Liquigas' first race of the year is the new pro tour race, the Tour Down Under. We have sent Bennati to Austrailia with the hopes of a possible stage win. He is beginning his season early since he plans to be peaking for one of his goals,
Milan-San Remo. The other riders that will compete are Franzoi, Petito, Santoramita, Ulissi, Fischer, and Trenti. Let the races begin.
We see the early break away as they go over the KOM sprint. Thaux of Drapac Porsche take the points. It was an uncooperative break as riders continually attacked one another throughout the stage.
This constint infighting would ultimately lead to their demise. We see the last member of the break, Wrolich of Gerolstiner, being swept up by the charging peloton.
As the sprint looms, Bennati has decided to follow the wheel of Astana's Aaron Kemps. He figured that Kemps should be on some decent form after taking the Austrailian National Championships, and he is a fine sprinter in his own right. Kemps is being lead out by his teammate Viatkus.
With about a 1000 meters to go, Bennati makes his move.
He is much to good for the Austrailian, and storms to Liquigas' first victory of the young season.
A great victory for Daniele. He will be wearing the leader's jersey tomorrow, as the team will look to hold on to it for as long as they can. Edited by stemple on 28-06-2008 05:58
It would probably be better to use a lead-out train for the sprints rather than following wheels, you were lucky this time but if you follow the wrong wheel it's hard to get near the top 3.
This is what i would do to ensure victory:
At 6km to go put Petito, Fischer, and Bennati at 99% and aggresive; have Petito follow whoever is at the front of the pack (this will drag him up to his wheel), and have Fisher + Bennati follow him. Then when Petito reaches the guy he is following put him on the effort dot (still at 99% with the other 2 guys following him), at 3km to go put both Petito and Fischer on Sprint; then at 1.7km have Bennati Sprint.
The second stage of the Tour Down Under sees some rolling hills, but nothing that we feel should trouble Bennati. Hopefully if everything goes well, we will hold on to the leader's jersey.
It was a rather uneventful stage, at least for the most of the stage. We get a look at the early break.
The rolling hills would eventually zap the energy out of the breakaway. And it would end in a bunch sprint. Bennati would be lead out by his Brazilian teammate Fischer. And with about 1000 meters to go Bennati would make his move. We get a look at the sprint as the sprinters are spread out across the road.
The only one to be able to keep up with Daniele is O'Grady, but what is this. There is a touch of wheels and we can see O'Grady begin to go down.
As Bennati is powering away from the field, we can see O'Grady hit the deck. It was a not a massive wreak as only about a 8 riders go down. One of those was Kemps' lead out man Viatkus. He would subsequently withdraw from the race.
Bennati takes his second consecutive victory in the Tour Down Under.
Here is the results from Stage 2. Maurilo Fischer was able to hold on and take a nice 3rd place on the day.
Here is what the overall standings look like after 2 stages. Bennati leads by 6 seconds over Lampre's Lorenzetto, and 7 seconds over Gerolstiner's Wrolich.
We hope to keep this momentum going in Stage 3, which will be reported soon.
