Three for Greipel Down Under
Gerrans secures overall title
Last Updated: January 22, 2012 5:02am
Greipel: Made yet another trip to the podium after his third win of the race
Andre Greipel finished the Tour Down Under the way he started it after taking victory on the final stage in Adelaide.
The German claimed his third stage win of the race after a perfectly-timed sprint in the closing criterium to cap off a superb start to the season.
Greipel’s Lotto-Belisol squad again demonstrated a formidable lead-out with Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre) having to be content with rounding out the podium.
Another man celebrating was Simon Gerrans who held on to the slenderest of overnight leads to secure victory at his national tour for the debuting GreenEDGE squad.
The Australian national champion endured a nervous afternoon leading the stage on countback alone from rival Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
Yet with his GreenEDGE team covering the moves during the day Gerrans was able to hold on for a famous victory.
Adelaide decider
The day began with Gerrans and Valverde sitting level in the standings in what was sure to be a nail-biting finale with a combined 16 seconds up for grabs across 20 laps of the 4.5-kilometre circuit.
The tactics for GreenEDGE were clear, with the team of Gerrans attempting to put a man in every break from the off in a bid to remove the possibility of bonus seconds for Valverde.
The first significant move of the race came on lap five as a 16-man move went clear featuring representatives from over half the teams in the bunch, a situation which became dangerous enough to cause Mathew Hayman (Team Sky) to bridge across.
A huge effort from the Rabobank squad saw the gap closed down in time for the first intermediate sprint of the race, yet none of the main contenders were able to claim bonus seconds as a small group chipped clear.
The second sprint at the end of lap 12 saw no change at the head of the leaderboard but did allow Jan Bakelants (RadioShack-Nissan) to move up to sixth overall as he jumped away to claim three seconds.
With Bakelants continuing on to become the virtual leader the chase was on in the final laps, yet it was breakaway counterpart Cameron Meyer (GreenEDGE) who unleashed a gutsy last-gasp attack to no avail.
Viewers can catch extended highlights at 0900-1100 (Sky Sports 3), 1500-1700 (SS3), 1730-1930 (SS2), 2100-2300 (SS4), January 23 at 0230-0530 (SS4), 0900-1100 (SS3), and 1500-1700 (SS3).
The highlights are also available on Sky Go.
