Tour Downunder

[MichaelB]

Crikey, an Italian website has the full results up before the homepage of the event

TdU Stage 2 results

GC top 10

General:
1 Martin KOHLER BMC 8:33:05
2 André GREIPEL LTB 2
3 Michael MATTHEWS RAB 4
4 Simon GERRANS GEC 8
5 Rohan DENNIS AUS 9
6 Eduard VORGANOV KAT 10
7 Xavier FLORENCIO CABRE KAT 12
8 Jonathan CANTWELL SAX 12
9 Jan BAKELANTS RSH 12
10 Luke ROBERTS SAX 12

Note that down to 64th place is still at 12 sec behind.

Tomorrow will be interesting.

[RICHARDH]

Cant wait for the Highlights, great stage was hoping there would be bigger gaps to the sprinters. Setting things up nicely for Willunga, hopefully like luke roberts Clarke might be picked up by a team looking for another rider (very unlikely though)

[BarryTas]

i've said it befoe and i will say it again

"tassie cyclists rock"

sif Green Edge, Tassie should just have its own team

[RobM]

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/video/2188061382/Matthew-Lloyd-pre-race-stage-2

Good interview with Matty Lloyd. Seems like a funny character.


http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/video/2187677741/Jens-Voigt-Interview

And good ol Jens

[MichaelB]

From that Italian website again : Greipel back in Ochre

Etapa 3:
1. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) 3:28:00 (Palmarés completo)
2. Yahueni Hutarovich (FDJ-BigMat) m.t.
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) m.t.
4. Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) m.t.
5. Robbie McEwen (GreenEDGE) m.t.
6. Jacopo Guarnieri (Astana) m.t.
7. Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Barracuda) m.t.
8. Daniele Bennati (RadioShack-Nissan) m.t.
9. Manuel Belletti (AG2R) m.t.
10. Chris Sutton (Sky) m.t.

General:
1. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol)
2. Martin Kohler (BMC)
3. Michael Matthews (Rabobank)
4. Thomas De Gendt (Vacansoleil)
5. Simon Gerrans (GreenEDGE)

[gauchoracer]

Another pearler from Jens...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuaTX1O2 ... bg&lf=plcp

[AUbicycles]

So, Team GreedEDGE, is it strategy?
I wonder if the TDU is being looked at as a warmup event. I admit I missed stage two however GreenEDGE don't seem very present / aggressive. Not a bad thing as I am certain they have a strategy, but guess I expected them to be more dominant with breakaway action or peloton control being on home turf.

Love the performance of UniSA.

[toolonglegs]

So, Team GreedEDGE, is it strategy?
I wonder if the TDU is being looked at as a warmup event. I admit I missed stage two however GreenEDGE don't seem very present / aggressive. Not a bad thing as I am certain they have a strategy, but guess I expected them to be more dominant with breakaway action or peloton control being on home turf.

Love the performance of UniSA.

Hmmm...I wonder, freezing cold in Europe, still 5 weeks (?) till Omloop Het Nieuwsblad ( Omloop Het Volk ) the traditional start of the season ... lets go cruise around South Australia .

[philip]

Haha I think toolonglegs is secretly jealous of missing the tdu with all the big names that have come this year.. oh wait this year tdf goes through his town.. maybe not

The euro teams may be using it as a warm up event (though there's also the issue of the points the teams get for places in this race that will give their team cars advantages in the early spring races where it's important) but there's no way GE is, aussies are all coming off nationals, new team looking for a sponsor, I'm pretty sure they'd be looking for wins for sure.

[vander]

I think all the crashes on the first day and the risks some of the guys are taking shows it is no warm up event. They wouldnt take risks if it was. People want to win this.

[jules21]

a lot of these guys are fighting for positions on the team in the spring classics - they won't hold back.

[Strawburger]

So who will be in Ochre after Greipel lost a bundle of time?

[vander]

Kohler apparently but they are terrible at getting the results at the finish line.

Official results BUPA Stage 4 2012 Tour Down Under: 1:Oscar Freire (ESP) - KAT 2:Gerald Ciolek (GER) - OPQ 3:Daniele Bennati (ITA) - RNT 4:Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR) - SKY 5:Michael Matthews (AUS) - RAB 6:Jose Joaquin Rojas (ESP) - MOV 7:Luke Roberts (AUS) - SAX 8:Kristijan Koren (SLO) - LIQ 9:Sergey Lagutin (UZB) - VCD 10:Heinrich Haussler (AUS) - GRM

I thought Michael Matthews would of won this one I really want to watch this one might have to stay up for it.

[Welsh Dragon]

Approx what time will they go through old wilunga hill tmrw ?

[Chuck]

Matt Lloyd didn't provide Voss with the cliches he's used to

[RobM]

Great finish!


Just curiously - if Gerrans and Valverde both finished in the GC with the same exact time, and Valverde won the last stage, why is it that Gerrans gets to wear the Ochre??

[sogood]

Just curiously - if Gerrans and Valverde both finished in the GC with the same exact time, and Valverde won the last stage, why is it that Gerrans gets to wear the Ochre??

Because the judges back counted their positions in the previous stages. Gerrans had a lower cumulative position count than Valverde and hence the ochre jersey.

It was a very exciting stage.

[bosvit]

My son and I were 100m from the finish line. The atmosphere was amazing!

[RobM]

Just curiously - if Gerrans and Valverde both finished in the GC with the same exact time, and Valverde won the last stage, why is it that Gerrans gets to wear the Ochre??

Because the judges back counted their positions in the previous stages. Gerrans had a lower cumulative position count than Valverde and hence the ochre jersey.

It was a very exciting stage.

Makes sense. Thanks for that

[roller]

caught the last 45 minutes on telly, amazing stage, number of people at the top of the climb was fantastic.

well done SA. two thumbs up.

[Mustang]

Electric atmosphere today... can only imagine the Tour de France.. but here in Aus it has been fantastic... especially the way the small towns have embraced the TDU.

[vander]

Just curiously - if Gerrans and Valverde both finished in the GC with the same exact time, and Valverde won the last stage, why is it that Gerrans gets to wear the Ochre??

Because the judges back counted their positions in the previous stages. Gerrans had a lower cumulative position count than Valverde and hence the ochre jersey.

It was a very exciting stage.

Any idea what the difference is will make for a very good last stage.

[AUbicycles]

Now this... is exciting. What a great stage

[Chuck]

Just curiously - if Gerrans and Valverde both finished in the GC with the same exact time, and Valverde won the last stage, why is it that Gerrans gets to wear the Ochre??

Because the judges back counted their positions in the previous stages. Gerrans had a lower cumulative position count than Valverde and hence the ochre jersey.

It was a very exciting stage.

Any idea what the difference is will make for a very good last stage.

The intermediate sprints could have time bonuses (I'm not 100% sure haven't looked at the stage details?) Valverde could make a play for the overall lead at them.

[RonK]

i've said it befoe and i will say it again

"tassie cyclists rock"

sif Green Edge, Tassie should just have its own team

Too right! Put all the Tassie boys together and you would have an excellent team. How about a state of origin race series?