.C
119 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step
120 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
121 Steve Morabito (Sui) Astana
122 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis
123 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
124 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis
125 Juan Horrach (Esp) Team Katusha
126 Hubert Schwab (Sui) Quick Step
127 Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin-Slipstreamall s.t.
128 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Liquigas0:17
129 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank0:19
130 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank1:12
131 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank1:15
132 Ivan Dominquez (Cub) Fuji-Servetto20:32
133 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecoms.t.

 

Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


 
 | 
 Privacy Policy | Contact | Subscribe to RSS Feed  | Logout
 © Copyright 1998-2024 Canadian Cyclist. All rights reserved.