January 24/09 10:00 am - Tour Down Under: Stage 5

Posted by Editoress on 01/24/09
 

Tour Down Under: Stage 5
Report courtesy organizers

Queensland's Allan Davis (Quickstep) has only to finish with the front group in tomorrow's final stage and he will be crowned champion of the 2009 Tour Down Under and leader of the UCI ProTour.

The 28 year old 'Bundaberg bullet' pulled off his third stage win in four days today sprinting home to claim the stage and increase his overall lead by ten seconds, and is now sitting 25 seconds clear of South Australian Stuart O'Grady (Saxo Bank).

"Tactics, perfect - my team, absolutely unbelievable," said an elated Davis after the win. "The only time I hit the wind was 100 metres to go andI couldn't have rode it any better.

"I'd like to thank my team - mate - that's all I've gotta say," said Davis. "All the sponsors, the crowd urging me on and all the Aussies, unbelievable.

"Thank you very much Quickstep."

Sunday's final stage, an 81 kilometre (18 laps of 4.5km) around the Adelaide City Council Street Circuit offers time bonuses for two intermediate sprints and the stage finish but even if O'Grady placed first on all three he could only recoup 16 seconds, not enough to overtake Davis for the win.

It's been a long time coming for Davis, who is the only rider to have contested all eleven editions of the Tour Down Under and who last year finished second overall, only 15 seconds behind the 2008 Tour winner, Germany's Andrea Greipel.

Heading into stage five Davis knew the pressure would be on, with the traditionally decisive stage made even harder with the addition of a second lap up Old Willunga Hill.

"Today is D-day of the Tour and this where the overall is going to be decided at the end of the day," Davis said before the start. "We know the job at hand and what we have to do to keep the jersey.

"I've got to go over the climb, the climbers are going to try and drop myself, Stuey (O'Grady) and Brownie (Graeme Brown)," explained Davis. "They are going to attack, there's going to be attacks both times on the climb so it's going to be a fantastic race.

"I'm just going to try and hang in there, and hopefully it all works out and we have the jersey at the end of the night," he said.

Davis did more than hang on and, aided by his Quickstep team mates, was superb today on the stage through McClaren Vale, ensuring that anyone who could threaten his win was kept in check and that he marked all the danger men.

A conservative estimate counted 102,000 people crowded around the spectator friendly course that saw the race roll out from Snapper Point on the Fleurieu Peninsula coast for 148 km. The stage criss-crossed through McLaren Vale and lapped the same roads several times, giving fans the chance to set up camp and enjoy a feast of world class sport.

The stage was also expected to be one where seven times Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong might launch an offensive but he was reluctant to give away his plans for the stage.

"It's definitely, well, it's been fun," said Armstrong on the start line when asked about the race so far. "I should say first, today's definitely going to be a tough day, I mean, everyone is keyed up for this.

"You know the difference this year is going up there we do it twice as opposed to once like the other years," said Armstrong. "Also I think the race has been tough leading up to this point so you know, the guys, they're feeling the first four days.

"I hope, but we'll see," he responded when asked what his chances might be.

When the gun fired to start the stage UniSA-Australia's Jack Bobridge, 19, was eager to escape and launched a flurry of attacks before finally getting one to stick. With him was the other teenager in the field and his team mate Travis Meyer (19) and six others, including Anders Lund (Saxo Bank) and Spaniard Imanol Erviti (Caisse d'Epargne), who were both sitting 39 seconds off the lead and so posed a threat to the top ranked riders in the race. That meant the chances of the break forging a significant lead were slim.

Initially Quickstep hit the front to try and chase the lead eight down, but then decided to simply work at the front of the peloton to keep the break within striking distance, allowing the riders in front to contest the two SA Lotteries intermediate sprints at Snapper Point at the 40.3 km mark and again the next time through at 80.6 km. The result for both was the same with Meyer crossing first ahead of Erviti and Bobridge.

Ten kilometres before the peloton reached the second sprint line a clash of wheels brought down half a dozen riders including overall contender O'Grady. But he was quickly back on his bike and rejoined the race soon after as did, over the course of the next few kilometres, the rest of the crashed riders.

After the second sprint the pace in the peloton lifted with Euskaltel-Euskadi joining Quickstep on the front to bolster the chase and by the bottom of the first Skoda King of the Mountains climb up Old Willunga Hill (102 km) the contenders were back in charge.

Russian Sergey Klimov (Team Katusha), however, refused to give in and, along with Bobridge, surged clear to be greeted by a wall of people lining each side of the 3.5 km climb (gradient 7.5%).

The rest of the lead group was hunted down by a now splitting peloton. The front group included notables Michael Rogers (Team Columbia - High Road), Adam Hansen (Team Columbia - High Road), Matthew Lloyd (Silence - Lotto), Jesus Hernandez (Astana) and Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Caisse d'Epargne), but Davis maintained contact. Not so Rabobank's Graeme Brown, second overall at the start of the day, who began to struggle as the climb steepened.

Across the summit for the first time Bobridge scored the points ahead of Kilimov with Frenchman Julien El Fares third around 20 seconds back. Caisse d'Epargne's Imanol Erviti was fourth over the top and Denmark's Anders Lund fifth.

After the climb a chasing peloton of about 50 riders formed with Brown's Rabobank team mates riding him back into contention. Meantime, the leaders Klimov and Bobridge forged a 50 second leading margin on the main players including Davis, Brown, Rogers and O'Grady and American Lance Armstrong (Astana).

But when the race hit the climb for the second time the daring duo in front were reeled in and David Moncoutié (Cofidis) hit the front with Lloyd, Hansen and Lance Armstrong (Astana) driving the chase.

Lloyd took the points over Old Willunga Hill ahead of Moncoutié but the real race was happening a little further back, and it was being well controlled by Quickstep, with Davis being just where he needed to be for the rest of the ride to the line.

The entire Saxo Bank line up worked on the front in a bid to set up O'Grady but Davis foiled that plan as he flew down the home straight to a clear win ahead of Spaniard Jose Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne), with 2007 Tour Down Under champion, Martin Elmiger from Switzerland (AG2R - Mondiale) pipping O'Grady for third place.

Into tomorrow's final stage Davis will again wear the leader's ochre jersey. He also leads the SA Lotteries Sprint Classification with a ten point margin over Brown.

Andoni Lafuente (Euskaltel - Euskadi) has retained his lead in the Skoda King of the Mountains Classification but will need to defend it tomorrow as the final stage has 16 points on offer twice over Montefiore Hill (total 32 points). Bobridge was named Hindmarsh Most Aggressive Rider of Stage 5, Rojas retained his lead in the Cycle Instead Best Young Rider (U25) category and Francaise des Jeux still leads the Quit Smoking Teams Classifications by just eight seconds over Caisse d'Epargne.