2010 Santos Tour Down Under - Wrap Up & Reactions
Comments from the teams after the first ProTour event of the year and parting
shots after the Tour Down Under.... Race Coverage Index & Photos
First a quick index/links to Chris Graetz's coverage
of the Tour Down Under just in case you missed anything this past week:
12th Santos Tour Down Under
January 18 - 24
Tour
Down Under - Course Preview
Tour Down
Under - Favorites Preview
2010 Cancer
Council Helpline Classic (TDU Prelude)
Stage 1: Clare
- Tanunda, 141km
Stage 2:
Gawler - Hahndorf, 133.5km
Stage 3: Unley
- Stirling, 132.5km
Stage 3:
Reactions & Photos
Stage 4:
Norwood - Goolwa, 149.5km
Stage 5: Snapper Point - Willunga,
148km
Stage 5 Live:
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part 3
Stage 5 - Team
Reactions & Photos
Stage 6:
Adelaide – Adelaide, 60km
Stage 6 Live:
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part 3
Race Website
Team Reactions:
HTC-Columbia's Andre Greipel
On winning his second G.C. win of the Tour Down and taking the lead in the
UCI standings...
"I'm really happy to win again here and to take the ProTour lead. Of course I
would have liked to have won the stage today because the team worked really hard
but I am happy with the overall win. It has been a great week. I really like
coming here to race. It's a nice way to start the season, especially when you
win."
2010 Tour Down Under Victor, Andre Greipel
Photo © 2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
Team Director Allan Peiper was equally pleased...
"It was a fantastic combination of effort and work by everyone in the team who
came here," he said. "The whole team arrived two weeks before to get some solid
training in for the race and Andre left his 15 day old baby to make sure he was
ready. It all paid off with 3 stage wins and the GC. The boys were rock solid
and worked really hard the whole week. It was fantastic racing and they were
right on top of every critical moment to protect the race lead. We couldn't have
asked for a better start to the season."
www.highroadsports.com
BMC Racing Team
The “Red Devils” played a very active role in the
final stage which was eventually won by Australian Chris Sutton in a spectacular
mass sprint.
The Chief Directeur Sportif John Lelangue and his team traveled to the race with
two principle purposes: to unite together as a cohesive group and to make use of
every chance to be noticed as a force in the event.
“We not only achieved but exceeded each goal. During the races and at
the hotel, our time in Australia was very well spent and the experience will
continue to be very helpful to us,” Lelangue explained. From a sporting point of
view, the team united around Cadel Evans and provided quite a few race
highlights. First to ignite the team efforts, Martin Kohler joined the most
important breakaway of the first stage, and won the lead in the Sprint and Best
Young Rider competitions. In the final tally, Cadel Evans finished sixth overall
in his first race with his new squad, the BMC Racing Team. Andre Greipel
repeated his victory from two years ago and proved he is a sprinter for January.
Cadel Evans - Most Aggressive Rider Stage 5.
Photo © 2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
“Cadel Mania” wherever you look
Danilo Wyss added to the BMC results with two top 10 stage finishes while in the
race’s queen stage, World Champion Cadel Evans attacked and gambled on victory,
inciting the Australian crowd to such a state of euphoria as to make many
believe the day to have been the best racing ever seen on Australian soil.
“That was the best day of racing that the Tour Down Under has ever had,” race
director Mike Turtur enthused. For his efforts, Evans was awarded with the
jersey for Most Aggressive Rider. Add that to his third place in stage three and
fourth place in stage five, and the new star of the BMC Racing Team has every
reason to be content with his 2010 Tour Down Under.
Cadel Evans....
“It has been a very good week for me and the team. We have really had a lot of
fun together. And the support the team provided for me has really been
impressive. I am looking forward to the rest of the season and am convinced that
the BMC Racing Team can deliver a lot more exciting racing throughout the year.”
The 32 year old Australian can certainly count on the support from his fans.
Regardless of where he went, he was received enthusiastically by countless
supporters.
Lots of interest in BMC Bikes and Hincapie
Sportswear
The team’s main sponsor, Swiss bicycle manufacturer BMC, has also profited
greatly from the team’s strong performance at the Tour Down Under. The local
dealers have already felt a surge of demand and the first available jerseys from
Hincapie Sportswear are flying off the shelves. Three hundred sets have been
sold in only three days. So it is no surprise that BMC owner Andy Rihs felt very
content after his brief visit with the team for the first two stages of the
race.
“It is absolutely fantastic that a team like ours is already working
together so well after so few days actually racing together. And the appearance
of Cadel Evans as the World Road Race Champion and BMC ambassador has greatly
impressed not only me but also many Australians, which has been confirmed by
their enormous interest in BMC bikes and Hincapie Sportswear.”
While the European members of the BMC team will leave Australia and travel
directly back to their homes in Europe, Cadel Evans, George Hincapie and John
Lelangue will travel on Monday to California. There they will join the rest of
the team for the remainder of the training camp which will last until next
Sunday.
www.bmcracingteam.com
Team Sky
Dave Brailsford was a happy man at the end of the Tour Down Under, able to
reflect on two victories in Australia for his new team, and to declare: "We've
arrived."
"It's very satisfying," said Brailsford, Team Sky's team principal. "If you'd
told me we'd come away with two wins when we got on the plane to come down here,
I'd have taken it with both hands. There's still a lot of learning to be done,
but there aren't many negatives. It's a great start, a great finish, and we'll
go home on a high."
Greg Henderson Photo © 2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
Asked to identify the main lesson from the week, Brailsford said: "It's
undoubtedly that in this sport, the greatest strength is in the whole team.
You're not going to win anything on your own at this level. Unity is so
important, and we've seen it done with the exemplary performance by HTC-Columbia
all week, and credit to them. They were brilliant. But our lads today came in
with a plan and executed it absolutely to perfection. To finish first and second
again [thanks to Chris Sutton and Greg Henderson] is phenomenal. We took Chris
into the team knowing he had the ability to win stages like this. And Greg's
been tremendous all week. It's one of the first times he's led a team into a
race like this, and he was a credit to himself."
Sky's Chris Sutton Photo ©
2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
Respect for Columbia
Brailsford admitted that HTC-Columbia, who provided the overall winner in André
Greipel, who also picked up half of the Tour Down Under's six stages, remain the
team to aim for. "There's no doubt about that. They're a well-oiled team,
they're firmly in the groove of winning; they are the benchmark and we are the
underdogs.
"But we've taken them on and beaten them twice, and we've got to be satisfied
with that. Greipel is up there with anybody as a sprinter, but the fact we have
beaten him shows the importance of the team - it's about organization,
commitment and willingness to take it on. There's a lot that goes on in a stage
race that people don't see - the grind of sitting at the front. Columbia sat on
the front of the peloton all day, riding hard, and still managed to set up the
finishes - that takes some doing. And that's where we've still got some room to
develop.
"It's been a superb race," added Brailsford, "with a field that was in very
good shape. This wasn't a warm-up race - the guys were going really, really
hard, and a lot of teams had their 'A' teams here. We know we've got some work
to do, some areas to look at, but I think the guys showed real guts today. They
have done tremendously well."
That was echoed by Sports Director Sean Yates who said: "Despite it being a
tough week, the boys were so excited at the start today and they've just socked
it to them - it was a joy to watch."
Saxo Bank
Team Saxo Bank stretched the field on the finish line to put Baden Cooke in a
favorable position for the sprint.
Baden Cooke
"Our team has worked well together all week and the team has put me in the right
position on several occasions but if luck is not with you, it may still prove
not to be enough. In the intermediate sprint today, I was in a great position as
the chain suddenly falls off and the guys pushed me to keep the position and get
the chain back on the chain ring. Now, I am looking forward to the next race and
hoping that luck will smile in our direction again."
Hopefully Baden Cooke rid himself of all the bad luck in the first week of the
season... Photo ©
2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
D.S. Bradley McGee was feeling a bit ambivalent on
the week...
"We finished the race with mixed emotions. The boys have ridden very well. They
have been motivated and showed great teamwork. We lined the team up to put Baden
in the best position in the two bonus sprints and he took one second in the
first. In the second his chain fell off the front ring after a strong team lead
out. Of course, it is frustrating but I have seen a lot of positive things from
the boys as well during this last week in Australia."
Team Milram
Great Results for Luke Roberts & Tommy Rohregger
Gerry van Gerwen...
The great results that Luke Roberts, Markus Fothen and Thomas Rohregger
delivered were good for us. Compared to last year, we did better on the whole.
But the way the team communicates and works together during the race hasn't
reached a full 100% yet. Definitely better than how it has been in the past, but
not perfect yet. So I'm satisfied, and we are clearly on the right track, but
I'm sure we could do even better. On the whole it's interesting to see how the
Tour Down Under clearly has grown more important to a lot of teams. It's
noticeable that more and more teams prepare themselves especially for the
season's opening in Australia, so the level of racing is high.
Tommy Rohregger attacks to win the climbers points on Willunga.
Photo © 2010 Fotoreporter
Sirotti
Especially in the light of this high level that you
mentioned, the performance of the new man in the team, Luke Roberts, stands out
even more. Did his performance surprise you?
Gerry van Gerwen: Yes, that really
surprised me. I knew he was a good rider. But to see that after three years
outside the ProTour he's this good already now did surprise very much, but I was
also very happy about it of course.
The season's opening in Australia is followed by the
next races in the Middle East and in Europe at the beginning of February. Which
races are scheduled, and what are your expectations of the MILRAM riders?
Gerry van Gerwen: Part of our team will take
part in the Tours of Qatar and later on Oman, starting from the 7 February,
while the rest of them will be at the Majorca Challenge which also begins on the
7 February. With all three races the focus is clearly on delivering a good
performance and getting good results. We are aiming both for stage wins and
overall victories.
What began in Australia, has to be carried further here. The team for
Qatar and Oman is currently preparing themselves at home. Gerald Ciolek did some
additional training in Majorca after the team's training camp. This squad will
stay together after the races in the Middle East. They will go on to a training
camp in Belgium, and hopefully have an equally successful start into the
classics season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblaad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
At the end of April, the last seven riders, who weren't in the "self-service"
training camp, will meet in Majorca and train together. After that, they will be
joined by the Down Under squad for the Majorca-Challenge.
2010 Santos Tour Down Under Success
762,000 people flocked to South Australia to witness a week of cycling action
and none were disappointed as the superstars of world cycling put on a
spectacular show.
The final 90 kilometre stage was raced in front of 124,000 fans on the
Adelaide City Council Circuit with the peloton setting a cracking pace for the
20 laps of the 4.5 kilometre circuit.
Across the finish line Australian fans were thrilled to see Sydney's Chris
'CJ' Sutton of Team Sky, sprint to victory ahead of his team mate Greg Henderson
(NZL) with Rabobank's Graeme Brown (AUS) third.
Chris Sutton
“I could not believe that sprint, we talked about our team tactics last night
and it was all about team work, we took over control (of the peloton) with two
kilometres to go and we had the perfect lead out. I was the last man to lead out
Greg (Henderson). I went as long as I could and thought if 'Hendy' could come
around me, he would. I held on and got the win and we got one and two, which is
incredible!”
Sutton then celebrated by riding another lap of the course so he could hug
his family including father Gary, a 1980 track World Champion, who was
positioned halfway round the circuit.
Back at the finish line Greipel and his team mates were ecstatic with the
result which saw Greipel complete the six stage 794.5 kilometres in a total race
time of 18 hours 47 minutes and 5 seconds.
Spaniard and 2005 Tour winner, Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d'Epargne) was
second at 11 seconds and Henderson finished third at 15 seconds. Queensland's
Robbie McEwen was the highest placed Australian edging ahead of Luke Roberts for
fourth place with both 17 seconds off Greipel's time.
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