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 Road | 3:45:27 |
| 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-Slipstream | all s.t. |
| 128 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Liquigas | 0:17 |
| 129 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank | 0:19 |
| 130 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank | 1:12 |
| 131 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank | 1:15 |
| 132 Ivan Dominquez (Cub) Fuji-Servetto | 20:32 |
| 133 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom | s.t. |
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