Australia’s Santos Tour Down Under is the first race of WorldTour cycling season, where all the big European teams come out to show their strengths. It seems fitting that an Australian team riding its first international race should beat Europe’s best.
Australia’s Simon Gerrans won the six-stage event for GreenEdge, beating two-time winner André Greipel, who won three stages this year for Lotto-Belisol, and Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde, back from a two-year suspension and already in winning form, as he showed in Stage Five.
Gerrans didn’t win a stage; in fact, his winning time was identical to that of second-placed Valverde, however Gerrans had a better average finish in six stages and prologue, giving him his second overall TDU win. The support of his team, driving the peloton, and riding in breakaways to capture bonus points, which otherwise might have gone to rivals, kept the 2006 winner up front where he could seize the 2012 win.
GreenEdge, an Australia-based team with mostly Aussie riders, formed in 2011, competed in its first event, the bay Series Classic, on Jan. 1. The team proceeded to win the Australian road-racing and time trial championships, and on Sunday, Jan. 15, started its first WorldTour race, the Tour Down Under, with a 100 percent Aussie roster, including the coach.
Australian fans were counting on great things from the new team; the hometown boys were expected to show the rest of the cycling world what Aussies could do in the saddle. The GreenEdge squad came through.
“There was a lot of pressure coming into the race so it’s a fantastic feeling to be able to finish the week off in the lead and to finish off all the hard work the boys put in during the week,” Simon Gerrans told ProCycling TV’s Dan Jones.
The GreenEdge team is packed with big-name pro riders, but is also a team of friends, something Gerrans thinks gives the team an edge.
“It makes all the difference,” he told Jones. “I think that will be our real advantage going forward from here; you can find that little bit extra for your mates when you’re out there laying it on the line on the road, and that’s exactly what the guys did for me this week.
“We’ve just got the ball rolling for what’s going to be a fantastic season for GreenEdge. The support here this week has been absolutely phenomenal. We couldn’t have asked for a better start.”
Greipel Dominates the Flats, Uni-SA Rides the Breaks
Two-time winner André Greipel showed how he won his two TDUs by winning the TDU Classic (prologue) and three stages this year. Had the organizers not added a few hills to the route, the Lotto-Belisol rider would probably have made this his third. In a sprint finish, no one can match his sheer power.
Greipel led after Stage Three, but the hills of Stage Four cost him seven minutes, and Stage Five, with several climbs up Old Willunga hill, cost him 15. The big German came back to win stage six, giving him a record-setting 10 stage wins in his career.
While GreenEdge won the race, another hometown team, Uni-SA, won accolades for aggressive riding. Uni-SA got a rider, usually Rohan Dennis in almost every break, and won the King of the Mountains jersey, but it was Will Clarke that brought the squad the most glory. Clarke attacked at the start line in Stage Two and stayed away through the whole of the race, pushing his way home a minute ahead of the pack. The 26-year-old Aussie rode for Leopard-Trek in 2011 but wasn’t signed when the team merged with RadioShack after the 2011 season. A lot of pro teams will no doubt be watching him closely after his bravura performance.
Uni-SA’s Rohan Dennis also earned some attention. Finishing fifth overall and first in Young Rider and Mountain classifications, in the TDU, this 23-year-old also won the U-23 National Road Race and Time Trial championships this year, on top of Track Cycling World Cup and Track Cycling World Championship wins in 2011. Dennis was in almost every break in every stage of the 2012 TDU, gaining exposure for himself and his team.
Oil and gas company Santos has announced that they will sponsor the Tour Down Under for another four years. The 14-year-old race, which earned WorldTour status in 2008, is now established as one of the necessary stops for serious cycling teams.
