Simon Gerrans won the opening stage of the Tour Down Under today and with it the leader’s jersey that he and his Orica-GreenEdge team plans to defend to the end.
Gerrans beat Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Steele von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp) in a small group sprint at the conclusion of the punchy 135km opener from Nuriootpa to Angaston.
Sky hopeful Richie Porte finished the stage in the second group – four seconds adrift – and currently sits 29th overall. Teammate Geraint Thomas is just outside the top 10 of the general classification – 11sec back.
Gerrans entered the race as a hot favourite and dismissed suggestions it was a disadvantage to acquire leadership so early in the six-day race. The Australian national road champion has won the event twice previously and in 2006 maintained leadership throughout the entirety. His second victory in 2012 was awarded on count-back.
Sky and Orica-GreenEdge controlled affairs at the front of the peloton for much of the day, not allowing the main break of Will Clarke (Drapac) and Neil van der Ploeg (UniSA-Australia) more than a three minute and 30 second advantage. Bernhard Eisel shared a bottle of coke with Orica-GreenEdge rider Luke Durbridge at one point with the duo doing a fair share of work for their respective leaders.
“Me and Bernie the last two years have done a fair bit of work at the Tour Down Under so we’ve got a good relationship there – help each other out,” Durbridge said.
The circuit stage was straight forward until the category one Menglers Hill climb some 11km from the finish. Clarke and van der Ploeg were caught before the ascent as Garmin-Sharp came to the fore and riders started to lose contact. Greipel’s teammate Adam Hansen attacked on the ascent to claim King of the Mountain points and briefly stayed off the front before Europcar duo Yukiya Arashiro and Bjorn Thurau rode away on the descent, only to be later reeled in.
David Tanner (Belkin) was transported to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone sustained in a crash inside the final 5km. Gerrans was unaffected and read the race perfectly, following teammate Daryl Impey’s wheel.
Greipel demonstrated his form in what was not a traditional sprint stage, staying sheltered from the headwind on Menglers with the aid of teammates.
“The finish kicked a little bit at the end – the last 30m – and my gear was a bit too big and Gerrans slipped past me. I was disappointed but that’s racing,” the German national road champion said.
The Tour Down Under continues with a selective second stage to Stirling tomorrow.
Can Gerrans keep the lead all the way to the race finish?