Santos Tour Down Under

Stage 3

This 129.6km stage is pretty much the only stage other than the stage to Willunga Hill, on which the GC could be decided. Favourites are Cunego (LAM), Sanchez (RAB) and Visconti (FAR).


Breschel is pleased with himself as he sees his name on the road in front of him.


The early break, later becoming the break for the day included Matthews. Here we have a view from the 12 man break showing two chasers, who later join, and a Peloton which is meandering along at the time.


30kms from the finish the lead for the break is at 2'58.


Ten Dam raises the pace for a Sanchez attack.


25kms to go, Sanchez attacks. Quickly gets caught and we then see an attack from Ballan (BMC).


Ballan (BMC) holds on and wins the stage ahead of Van Summeren (GAR) and Offrodo (FDJ).
Overall it is now Ballan, because of a small Peloton split.

Stage Results

1	Alessandro Ballan	BMC Racing Team	3h18'33
2	Johan Van Summeren	Team Garmin - Cervélo	s.t.
3	Yohan Offredo	FDJ	s.t.
4	José Iván Gutierrez	Movistar Team	s.t.
5	Yaroslav Popovych	Team RadioShack	s.t.
6	Tiago Jose Pinto Machado	Team RadioShack	s.t.
7	Pablo Lastras	Movistar Team	s.t.
8	Jens Voigt	Leopard - Trek	s.t.
9	Enrico Gasparotto	Astana	s.t.
10	Giovanni Visconti	Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli	s.t.

General Classification

1	Alessandro Ballan	BMC Racing Team	9h59'28
2	Johan Van Summeren	Team Garmin - Cervélo	+ 4
3	Yohan Offredo	FDJ	+ 6
4	Giovanni Visconti	Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli	+ 10
5	Yaroslav Popovych	Team RadioShack	s.t.
6	Matti Breschel	Rabobank	s.t.
7	Peter Sagan	Liquigas - Cannondale	s.t.
8	Michael Barry	Sky Professional Cycling Team	s.t.
9	Enrico Gasparotto	Astana	s.t.
10	Damiano Cunego	Lampre - ISD	s.t.

Santos Tour Down Under
Stage 3

This 125.4km stage is for the sprinters but there is a slight chance for Punchers as well. Favourites are Cavendish (HTC), Freire (RAB) and McEwen (RSH).


After 25kms a break of 6 riders has formed, including Leezer (RAB), Oss (LIQ) and Feilu (VAC).


The break was caught with 8kms to go and now there are only 2 other escapees about 30 seconds in front of the Peloton, therefore Sanchez tries his luck once again.


He was caught with just 1.8kms to go and just as the sprint had begun.


Cavendish (HTC) won the stage ahead of Davis (AST) and Galimzyanov (KAT). The team managing a better result with Matti Breschel coming 8th. He now moves to 4th in the GC and Sanchez is now in 8th.

Stage Result

1	Mark Cavendish	HTC - Highroad	3h09'44
2	Allan Davis	Astana	s.t.
3	Denis Galimzyanov	Katusha Team	s.t.
4	Robbie McEwen	Team RadioShack	s.t.
5	Christopher Sutton	Sky Professional Cycling Team	s.t.
6	Assan Bazayev	Astana	s.t.
7	José Joaquin Rojas Gil	Movistar Team	s.t.
8	Matti Breschel	Rabobank	s.t.
9	Gert Steegmans	QuickStep Cycling Team	s.t.
10	Tiziano Dall'Antonia	Liquigas - Cannondale	s.t.

General Classification

1	Alessandro Ballan	BMC Racing Team	13h09'12
2	Johan Van Summeren	Team Garmin - Cervélo	+ 4
3	Yohan Offredo	FDJ	+ 6
4	Matti Breschel	Rabobank	+ 10
5	Enrico Gasparotto	Astana	s.t.
6	Giovanni Visconti	Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli	s.t.
7	Peter Sagan	Liquigas - Cannondale	s.t.
8	Luis León Sánchez	Rabobank	s.t.
9	Tiago Jose Pinto Machado	Team RadioShack	s.t.
10	Damiano Cunego	Lampre - ISD	s.t.

Stage 5

The 131km stage in which we go over Willunga Hill is the last chance for someone to alter the GC. However, the second passing summits 19kms from the finish therefore making it difficult for a climber to hold on all the way to the finish. Favourites are Cavendish (HTC), Freire (RAB) and Boasson Hagen (SKY).


With 82kms remaining and still 41kms from the first summit of Willunga Hill an 11 man break has formed, again including Leezer, their lead is 1'32 over a 4 man chasing group who have a further 1'47 gap to the Peloton.


With 49kms remaining the break now has 15 riders and a gap of 4'19 back to the Peloton that is beginning their chase.'


With 25kms to go the break has a lead of 1'24 and we are on the first climb. Clement and Ten Dam are working for a Sanchez attack.


With 23kms to go Sanchez makes his move, he is later caught with 11kms remaining, but the front group is down to just 48 riders with the only sprinters being Cavendish (HTC and Breschel (RAB).


With 3kms to go Cav is being lead out by his team mate Degenkolb and behind Cav is Breschel, is this the chance?


Breschel launches his sprint with 1km to go and at 500 metres to go who will win it?


It's Breschel


The first win for the team in the World Tour and certainly not the last for the Great Dane. The win moves him into 2nd in the GC only 4 seconds behind Ballan, 1st or 2nd on the next stage could mean the win.

Manager: Overall, I am reasonably happy with the teams performance in Australia. A great stage win for Breschel and a 2nd in the GC is quite good, even though we were hoping to win the results in Australia are not to be ignored.