January 21/07 9:31 am - Tour Down Under: Stage 5 & Final GC

Posted by Editoress on 01/21/07
 

Tour Down Under - Australia

Stage 5: Adelaide City Council Circuit, 90km

1. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor - Lotto, 1:44:26
2. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Credit Agricole,
3. Allan Davis (Aus) Australia - UniSA,
4. Steven Caethoven (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen,
5. Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Barloworld,
6. Hilton Clarke (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team,
7. Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com,
8. Gene Bates (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS,
9. Luke Roberts (Aus) Team CSC,
10. Martin Elmiger (Sui) AG2r Prevoyance,
11. Karl Menzies (Aus) Australia - UniSA,
12. Elia Rigotto (Ita) Team Milram,
13. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Barloworld,
14. Fred Rodriquez (USA) Predictor - Lotto,
15. Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS,
16. Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC,
17. Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Credit Agricole,
18. Mario Aerts (Bel) Predictor - Lotto,
19. Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC,
20. Kurt Hovelynck (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen, all s.t.

41. Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 0:34
48. Glen Chadwick (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 0:38
69. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 1.32
71. Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 1.35
72. Viktor Rapinski (Blr) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, s,t,
95. Darren Lill (RSA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 10:00
DNF Ben Brooks (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team

Final GC

1. Martin Elmiger (Sui) AG2r Prevoyance, 15.46.38
2. Karl Menzies (Aus) Australia - UniSA, at 0:03
3. Lars Bak (Den) Team CSC, 0:11
4. Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Predictor - Lotto, 0:13
5. Gustav Larsson (Swe) Unibet.com, 0:21
6. Luke Roberts (Aus) Team CSC, 0:50
7. Gene Bates (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS,
8. Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Barloworld, 0:55
9. Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Credit Agricole,
10. Simon Clarke (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS, 1:43
11. Andy Flickinger (Fra) Bouygues Telecom, 2:52
12. Juan Miguel Mercado (Esp) Agritubel, 2:58
13. Mario Aerts (Bel) Predictor - Lotto, 3:08
14. Elia Rigotto (Ita) Team Milram, s.t.
15. Nicolas Crosbie (Fra) Bouygues Telecom, 3:15
16. Glen Chadwick (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 3:55
17. Serge Pauwels (Ned) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen, 5:20
18. Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC, 9:05
19. Jonathon Clarke (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS, 9:21
20. Hilton Clarke (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 9:23

28. Viktor Rapinski (Blr) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 12:10
63. Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 27:56
64. Valeriy Kobzarenko (Ukr) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 28:16
88. Ben Day (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 34:23
99. Darren Lill (RSA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 38:42

Mountains GC

1. Serge Pauwels (Ned) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen, 32. pts
2. Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2r Prevoyance, 28
3. Gianpaolo Cheula (Ita) Barloworld, 24
4. Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC, 16
5. Heath Blackgrove (NZl) New Zealand National Team, 16

Points GC

1. Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom, 26. pts
2. Martin Elmiger (Sui) AG2r Prevoyance, 18
3. Pieter Ghyllebert (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen, 14
4. Viktor Rapinski (Blr) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 12
5. Karl Menzies (Aus) Australia - UniSA, 10

U23 GC

1. Simon Clarke (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS, 15:48:21
2. Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Unibet.com, at 9:02
3. Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC, 12:17
4. Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS, 15:03
5. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld, 20:59

Team GC

1. SouthAustralia.com-AIS, 46:59:14
2. Team CSC, at 3:35
3. Unibet.com, 15:04
4. Bouygues Telecom, 18:27
5. Credit Agricole, 18:46
6. Predictor - Lotto, 24:00
7. Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen, 25:10
8. Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, 39:51
9. Barloworld, 40:06
10. AG2r Prevoyance, 44:01
11. Team Milram, 49:17
12. Australia - UniSA, 50:38
13. Agritubel, 50:43
14. New Zealand National Team, 1:03:53

Elmiger wins 2007 Tour Down Under as McEwen claims final stage
Courtesy Tour Down Under

Swiss rider Martin Elmiger, 28, of AG2R-Prevoyance was today crowned the 2007 Tour Down Under Champion after the action packed 81 kilometre (18 laps of 4.5km circuit) Adelaide City Council Circuit final stage.

"I was very nervous today but the team was very strong, they had a clever race and I'm very proud (of them)," said Elmiger who is a two time Swiss Champion. "For me, it's a really big victory because I've never won a stage race.....maybe my most important (win).

"It was really a super race, so I will say only good things - but also, that it was raining," said Elmiger of the event which experienced wet conditions on stages three and four, the first time in the nine year history of the event. For today's stage grey clouds threatened rain but it held off and the stage was completed in dry, windy conditions.

Elmiger lined up today in front of 25,000 fans wearing the leader's ochre jersey but with only a one second margin back to Tasmanian Karl Menzies, 29, (UniSA-Australia) who had led the tour for the first four stages. With bonus seconds up for grabs the showdown came early after UniSA-Australia worked like Trojans in the early laps chasing down breakaways to ensure the race was all together approaching the first SA Lotteries intermediate sprint at the end oflap eight.

UniSA-Australia formed a train for Menzies to ride to the line but the wily Elmiger countered with a withering burst of speed to claim a three second sprint bonus. Menzies' team mate Allan Davis was second and Menzies third, a placing that gave him a one second bonus.

"It was a hard sprint, it was like the final sprint in the stage, so I was behind Menzies, I had very good legs today and in the sprint I was stronger," said Elmiger.

At that point Menzies conceded defeat as Elmiger moved to a three second overall lead.

"The last 100m yesterday was disappointing, Elmiger was the only guy I had to follow and he slipped through a gap on the fence, I just couldn't follow," said a disappointed Menzies. "We had our opportunity today to win the Tour - we knew it, he knew it.

"I had a perfect leadout, the team controlled the race for the first intermediate sprint...He beat me in the sprint....that was it, that was our Tour...I was beaten by a better rider."

With the overall leader decided the stage finish was all about the sprint specialists and into the slightly uphill finishing straight two time Tour de France sprint champion, Robbie McEwen, emerged from the pack to claim the win, his twelfth in the history of the Tour Down Under. He shut out Down Under Classic winner, Mark Renshaw (Credit Agricole) and Allan Davis (UniSA-Australia) who finished second and third for another Australian trifecta all finishing in 1hr44min26sec.

"It's nice to start the year off on a winning note, I've just been thinking all week about this very stage," said McEwen who came into this week's race still suffering the effects of a chest infection . "Today we went out with a plan and stuck right to it. I really focussed on today's stage because I knew I was coming into the race a little bit underdone and also just carrying a little bit of illness.

"I had to ride myself in and try to come up through the race and it went on and I thought this would be the only opportunity for a bunch sprint."

There was a short delay in the wake of the sprint after Renshaw raised his arm in protest but officials ruled the placings across the line as official.

"I hit the front on the left of Allan Davis and made my way across the left barriers because there was quite a strong wind blowing from the right, so you don't want to give anyone a free ride along your left-hand side," said McEwen. "You've just got to make sure you cover your lines without going over the limit and that's what I did, I won the race.

"The rest can please themselves....that's sprinting, that's racing, you don't give free rides.¶

After the first intermediate sprint of the stage a breakaway group of twelve formed to contest the first of two 'A Brilliant Blend' King of the Mountain challenges on the tenth lap where CSC rider Matti Breschel claimed the 16 points over the summit of Montefiore Hill for first ahead of Alexandre Botcharov (Credit Agricole) and Barloworld's Giampaolo Cheula, who was challenging for the win in that classification.

The twelve stayed clear to contest the second intermediate sprint with 1997 World Champion Laurent Brochard (Bouyges Telecom) on a mission to protect his sprinter's jersey. He won by a clear margin from Botcharov and CSC's Matt Goss to cement his title of 2007 SA Lotteries Sprint Champion.

The peloton reeled in the escapees soon after the second sprint thanks to some hard work by the Chocolade Jacques team to get their man Serge Pauwels back in front for the second climb of the day as he was within striking distance of winning the 'A Brilliant Blend' King of the Mountain classification.

Pauwels was first over the summit and collected the maximum points but was somewhat bemused to not see the overnight leader of the climbing category, Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R-Prevoyance), challenging him. It turned out Dumoulin had made a mistake and attacked the climb on the next lap not realising he had already lost the jersey.

It was then the turn of the sprint specialists' teams to begin the set up for the stage finish and the speed increased significantly as Unibet.com, Predictor-Lotto, Navigators and Credit Agricole all turned up the gas to set up their sprinters.

The final classification gave Elmiger the Tour win in a total race time for the five stages of of 15hr46min38sec. He finished three seconds clear of Menzies, 11 seconds ahead of CSC rider Lars Bak (DEN) and 13 seconds in front of Australian Matthew Lloyd (Predictor-Lotto).

The 'A Brilliant Blend' King of the Mountain classification was won by Belgian Serge Pauwels (Chocolade Jacques).

The 'SA Lotteries' Sprint classicifation was awarded to Frenchman Laurent Brochard (Bouyges Telecom).

20 year old Simon Clarke (SouthAustralia.com-AIS) won the 'Share the Road' Best Young Rider award finishing tenth overall.

The 'Century 21' Most Aggressive Rider of the Day was Denmark's Matti Breschel from Team CSC.

The 'Bartercard' Team Victory was claimed by SouthAustralia.com-AIS who finished more than two minutes clear after being in every attack during the Tour.

The 'Tanya Denver Memorial Award' for the highest placed South Australian finisher was awarded to Luke Roberts (CSC).

The Tour Down Under is an internationally accredited race, endorsed by the world cycling federation, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and is owned and managed by Events South Australia, a division of the South Australian Tourism Commission.