Germany’s rider, Andre Greipel took the opening stage victory at this season’s Tour Down Under. This is the first victory the rider claims for this year at the South Australian event which started today, on January 16.
Greipel was able to perfectly time his last sprint of the day overpassing Australian young talent Caleb Ewan during the last 50 meters claiming his 17th stage victory.
He is now the first, official man to wear the leader’s jersey of the tour, while Ewan, one of the race’s most important protagonists, is tied at four seconds behind.
“It was a pretty fast sprint but I thought I could wait as long as possible and I did a nice sprint I guess,” Greipel said.
“It’s nice to be back here this way after a few years of absence. Because of the heat, the racing isn’t that stressful. We were one guy down (Bjorg Lambrecht) but my team set the sprint really well.”
? @BoschAustralia Race Analysis ?
Greipel still means business: https://t.co/kmqTGc5M0w#TDU #adelaide pic.twitter.com/EJAF1EGE1U
— Santos Tour Down Under ?? (@tourdownunder) January 16, 2018
On the other hand, world champion and BORA-Hansgrohe’s man Peter Sagan was able to successfully surpass Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) taking third place.
Full Stage One Results
Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
Caleb Ewan (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
Elia Viviani (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Sunweb
Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida
Riccardo Minali (Ita) Astana Pro Team
Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo
Daryl Impey (RSA) Mitchelton-Scott
Chris Lawless (GBr) Team Sky
Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo
Sam Welsford (Aus) UniSA-Australia
Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
Rudiger Selig (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Trek-Segafredo
Antoine Duchesne (Can) Groupama-FDJ
?♂️ #TDU Stage 1 Results ?♂️https://t.co/Zblz38XtgL Sprint Jersey went to @AndreGreipel in Stage 1. #seesouthaustralia #cycling pic.twitter.com/4PVTMsZryG
— Santos Tour Down Under ?? (@tourdownunder) January 16, 2018
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