Tour Down Under Stage 2
Race Overview
Andre ‘The Giant’ Greipel has made it two from two at the 2010 Tour Down Under winning today’s second stage from Gawler to Hahndorf.
In an action packed race, a group of three slipped away early, and within an hour, the trio had amassed a lead of over 11 minutes, to a relaxed peloton. The breakaway included David Kemp of UniSA, Oliver Kaisen of Omega-Pharma Lotto and teammate Mickal Delage.
Billy Ray Cyrus’s song ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ best describes what happened next to the breakaway group. The teams of the sprinters left them dangling up the road, until it was time for business and they were caught 10 kilometers from the finish.
From there it was a fast downhill finish into Hahndorf, and the powerhouse lead out trains of Columbia and Sky moved in for the kill.
Unfortunately for Greg Henderson, the newly signed Sky sprinter, he had his sprint butchered by a cunning McEwen who forced him off the wheel of his Sky lead out man Chris Sutton. Henderson was forced to follow the wheel as Greipel took route 1 all the way to the line for the win.
Henderson managed to hold onto second, with McEwen in third.
Who’s Hot
- Andre Greipel is not hot, he’s flammable. This man is dominating this race and does not look like he can be beaten. Opposing teams will have to re-think their strategy if they have any hope of taking the Ochre leaders jersey from his shoulders
- *Note to all opposing team managers, get a rider up the road, and don’t help Columbia chase.
- Team Sky are the new kids on the block in 2010, but with a budget of 40million Euros, they are cranking up a serious rivalry with Columbia-HTC, and by the time the Tour de France is upon us, these two road trains are going to be slugging it out like two heavy weight boxers.
Who’s Not
- Aussie sprinters are looking seriously unfit at this year’s Tour Down Under. There were no Australian sprinters in the top 5 yesterday, and McEwen could only manage 3rd in stage two. This is a very disappointing start to our only ProTour race, in comparison to last year’s edition when Australian’s won four out of six stages.
- Simon Clarke of UniSA is having a horror race. He lost over 8 minutes yesterday and 7 minutes today. Wasn’t he supposed to be UniSA’s leader at this year’s race? Maybe re-think that selection!
