Tour Down Under: Kittel Conquers Classic

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Tour de France hero in 2013, Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) out sprinted Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Aussie young gun Caleb Ewan (UniSA-Australia) to win the 2014 People’s Choice Classic 

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German speedster Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) has sprinted home to claim the 2014 People’s Choice Classic crown ahead of countryman Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Australian young gun Caleb Ewan (UniSA-Australia) as the Santos Festival of Cycling kicked off in spectacular style on the banks of the River Torrens in Adelaide.

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Photo finish! Not a lot between Germans Greipel and Kittel. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo 

The 25 year old, who won four stages of last year’s Tour de France, demonstrated he has brought strong form with him from Europe as he edged out Greipel to cross the line in a time of 1hr4min35sec at the end of the 50km race.

“I’m really inpressed by the boys today they did a great job, a big thank you goes to the team,” said Kittel of his Giant-Shimano team mates. “The first sprint of the season is always complicated so it’s always a bit of a waiting game and you need a bit of luck to be in the perfect position and I was in the perfect spot to start my sprint.”

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The race was ten metres too long tweeted Greipel afterwards. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo 

“In a race of 50 kilometres everyone is fresh at the end so I had to time my sprint just perfectly. Always a relief to get the first win, now we can take it a little easy,” he said. “I always love starting my season in Australia.

Ninety-five thousand fans lined the new People’s Choice Classic route to see the action as 139 of the world’s top cyclists representing 23 nations contested 25 laps of the testing circuit.

In glorious summer evening conditions fans were thrilled as the peloton raced from the start/finish line in Victoria Drive the peloton sped around the scenic parkland circuit past Adelaide Zoo, across the River Torrens and along War Memorial Drive before swinging in front of the revamped Adelaide Oval, up King William Road and back onto Victoria Drive.

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Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo 

Australian teenager Ewan, 19, rode brilliantly in top company to get a place on the podium.

“It was a little disappointing not to win but these two guys (Kittel and Greipel) are among the best sprinters in the world,” said Ewan. “It’s great experience to be racing here against them.

“The crowds were just great and I am very excited to be here,” he said. “This week we’ll see what happens. There are a lot of GC guys (contenders for overall honours) so we’ll see how hard they make the race.

“It could be a difficult week.”

Advance Australia Fair was sung by the talented Christine Anuwhose whose powerful rendition was a fitting prelude to the racing action. Two laps into the race four riders rode clear to vie for prizemoney in three of the four intermediate sprints contested at the end lap five, ten and 15. Australian Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) claimed all three of the sprints ahead of his breakaway companions Italian Luca Wackermann (Lampre-Merida) and French pair Axel Domont (AG2R La Mondiale) and Anthony Roux (FDJ.fr).

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Chris Sutton gets up off the ground to go on to finish 4th. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo 

A touch of wheels on the corner into the home straight at the end of lap six brought down about 25 riders including Italian Giovanni Viscontini (Movistar) who was taken to Adelaide Hospital with a suspected broken leg. The remainder of the crashed riders dusted themselves off and rejoined the race.

The chances of the breakaway quartet staying clear were always slim as the teams of the sprinters used the opportunity to test out their lead out trains ahead of this week’s Santos Tour Down Under, the first UCI WorldTour race of the season.

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Geraint Thomas did an awesome job for his team on the front for ages working for Sutton. Photo: Santos Tour Down Under / Regallo 

So it wasn’t a surprise when the peloton regrouped ahead of the fourth sprint at five laps to go. Team Sky led across the line with Irishman Philip Deignan claiming the prize but by then the focus was on the final sprint and setting up the sprinters

In the earlier opening race of the three stage Santos Women’s Cup it was Orica-AIS rider Loes Gunnewijk from the Netherlands who claimed the win ahead of team mates West Australian Melissa Hoskins and South Australian Annette Edmondson. Lucy Martin was 4th.

2014 Santos Tour Down Under

The Santos Tour Down Under is Australia’s premier international cycling race. It will be staged in and around Adelaide, South Australia from 19 to 26 January 2014. On Sunday 19 January the world’s cycling elite will contest an exciting 50km circuit race, the People’s Choice Classic, as the curtain raiser for the six-stage Santos Tour Down Under being raced over a total distance of 875km.

Sunday 19 January – People’s Choice Classic – Adelaide (50km)
Monday 20 January – Rest day
Tuesday 21 January – San Remo Pasta Stage 1 – Nuriootpa to Angaston (135km)
Wednesday 22 January – BikeExchange.com.au Stage 2 – Prospect to Stirling (150km)
Thursday 23 January – Thomas Foods Stage 3 – Norwood to Campbelltown (145km)
Friday 24 January – Bupa Stage 4 – Unley to Victor Harbor (148.5km)
Saturday 25 January – Pure Blonde Stage 5 – McLaren Vale to Willunga Hill (151.5km)
Sunday 26 January – Be Safe Be Seen, MAC Stage 6 – Adelaide (95km)

RESULT

1 Marcel KITTEL (GIA) 1h04:35
2 Andre GREIPEL (LTB)
3 Caleb EWAN (UNI)
4 Christopher SUTTON (SKY)
5 Jose Joaquin ROJAS (MOV)
6 Julian ALAPHILIPPE (OPQ)
7 Mark RENSHAW (OPQ)
8 Jonathan CANTWELL (DPC)
9 Elia VIVIANI (CAN)
10 Jurgen ROELANDTS (LTB)
11 Steele VON HOFF (GRS)
12 Neil VAN DER PLOEG (UNI) @ 4 secs
13 Sébastien TURGOT (ALM)
14 Guillaume BOIVIN (CAN)
15 Marco HALLER (KAT)
16 Geoffrey SOUPE (FDJ)
17 Anthony GIACOPPO (UNI)
18 Michal KOLAR (TCS)
19 Boy VAN POPPEL (TFR)
20 Nicki SORENSEN (TCS)
21 Jack HAIG (UNI) @ 9 secs
22 Bjorn THURAU (EUC)
23 Bram TANKINK (BEL)
24 Guillaume BONNAFOND (ALM)
25 Cameron WURF (CAN)
26 Jacopo GUARNIERI (AST)
27 Rafael VALLS FERRI (LAM)
28 Alexander PORSEV (KAT)
29 Yukiya ARASHIRO (EUC)
30 Juan Jose LOBATO (MOV)
31 Roberto FERRARI (LAM)
32 Julien BERARD (ALM)
33 Michael ANDERSEN (TCS)
34 Andriy GRIVKO (AST) @ 14 secs
35 Pavel KOCHETKOV (KAT)
36 Ben HERMANS (BMC) @ 19 secs
37 Maxime BOUET (ALM)
38 Eduard VORGANOV (KAT)
39 Jens DEBUSSCHERE (LTB)
40 Jay MCCARTHY (TCS)
41 William BONNET (FDJ)
42 Koen DE KORT (GIA)
43 Jose Ivan GUTIERREZ (MOV) @ 22 secs
44 Matej MOHORIC (CAN)
45 Bradley LINFIELD (UNI)
46 Danilo WYSS (BMC)
47 Jussi VEIKKANEN (FDJ)
48 Matthias KRIZEK (CAN)
49 Rick FLENS (BEL)
50 Kevin REZA (EUC) @ 26 secs
51 Matteo TRENTIN (OPQ) @ 32 secs
52 Andrew FENN (OPQ) @ 36 secs
53 Alberto BETTIOL (CAN)
54 Manuele MORI (LAM) @ 43 secs
55 Diego ULISSI (LAM)
56 Valerio AGNOLI (AST)
57 Frank SCHLECK (TFR)
58 Fabio FELLINE (TFR)
59 Bernard SULZBERGER (DPC)
60 Robert GESINK (BEL)
61 David TANNER (BEL)
62 Stef CLEMENT (BEL)
63 Steve MORABITO (BMC)
64 Brent BOOKWALTER (BMC)
65 Cadel EVANS (BMC)
66 Imanol ERVITI (MOV)
67 Nikolay TRUSOV (TCS) @ 48 secs
68 Simon CLARKE (OGE)
69 Francesco GAVAZZI (AST)
70 Michael MATTHEWS (OGE)
71 Enrico GASPAROTTO (AST) @ 1:30
72 Rick ZABEL (BMC) @ 1:33
73 Amael MOINARD (BMC)
74 Lieuwe WESTRA (AST)
75 Maxim BELKOV (KAT)
76 Carlos VERONA QUINTANILLA (OPQ)
77 Kenny ELISSONDE (FDJ)
78 Nathan HAAS (GRS) @1:35
79 Perrig QUEMENEUR (EUC)
80 Jack BAUER (GRS)
81 Angelo TULIK (EUC)
82 Ian STANNARD (SKY) @1:40
83 Luke ROWE (SKY)
84 Bernhard EISEL (SKY)
85 Marcel SIEBERG (LTB)
86 Serge PAUWELS (OPQ)
87 Thierry HUPOND (GIA)
88 Nikias ARNDT (GIA)
89 Johannes FROHLINGER (GIA)
90 Thomas PETERSON (GIA)
91 Geraint THOMAS (SKY) @1:46
92 Mathew HAYMAN (OGE)
93 Egor SILIN (KAT)
94 Laurent DIDIER (TFR)
95 Pierre-Henri LECUISINIER (FDJ) @1:49
96 Arnaud COURTEILLE (FDJ)
97 Graeme BROWN (BEL)
98 Jack BOBRIDGE (BEL)
99 Axel DOMONT (ALM)
100 Mikhail IGNATYEV (KAT)
101 Davide CIMOLAI (LAM)
102 Matteo BONO (LAM)
103 Olivier KAISEN (LTB)
104 Javier MORENO (MOV)
105 Wesley SULZBERGER (DPC)
106 William CLARKE (DPC)
107 Simon GERRANS (OGE)
108 Daryl IMPEY (OGE)
109 Matthew GOSS (OGE)
110 Rory SUTHERLAND (TCS)
111 Philip DEIGNAN (SKY)
112 Mark O’BRIEN (UNI)
113 Luke DURBRIDGE (OGE)
114 Luca WACKERMANN (LAM)
115 Darren LAPTHORNE (DPC)
116 Calvin WATSON (TFR) @1:55
117 Jan BAKELANTS (OPQ)
118 Campbell FLAKEMORE (UNI)
119 Christopher JUUL JENSEN (TCS)
120 Damien GAUDIN (ALM)
121 Simon GESCHKE (GIA)
122 Jerome COUSIN (EUC)
123 Evan HUFFMAN (AST)
124 Caleb FAIRLY (GRS)
125 Rohan DENNIS (GRS)
126 Robbie HUCKER (DPC)
127 Jens VOIGT (TFR)
128 Stig BROECKX (LTB) @2:04
129 Adam HANSEN (LTB) @2:10
130 Ruben PLAZA MOLINA (MOV)
131 Anthony ROUX (FDJ)
132 Thomas DEKKER (GRS) @2:42
133 Lachlan David MORTON (GRS)
134 George BENNETT (CAN) @3:21
135 Maxime DANIEL (ALM) @3:24
Stage Awards

Skoda Sprint Prime 1
1 Nathan HAAS (GRS)
2 Luca WACKERMANN (LAM)
3 Axel DOMONT (ALM)

Europcar Sprint Prime 2
1 Nathan HAAS (GRS)
2 Anthony ROUX (FDJ)
3 Axel DOMONT (ALM)

Cycle Instead Sprint Prime 3
1 Nathan HAAS (GRS)
2 Anthony ROUX (FDJ)
3 Luca WACKERMANN (LAM)

Adam Internet Sprint Prime 4
1 Philip DEIGNAN (SKY)
2 Geraint THOMAS (SKY)
3 Ian STANNARD (SKY)

Teams Result
1 Unisa-Australia 3h13:53
2 Cannondale 5
3 Lotto-Belisol Team 11
4 AG2R La Mondiale 14
5 Tinkoff-Saxo 14
6 Katusha Team 19
7 Movistar Team 23
8 Omega Pharma-QuickStep 24
9 Team Europcar 36
10 FDJ.fr 37
11 Lampre-Merida 53
12 Astana Pro Team 58
13 Belkin Pro Cycling Team +1:06
14 BMC Racing Team +1:16
15 Trek Factory Racing +1:27
16 Team Giant-Shimano +1:51
17 Drapac Cycling +2:24
18 Garmin-Sharp +3:02
19 Team Sky +3:12
20 Orica GreenEDGE +3:14

 


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