Simon Gerrans has sealed a fairytale debut for the fledgling GreenEDGE Australian professional cycling team by claiming overall victory in the 2012 Santos Tour Down Under.
STAGE 1 REPORT | STAGE 2 REPORT | STAGE 3 REPORT | STAGE 4 REPORT | STAGE 5 REPORT |
Gerrans joins team mate and local hero Stuart O’Grady and today’s stage winner German Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) as the third rider in the event’s 14 year history to win the trophy twice.
Sunday’s final stage was raced over 20 laps of a street circuit at Elder Park on the banks of the Torrens River north of the Adelaide CBD. The 90 kilometre finale set off with the air temperature at 37 degrees celsius but the heat from road made racing conditions much hotter.
Lotto-Belisol rider Andre Greipel wins the final stage to claim his 11th Santos Tour Down Under stage victory. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo
31 year old Gerrans went into the stage tied on time with Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) but as race leader because of a lower total when the pair’s places on previous stages were tallied. There was also a handful of other riders hoping to improve their positions. But GreenEDGE were up to the challenge and vigilant throughout the stage making sure they covered every move.
“When I was told yesterday that I was getting the leader’s jersey, I didn’t feel any pressure at all, it was just a nice surprise. I knew it would give us a tough job for this last stage, but as it turns out, I can’t be happier,” said Gerran who two weeks ago won the elite men’s road race crown at the nationals. [pullquote]”This is just fantastic” said Gerrans. “I can’t thank the GreenEdge team enough for this victory.”[/pullquote]
“We had a tough task today to control Alejandro Valverde who is a classics rider. The last lap was very fast,” said a jubuliant Gerrans whose wife Rahna was in Adelaide to witness his win. “It’s an even sweeter victory than my first one here in 2006. It gives me the opportunity to thank for the first time the Ryan family (GreenEDGE team owners Gerry and Andrew) and (GreenEDGE General Manager) Shayne Bannan for putting this team together. It couldn’t be a better start for us.
“I had Robbie McEwen looking after me (and) that was pretty special since it was his last race in Australia,” said Gerrans of his team mate McEwen who holds the record for the most stage wins in the history of the Santos Tour Down Under, 12. Greipel today notched up his 11th stage win.
“What can I say?” said Greipel after flashing across the line a good bike length clear of Australian Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Italian sprint ace Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre). “The team Lotto-Belisol has just been amazing in leading me out to my third win of the week.
“It looks easy but it’s not,” he said. “I was nowhere in the front on GC (overall) this year but I’m happy with the sprint finishes. I always like to come to South Australia. It’s just nice to start the new season here rather than train in Europe.”
Further back in the peloton were Valverde and Gerrans who crossed the line 25th and 27th respectively split only by Gerran’s stage finish pilot McEwen who made sure the Spaniard was well marked.
“I’m just really happy and proud to be part of this team here at the Santos Tour Down Under. I’m not retiring today, that was my last Aussie race officially, but the season’s not done. I am still going to race for another four months after this,” said McEwen. “It’s a fantastic way to go out as far as Australia racing is concerned. I joined the team and was really excited about being a part of the GreenEDGE project racing in an Aussie team, our national team. It was all about winning the jersey and that’s the success for the team, it feels like a personal win to be a part of it.”
Despite not being on the top step of the podium Valverde was satisfied to have won the Tour’s first ever hilltop finish yesterday.
[pullquote]”I am very happy with finishing second in the Santos Tour Down Under,” said Valverde. “[/pullquote]”The outcome is much better than I expected when I came to Australia. Today was a super fast stage with a bit of wind that made it even more difficult. I’m very happy.”
At the end of the 803km six day event both Gerrans and Valverde remained deadlocked on 20:46:12 but Gerrans’ stage placings added up to a total of 102 and Valverde’s 175 giving the Australian the win.
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Usage: Click on a photo to display; To move to next photo, press the right Cursor key or the Left key to go back. Click an image to close. All photos copyright Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo
“I certainly am [happy],” said GreenEDGE Team Director, Matt White, who last year steered Cameron Meyer to victory. “To win the Santos Tour Down Under with our newly crowned National Champion, we couldn’t have written a better script. [I’m] elated, just elated.”
Third place overall went to Portugese rider Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan) who was eight seconds back with Canberra’s Michael Rogers (Sky Pro Cycling) fourth at 14 seconds. On the same time as Rogers in fifth place was 21 year old Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) who recently claimed both the under 23 time trial and road race national titles.
Dennis was in superb form this week to claim the SKODA King of the Mountain classification and the Cycle Instead Best Young Rider (under 26) trophy.
“I wasn’t sure I was actually going to finish this race,” said Dennis explaining the effect on him of the fast start to the stage. “I was pretty happy it slowed down, I think everybody was. With that surge at the start it almost slowed it down and made it a little bit easier towards the end.”
Dennis was also given the Tanya Denver Award as the highest placed South Australian overall.
Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen had hoped to climb higher in the overall rankings today but an attack from Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan) netted the Belgian some crucial bonus seconds in the Jayco intermediate sprints and pushed Boasson Hagen back to seventh. Bakelants’ audacious attack also saw him named the Hindmarsh Most Aggressive rider of the stage.
But Sky’s Boasson Hagen did hold onto his lead in the Jayco Sprint Classification to claim the trophy with 56 points, six ahead of Greipel.[pullquote] “I got the jersey but I would like to be more up in the final stage, but I managed to keep the jersey so that’s a good thing,” said Boasson Hagen.[/pullquote] “It’s an early start to the season and to be on top form now is difficult. I’m happy to be on OK form and I can still get better” said Edvald.
The Brilliant Blend Team trophy was awarded to RadioShack-Nissan-Trek who were 24 seconds ahead of Sky ProCycling after the times of the top three ranked riders from each team were tallied.
“We like to win a team GC and on top of that we managed to place Tiago, we are pretty happy with the outcome of the race,” said team captain Jens Voigt.
The final word goes to the man considered the most successful cyclist of all time, Belgian legend Eddy Merckx who was a special guest at this year’s event.
“It was a great race and I will be thanking everybody, everything was great,” said Merckx.
Classification winners. Simon Gerrans (Santos Tour Down Under Champion ochre jersey) Edvald Boasson Hagen (Jayco Sprint winner) Jan Bakelants (Hindmarsh Most Aggressive stage 6) and Rohan Dennis (SKODA King of the Mountain [wearing] and Cycle Instead Young Rider winner). Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo
Final Results Summary
Stage 6 Winner – Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) (GER)
Santos Tour Down Under Winner – Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE) (AUS)
Jayco Sprint Winner – Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky ) (NOR)
SKODA King of the Mountain Winner – Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS)
Cycle Instead Best Young Rider (Under 26) – Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS)
Brilliant Blend Team Leader – Radioshack-Nissan
Hindmarsh Most Aggressive Rider for stage 6- Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan) (BEL)
Tanya Denver Award – Rohan Dennis (UniSA-Australia) (AUS) (Highest placed South Australian overall)
Stage Result
1. André Greipel, Lotto-Belisol 1:56:48
2. Mark Renshaw, Rabobank
3. Alessandro Petacchi, Lampre – ISD
4. Yauheni Hutarovich, FDJ – BigMat
5. Jose Joaquin Rojas, Movistar
6. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky Procycling
7. Romain Feillu, Vacansoleil -DCM
8. Jonathan Cantwell, Team Saxo Bank
9. Fabio Sabatini, Liquigas – Cannondale
10. Manuel Belletti, AG2R La Mondiale
11. Christopher Sutton, Sky Procycling
12. Kenny Van Hummel, Vacansoleil -DCM
13. Luca Paolini, Katusha
14. Michael Rogers, Sky Procycling
15. William Bonnet, FDJ – BigMat
16. Jack Bauer, Garmin-Barracuda
17. Borut Bozic, Astana
18. Gerald Ciolek, Omega Pharma-QuickStep
19. Julien Vermote, Omega Pharma-QuickStep
20. Andrew Fenn, Omega Pharma-QuickStep
21. Greg Henderson, Lotto-Belisol
22. Robbie Hunter, Garmin-Barracuda
23. Daniele Bennati, RadioShack-Nissan
24. Linus Gerdemann, RadioShack-Nissan
25. Alejandro Valverde, Movistar
26. Robbie Mcewen, GreenEDGE
27. Simon Gerrans, GreenEDGE
28. Michael Matthews, Rabobank
29. José Ivan Gutierrez, Movistar
30. Steele Von Hoff, UNI SA – Australia
31. Eduard Vorganov, Katusha
32. Valentin Iglinskiy, Astana
33. Xavier Florencio Cabrè, Katusha
34. Angel Madrazo, Movistar
35. Tiago Machado, RadioShack-Nissan
36. Jan Bakelants, RadioShack-Nissan
37. Martin Kohler, BMC
38. Kristof Goddaert, AG2R La Mondiale
39. Mattéo Montaguti, AG2R La Mondiale
40. Ruben Perez Moreno, Euskaltel-Euskadi
41. Serge Pauwels, Omega Pharma-QuickStep
42. Gert Steegmans, Omega Pharma-QuickStep
43. Imanol Erviti, Movistar
44. Bernard Sulzberger, UNI SA – Australia
45. Javier Moreno, Movistar
46. Jay Mccarthy, UNI SA – Australia
47. Blel Kadri, AG2R La Mondiale
48. Gatis Smukulis, Katusha
49. Adam Blythe, BMC
50. Sergey Lagutin, Vacansoleil -DCM
51. Kristijan Koren, Liquigas – Cannondale
52. Jos Van Emden, Rabobank
53. Jens Voigt, RadioShack-Nissan
54. Rohan Dennis, UNI SA – Australia
55. Marcel Sieberg, Lotto-Belisol
56. Greg Van Avermaet, BMC
57. Vincente Reynes Mimo, Lotto-Belisol
58. Jesse Sergent, RadioShack-Nissan
59. Hayden Roulston, RadioShack-Nissan
60. Wilco Kelderman, Rabobank
61. Adrián Saez, Euskaltel-Euskadi
62. Romain Lemarchand, AG2R La Mondiale
63. Danilo Hondo, Lampre – ISD
64. Luis Leon Sanchez, Rabobank @00:16
65. Jacopo Guarnieri, Astana
66. Geraint Thomas, Sky Procycling @00:17
67. Jérémy Roy, FDJ – BigMat
68. Mathew Hayman, Sky Procycling
69. Marcello Pavarin, Vacansoleil -DCM
70. Maxim Belkov, Katusha
71. Danny Pate, Sky Procycling
72. Heinrich Haussler, Garmin-Barracuda
73. Luke Roberts, Team Saxo Bank
74. Martin Elmiger, AG2R La Mondiale
75. Giampaolo Caruso, Katusha
76. William Clarke, UNI SA – Australia
77. Jaroslaw Marycz, Team Saxo Bank @00:27
78. Adam Hansen, Lotto-Belisol
79. Luke Durbridge, GreenEDGE @00:30
80. Matt Goss, GreenEDGE
81. Alex Dowsett, Sky Procycling
82. Stuart O’grady, GreenEDGE
83. Sérgio Paulinho, Team Saxo Bank @00:36
84. David Lopez, Movistar
85. Sandy Casar, FDJ – BigMat
86. Davide Vigano, Lampre – ISD
87. Mathias Frank, BMC
88. Oscar Freire, Katusha
89. Francesco Masciarelli, Astana
90. Ryder Hesjedal, Garmin-Barracuda
91. Gorka Izagirre Inausti, Euskaltel-Euskadi
92. Mirko Selvaggi, Vacansoleil -DCM
93. Alessandro Ballan, BMC
94. Dmitriy Gruzdev, Astana
95. Lachlan Norris, UNI SA – Australia
96. Tom Palmer, UNI SA – Australia
97. Matteo Trentin, Omega Pharma-QuickStep @00:41
98. Matthew Brammeier, Omega Pharma-QuickStep
99. Grega Bole, Lampre – ISD
100. Anders Lund, Den) Team Saxo Bank
101. Federico Canuti, Liquigas – Cannondale
102. Mauro Da Dalto, Liquigas – Cannondale @00:54
103. Graeme Brown, Rabobank @00:58
104. Olivier Kaisen, Lotto-Belisol @01:02
105. Takashi Miyazawa, Jpn) Team Saxo Bank
106. Alan Marangoni, Liquigas – Cannondale @01:05
107. Stefano Agostini, Liquigas – Cannondale
108. Daniele Ratto, Liquigas – Cannondale
109. Nathan Haas, Garmin-Barracuda
110. Ricardo Garcia Ambroa, Euskaltel-Euskadi
111. Thomas De Gendt, Vacansoleil -DCM
112. Manuel Quinziato, BMC
113. Davide Cimolai, Lampre – ISD
114. Wouter Mol, Vacansoleil -DCM
115. Jussi Veikkanen, Fin) FDJ – BigMat
116. Matthew Lloyd, Lampre – ISD
117. Marcus Burghardt, BMC @01:38
118. Tom Leezer, Rabobank @01:42
119. Leigh Howard, GreenEDGE
120. Cameron Meyer, GreenEDGE @02:15
121. Dmitri Muravyev, Astana @02:43
122. Assan Bazayev, Astana @02:44
123. Martijn Maaskant, Garmin-Barracuda @02:48
124. Jonas Jörgensen, Den) Team Saxo Bank @03:03
125. Romain Sicard, Euskaltel-Euskadi @04:28
126. Massimo Graziato, Lampre – ISD @05:02
General Classification  Result
1. Simon Gerrans, GreenEDGE 20:46:12
2. Alejandro Valverde, Movistar
3. Tiago Machado, RadioShack-Nissan @00:08
4. Michael Rogers, Sky Procycling @00:14
5. Rohan Dennis, UNI SA – Australia
6. Jan Bakelants, RadioShack-Nissan @00:16
7. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky Procycling @00:18
8. Javier Moreno, Movistar @00:23
9. Michael Matthews, Rabobank @00:29
10. Eduard Vorganov, Katusha @00:32
11. Jack Bauer, Garmin-Barracuda @00:34
12. Linus Gerdemann, RadioShack-Nissan @00:42
13. Gerald Ciolek, Omega Pharma-QuickStep @00:47
14. Angel Madrazo, Movistar @01:15
15. Martin Kohler, BMC @01:16
16. Jose Joaquin Rojas, Movistar @01:27
17. Serge Pauwels, Omega Pharma-QuickStep @01:28
18. Blel Kadri, AG2R La Mondiale @02:30
19. Xavier Florencio Cabrè, Katusha @02:33
20. José Ivan Gutierrez, Movistar
21. Wilco Kelderman, Rabobank
22. Kristijan Koren, Liquigas – Cannondale @02:35
23. Bernard Sulzberger, UNI SA – Australia
24. Alessandro Ballan, BMC @02:36
25. Jérémy Roy, FDJ – BigMat @03:00
26. Luis Leon Sanchez, Rabobank @03:01
27. Adam Hansen, Lotto-Belisol @03:02
28. Sandy Casar, FDJ – BigMat @03:11
29. Heinrich Haussler, Garmin-Barracuda @03:22
30. Romain Lemarchand, AG2R La Mondiale @03:33
31. Julien Vermote, Omega Pharma-QuickStep @03:41
32. Greg Van Avermaet, BMC
33. Jens Voigt, RadioShack-Nissan
34. Luke Roberts, Team Saxo Bank @03:42
35. Matthew Lloyd, Lampre – ISD @03:50
36. Giampaolo Caruso, Katusha @03:58
37. Oscar Freire, Katusha @04:07
38. Sergey Lagutin, Vacansoleil -DCM @04:12
39. Ryder Hesjedal, Garmin-Barracuda @04:17
40. Gorka Izagirre Inausti, Euskaltel-Euskadi @04:48
41. Daniele Bennati, RadioShack-Nissan @05:37
42. Mathias Frank, BMC @06:16
43. Vincente Reynes Mimo, Lotto-Belisol @07:19
44. Sérgio Paulinho, Team Saxo Bank @07:55
45. Maxim Belkov, Katusha @08:09
46. Geraint Thomas, Sky Procycling @08:30
47. Cameron Meyer, GreenEDGE @09:01
48. Jay Mccarthy, UNI SA – Australia @11:25
49. Federico Canuti, Liquigas – Cannondale @12:53
50. Jussi Veikkanen, Fin) FDJ – BigMat @13:02
51. Martin Elmiger, AG2R La Mondiale @14:00
52. Gatis Smukulis, Katusha @14:16
53. Mathew Hayman, Sky Procycling @15:21
54. Mirko Selvaggi, Vacansoleil -DCM @15:40
55. Hayden Roulston, RadioShack-Nissan @16:06
56. Ruben Perez Moreno, Euskaltel-Euskadi @17:15
57. Marcello Pavarin, Vacansoleil -DCM @18:13
58. Thomas De Gendt, Vacansoleil -DCM @18:41
59. William Bonnet, FDJ – BigMat @18:47
60. Danilo Hondo, Lampre – ISD
61. Dmitriy Gruzdev, Astana @19:07
62. Fabio Sabatini, Liquigas – Cannondale @19:57
63. Christopher Sutton, Sky Procycling
64. Matteo Trentin, Omega Pharma-QuickStep @19:59
65. Romain Sicard, Euskaltel-Euskadi @20:04
66. David Lopez, Movistar @21:09
67. Daniele Ratto, Liquigas – Cannondale @21:20
68. Jonathan Cantwell, Team Saxo Bank @21:28
69. Danny Pate, Sky Procycling @21:32
70. Tom Leezer, Rabobank @22:12
71. Francesco Masciarelli, Astana @22:30
72. Jesse Sergent, RadioShack-Nissan @23:51
73. André Greipel, Lotto-Belisol @24:04
74. Nathan Haas, Garmin-Barracuda @24:11
75. Andrew Fenn, Omega Pharma-QuickStep @24:32
76. Romain Feillu, Vacansoleil -DCM @24:37
77. Steele Von Hoff, UNI SA – Australia
78. Luca Paolini, Katusha
79. Mark Renshaw, Rabobank @25:17
80. Grega Bole, Lampre – ISD @25:18
81. Gert Steegmans, Omega Pharma-QuickStep @25:33
82. Marcel Sieberg, Lotto-Belisol @25:41
83. Adrián Saez, Euskaltel-Euskadi @25:52
84. Jonas Jörgensen, Den) Team Saxo Bank @25:53
85. Wouter Mol, Vacansoleil -DCM @26:19
86. Davide Vigano, Lampre – ISD @26:55
87. Kristof Goddaert, AG2R La Mondiale @27:26
88. Mattéo Montaguti, AG2R La Mondiale @27:29
89. Jacopo Guarnieri, Astana @27:46
90. Lachlan Norris, UNI SA – Australia @28:05
91. Ricardo Garcia Ambroa, Euskaltel-Euskadi @28:34
92. Alan Marangoni, Liquigas – Cannondale @28:35
93. Stefano Agostini, Liquigas – Cannondale
94. Davide Cimolai, Lampre – ISD
95. Matthew Brammeier, Omega Pharma-QuickStep @28:39
96. Olivier Kaisen, Lotto-Belisol @29:52
97. Valentin Iglinskiy, Astana @30:19
98. Robbie Hunter, Garmin-Barracuda @31:08
99. William Clarke, UNI SA – Australia @31:49
100. Martijn Maaskant, Garmin-Barracuda @32:37
101. Matt Goss, GreenEDGE @32:38
102. Jaroslaw Marycz, Team Saxo Bank @32:49
103. Mauro Da Dalto, Liquigas – Cannondale @33:16
104. Stuart O’grady, GreenEDGE @33:39
105. Imanol Erviti, Movistar @33:53
106. Yauheni Hutarovich, FDJ – BigMat @36:52
107. Alessandro Petacchi, Lampre – ISD
108. Manuel Belletti, AG2R La Mondiale @37:02
109. Greg Henderson, Lotto-Belisol @37:12
110. Tom Palmer, UNI SA – Australia @37:38
111. Graeme Brown, Rabobank @38:00
112. Marcus Burghardt, BMC @38:40
113. Manuel Quinziato, BMC @38:44
114. Borut Bozic, Astana @38:53
115. Anders Lund, Den) Team Saxo Bank @39:34
116. Takashi Miyazawa, Jpn) Team Saxo Bank @39:55
117. Dmitri Muravyev, Astana @40:22
118. Jos Van Emden, Rabobank @40:30
119. Massimo Graziato, Lampre – ISD @42:21
120. Robbie Mcewen, GreenEDGE @43:33
121. Adam Blythe, BMC
122. Leigh Howard, GreenEDGE @45:15
123. Kenny Van Hummel, Vacansoleil -DCM @46:23
124. Alex Dowsett, Sky Procycling @46:53
125. Luke Durbridge, GreenEDGE @47:01
126. Assan Bazayev, Astana @50:01
POINTS
1. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky Procycling 56  pts
2. André Greipel, Lotto-Belisol 50
3. Yauheni Hutarovich, FDJ – BigMat 39
39. Andrew Fenn, Omega Pharma-QuickStep 5
Škoda King of the Mountains Overall Classification  Result
1. Rohan Dennis, UNI SA – Australia 29  pts
2. Thomas De Gendt, Vacansoleil -DCM 24
3. Simon Gerrans, GreenEDGEÂ 24
12. Jack Bauer, Garmin-Barracuda 6
Young Rider
1. Rohan Dennis, UNI SA – Australia 20:46:26
2. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky Procycling @00:04
3. Michael Matthews, Rabobank @00:15
17. Andrew Fenn, Omega Pharma-QuickStep @24:18
27. Adam Blythe, BMC @43:19
29. Alex Dowsett, Sky Procycling @46:39
Team
1. RadioShack-Nissan 62:19:53
2. Sky Procycling @00:24
