Two from two. HTC-Columbia's André Greipel once again got the better of all of his rivals in the Santos Tour Down Under when he scooped his second consecutive stage win today. At the end of the 133.5 kilometre stage from Gawler to Hahndorf, he scorched in ahead of Greg Henderson (Team Sky), Robbie McEwen (Katusha), Robbie Hunter (Garmin-Transitions) and the rest of the peloton, landing his seventh-ever stage win in the race.
The fact that he has ridden just eleven stages underlines the German’s dominance of the event, and he will be very much aiming to repeat his general classification success of two years ago.
"It was a good day for us because we didn't need to put a lot of effort in to chase the break down during the race," explained Greipel, speaking about a three-man move that was clear for most of the stage. "We wanted to let the break succeed today and save our energy for the harder stages coming up.
"However the other teams were keen to get the break back and did the work so we also helped a little. Towards the end of the race the team came together as a unit for the lead out and Goss did the final pull for me. It's nice to win here again.”
As was the case yesterday, the stage was marked by a long-distance move by three riders. This time round, it was Omega Pharma – Lotto teammates Mickael Delage and Olivier Kaisen who did the honours, with UniSA-Australian National Team rider David Kemp completing the trio. Building a maximum lead of over 11 minutes, Delage beat Kemp and Kaisen in the day’s two bonus sprints, while the Australian won the KOM points on the Old Checker Road climb.
As his team-mate Tim Roe did yesterday, he soloed clear on the climb but he was eventually reeled in by the other two riders. They still had over three minutes at that point but the peloton was chasing hard and hauled them back with nine kilometres remaining.
HTC Columbia and Sky were doing the bulk of the work and it was little surprise that their captains Greipel and Henderson were the quickest in the dart for the line. The former won out, and ended the day 14 seconds clear in the general classification. He plans to try more of the same on tomorrow’s stage to Stirling.
"The climb during the race was quite difficult, especially because of the heat but the guys looked after me and we stayed in the front over the climb,” he said. “Tomorrow will be a hard day but we're ready to give it everything."
Caisse d’Epargne leader Alejandro Valverde could well be one of his rivals, with the Spaniard indicating that his team are thinking of going for the victory tomorrow.
“Today there was a hard climb located at 40 kilometers from the finish,” he said after the stage. “The percentage reached 13,3% but it was only 600 meters long. It was supposed to make the race more difficult but at the end it finished just like yesterday with a sprint which gave German André Greipel the opportunity to win a second stage.”
“Tomorrow the final should be more difficult and we will be very careful in case there is an opportunity to go and fight for the stage win.”
RadioShack leader Lance Armstrong also bided his time, rolling in just behind Valverde in 48th place. He has indicated that he will have a go later in the week, vowing to go all out on Saturday’s climb of Old Willunga Hill.
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Santos Tour Down Under (Australia, ProTour)
Stage 2: Gawler – Hahndorf:
1, Andre Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia, 133.5 kilometres in 3 hours 23 mins 49 secs
2, Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Sky
3, Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katusha
4, Robbie Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Transitions
5, Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
6, Allan Davis (Aus) Astana
7, Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
8, Luke Roberts (Aus) Team Milram
9, Baden Cooke (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
10, Jose Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne, all same time
Sprint 1 – Lyndoch:
1, Mickael Delage (Fra) Omega Pharma-Lotto, 6 pts
2, David Kemp (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia, 4
3, Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto, 2
Sprint 2 - Mount Torrens:
1, Mickael Delage (Fra) Omega Pharma-Lotto, 6 pts
2, David Kemp (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia, 4
3, Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto, 2
KOM - Old Checker Hill Rd:
1, David Kemp (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia, 16 pts
2, Mickael Delage (Fra) Omega Pharma-Lotto, 12
3, Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto, 8
Teams:
1, Team Saxo Bank, 10 hours 11 mins 27 secs
2, Milram
3, Caisse d'Epargne
4, Astana
5, Team Sky
6, Liquigas Doimo
General classification :
1, Andre Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia, 6 hours 38 mins 59 secs
2, Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Sky, at 14 secs
3, Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team RadioShack, same time
4, Robbie McEwen (Aus) Katusha, at 16 secs
5, Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto, same time
6, Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team, at 20 secs
7, Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
8, Baden Cooke (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
9, Robbie Hunter (RSA) Garmin-Transitions
10, Jose Rojas (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne, all same time
Sprint classification:
1, Andre Greipel (Ger) HTC-Columbia, 16 pts
2, Martin Kohler (Swi) BMC Racing Team, 12
3, Mickael Delage (Fra) Omega Pharma-Lotto, 12
Mountains classification:
1, Timothy Roe (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia, 16 pts
2, David Kemp (Aus) Team UniSA-Australia, 16
3, Biel Kadri (Fra) Ag2r-La Mondiale, 12
Teams classification :
1, Ag2R La Mondiale, 19 hours 57 mins 57 secs
2, Team Saxo Bank
3, Milram, both same time