The stage starts in Unley, an Adelaide suburb located just south of the city center, from there directly climbing into the Adelaide hill near Mount Lofty with a rather hard uncategorized climb to start the stage.
After that south for a short circuit south of Echunga, including todays two intermediate sprints both at Echunga Memorial Institute. After that north to Cudlee Creek before we turn west for the Corkscrew KoM climb and directly down to the finish in Campbelltown.
The finish today is very similar to that of stage 3 in 2016, indication that you may not win the race today but you may well loose some critical time, only 10 riders sprinted after high pace downhill, Luis León Sánchez and Simon Clarke lost 13”, everyone else 22” or more.
Simon Gerrans took the stage and the race lead, later to win the Tour.
Top 5 media favorites:
Alejandro Valverde - Michal Kwiatkowski - Julian Alaphilippe
Sonny Colbrelli - Michael Matthews
In 2016 Simon Gerrans best Rohan Dennis in a photo finish also in Campbelltown
Race
Km: 71
Silvan Dillier (Ag2r) opens the stage, closely followed by Simon Clarke (Education First) and Alex Kirsch (Trek), about 13” behind Vegard Stake Laengen (UAE), KoM leader Nico Denz (Ag2r) and Luis León Sánchez (Astana)
The uncategorized climb into the Hills is quite hard and it seems like the peloton have no intension of wasting energy this early, the gap grows to over a minute quite fast
Later but still climbing another four rider have escaped with about 1’30” to the bunch, we have three groups in front of the peloton. After 11 km the groups unite to a group of ten at this point with a gap of 3’44”
The last four riders are Francisco Ventoso (CCC) Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha) Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) and Alberto Bettiol (Education First)
Francisco Ventoso wins both point sprints
36 years old Spanish Francisco Ventoso, have got 27 professional wins, with two stage in Giro and one in Vuelta a España, but haven’t won since 2012
Km: 10
The peloton can’t really find a rhythm Mitchelton-Scott and Quick Step sending riders to the front but the gap continues to grow, with just 40 km left it is 4’14 a dangerous situation with 10 riders in the breakaway.
The breakaway works together quite well, only Simon Clarke for some reason refuses to participate, leaving the hard work to teammate Alberto Bettiol. Most active in the breakaway has been Vegard Stake Laengen, taking a lot of turns.
The breakaway is getting close to the Corkscrew climb, with 3’11 and just 10 km to the finish line, is sure looks like a breakaway win.
Trek – Segafredo’s Alex Kirsch leading the breakaway prior to the decisive climb
Km:6
The climb do not change the distance much, 3’01 over the top for the breakaway. It is now completely clear that the winner sits in the break and also it will not be Alberto Bettiol he lost 43” on the climb.
With just a few 100 meters to the top Luis León Sánchez attacked, winning the KoM
Astana’s Sánchez was fastest on the last part of the climb, but it will not be enough to take the KoM jersey
Km: 0.0
Sánchez is not the fast finisher, but he is a great downhill rider and it will be downhill all the way to the finish line, he was able to make a small gab and even though the other are faster on the last 500 meters, they are still behind him as he crosses the finish line, the 2nd very narrow stage win by Astana in a row.
Vegard Stake Laengen 2nd in front of Francisco Ventoso 3rd
This was 35 years old Sánchez 4th win in Tour Down Under, he won the tour in 2005
Km: 0.0
Alejandro Valverde attacks from the peloton over the climb, soon to open a fine gap.
It looks like he will get a small advantage over the other riders in the favourite group, passing the finish line with some distance, but as the results will show the commissionaires will give him the same time as the favourite group.
Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde
Astana Pro Team
Another fantastic day for the team, hard to believe really, we are very happy
The stage starts in Glenelg, a beachside suburb of Adelaide and the oldest European settlement on mainland South Australia. From here we travel south to Yankalilla along the coastline, passing a relative easy KoM at Sellicks Hill and a point sprint in Myponga.
In Yankalilla we move inland crossing Fleurieu Peninsula heading for Victor Harbor, passing the 2nd point sprint in Inman Valley, before heading north for the finish in Strathalbyn.
Strathalbyn is a town located about 55 km south west of Adelaide, settled in 1839 by Scottish immigrants. One of the earliest settlers Dr John Rankine was credited with naming the town, believed to be a combination of ‘Strath’ “a wide, flat river valley” in Scottish, and “Albion” from company name “Albion Iron Mills” where he was a significant shareholder.
Top 5 media favorites:
Alexander Kristoff - Peter Sagan - John Degenkolb
Pascal Ackermann - Elia Viviani
In the early years in the township, Aboriginal people often camped at the banks of the Angas River close to Strathalbyn
Race
Km: 105
Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (CCC) opens the stage, closely followed by Sep Vanmarcke and Jenthe Biermans (Katusha), this early attack later also included Robert Power (Sunweb) and a 5 man pursuit, but everyone was reeled back in.
Another attempt initiated by Matti Breschel (Education First) also failed, before we get what is to become the breakaway of the day.
It was first Casper Pedersen (Sunweb) with Julien Duval (Ag2r) close behind, ending with a 5 rider group and the peloton slowing down accepting this constellation. The other three are Dylan Van Baarle (Sky) Marco Frapporti (Androni) and Stefan Küng (FDJ).
Frapporti attacks from 1.3 km, but Dylan Van Baarle wins the KoM sprint.
26 years old Dutch Dylan Van Baarle best result was winning the Tour of Britain in 2014, after gaining almost a minute on Kwiatkowski at the tough 7th stage
Km: 10
Julien Duval wins the first point sprint Van Baarle the 2nd
With 10 km left the break has 1’23”, not the best idea to attacks at this point as it is more likely to hold of the peloton together, never the less that is exactly what Sunweb’s new young Dane Casper Pedersen does.
22 years old Pedersen came to Sunweb from the collapsed PCT team Aqua Blue Sport for this season
Km:0.0
The teams in the peloton did not want to burn out too many riders before the crucial King stage to Willunga Hill coming up tomorrow. They got close but never close enough to really threaten the breakaway.
Julien Duval fastest in a narrow sprint wins in Strathalbyn.
Marco Frapporti 2nd in front of Dylan Van Baarle 3rd
This was without contest the best result by 28 years old French Julien Duval, his first professional win
Astana Pro Team
That was just a relative easy unimportant day, of course Magnus Cort Nielsen would have preferred to see the team work for a mass sprint, but the Astana Sports Directors could not agree
The iconic “King Stage” with finish in Willunga has existed since 2002, although in different form and with different start locations. The route we know today with start in McLaren Vale, including one or more visits to Snapper Point and finish in Willunga was introduced in 2011.
In this year’s version, with three lops from McLaren Vale via Willunga town to Snapper Point, then two loops from McLaren Vale via Willunga town and over Willunga Hill, the 2nd time with summit finish at the hill.
In 1839 McLaren Vale was settled by farmers from Devonshire, England. Originally McLaren Vale was two separate villages Gloucester and Bellevue which later merged.
Top 5 media favorites:
Alejandro Valverde - Julian Alaphilippe – Enrico Gasparotto
Michal Kwiatkowski - Dylan Teuns
Willunga Royal Mail Coach (1915), was operated between Adelaide and Willunga and was disbanded following the opening of the railway
Race
Km: 84
We get a very strong breakaway attempt this morning with Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha), Alex Howes (Education First), Marco Frapporti (Androni), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ) and the rider that makes the other teams most worried Diego Ulissi (UAE).
At first the pursuit is very hard, but as the chase does not succeed within the first 20 km, most teams decide not to burn their riders down and the distance slowly grows to more than a minute. Diego Ulissi is at 5’37 so not really a GC contender.
A few km later Stefan Küng (FDJ) uses the drop in pace to attack and also get away, he joins the breakaway. The attacking is not over yet, also Dylan Van Baarle (Sky) and Nans Peters (Ag2r) joins the leading group.
We have 8 riders in the breakaway at the first point sprint at Snapper Point, peloton at 2’22”. Marco Frapporti wins the sprint.
29 years old Italian Diego Ulissi has 30 professional wins, of those 6 stages in the Giro d'Italia
Km: 2.5
Dylan Van Baarle wins the 2nd intermediate sprint.
From there the pace goes up significantly and the first 26 riders loose contact with the peloton while the gap starts to decrease, hitting the foot of the first Willunga Hill climb the breakaway has 1’21”.
Ulissi wins the KoM at Willunga Hill
Three riders from the breakaway was dropped over the climb and reeled in, Alex Howes, Marco Frapporti and Nans Peters.
At the foot of the final climb the breakaway was over, 76 riders left in the peloton, Astana has Izagirre, Cort and Lopez in the group.
Enrico Gasparotto (Dimension Data) leads in front of Dylan Teuns (Bahrain) and Pascal Ackermann (BORA)
36 years old Italian Enrico Gasparotto won Amstel Gold Race twice, 2012 and 2016
Km: 1
Under the red kite Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) accelerated and there was no answer from the other favourites, he opens a gap of about 10” over just 100 meters.
In front of the peloton we got Dylan Teuns, Magnus Cort, Gorka Izagirre and Enrico Gasparotto but they do not look like they got much power left.
At 38, Legendary Alejandro Valverde Belmonte still amongst one of the strongest riders in the peloton, with 14 wins last season
Km: 0.0
Valverde keeps up his distance.
Behind him Sky’s Chris Froome comes forward fast and now leads the group behind in front of Magnus Cort Nielsen, Michal Kwiatkowski and Michael Albasini.
Alejandro Valverde wins at Willunga Hill with 8” and also takes the GC.
Chris Froome 2nd and Michal Kwiatkowski 3nd
30 riders get the same time as Chris Froome, including Peter Sagan and Miguel Angel Lopez they move to respectively 2nd and 3rd in GC
This was Alejandro Valverde’s 123 professional win
Astana Pro Team
With two stage wins and a GC podium Tour Down Under have been a major success.
Magnus Cort did not get a stage win on the flat, but seems as if he has developed into a much stronger puncher/sprinter than he was last season, an interesting perspective for coming races.
@sutty68
Yes was a better start than what i would think it could be, I dont think it will be easy to keep it up, but it is a strong team as we also has seen in real life.
Winners
20/1 - Marko Krump - Gravel and Tar
21/1 - Rodolfo Torres - Vuelta al Tachira en Bicicleta
21/1 – 24/1 Tour of Indonesia (2.1)
Stage 1:
Typical sprinter stage, a break of 6 was caught in time for trains to set up.
1
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Astana Pro Team
2h47'55
2
Raymond Kreder
Team Ukyo
s.t.
3
Asbjørn Kragh Andersen
Team Sunweb
s.t.
Stage 2:
After several crash, had to just sim this.
1
Daryl Impey
Mitchelton-Scott
2h41'57
2
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
3
Leonardo Basso
Team Sky
s.t.
Stage 3:
This stage was much harder than the previous two, also setting the first KoM.
Again 6 riders in the break and Muhamad Zawawi Azman (Team Sapura Cycling) takes the KoM lead before the group was reeled in on the downhill, some 40 riders left in the peloton getting ready for the mass sprint
1
Daryl Impey
Mitchelton-Scott
5h02'25
2
Magnus Cort Nielsen
Astana Pro Team
s.t.
3
Raymond Kreder
Team Ukyo
s.t.
Stage 4:
Another semi mountain stage, but with the KoM in the middle and a flat finish.
8 riders form the breakaway of those 2 rider able to passe the KoM in front of the peloton, Thomas Lebas (Kinan) takes the cat.1. About 50 rider together before the final sprint.
Latest Winners:
2018: Jay McCarthy 2017: Nikias Arndt - 2016: Peter Kennaugh
Squad:
Magnus Cort Nielsen - Luis León Sánchez - Alexey Lutsenko - Omar Fraile
Jan Hirt - Yevgeniy Gidich - Artyom Zakharov
Expectations:
Magnus Cort Nielsen have shown some great shape lately, doing fine in the hill if he can survive over the top of the last climb, he can do something here. A top 5 would be amazing. As we have other options outside top 10 must be considered a disappointment.
The race starts in Anglesea, from there south along the coast to Lorne, here the route turn inland passing the first uphill section near the now almost abandoned former mining and timber village Benwerrin. Then downhill and southwest for the 2nd climb at Mount Sabine before reaching the Great Ocean Road again in Skenes Creek heading for Apollo Bay.
After that another short sweep inland for a climb in Great Otway National Park before reaching Cape Otway for the first time, further along the coast up to Glenaire and then a small circuit for the final climb in Lavers Hill, before heading back to finish at the Cape Otway Lightstation.
The cape was discovered by Lieutenant James Grant in 1800, Grant named it Cape Albany Otway after Captain William Albany Otway.
Top 5 media favorites:
Petr Vakoc - Diego Rosa – Robert Gesink
Diego Ulissi - Lilian Calmejane
Cape Otway Lighthouse was built in 1848 and was decommissioned in January 1994 after being the longest continuous operating lighthouse on the Australian mainland.
Race
Km: 88
Chad Haga (Sunweb) opens the race, at his wheel Benjamin King (Dimension Data) and Jens Debusschere (Katusha- Alpecin). They will be joined by Julien Bernard (Trek) and Marco Marcato (UAE) forming the morning breakaway.
They gain a lead of almost 5 minutes, but will lose most of it again at the early climb near Benwerrin, down to just 45”.
Just as it seems the break will be reeled in, Quick Step who has been leading all day slows down, and over the top the gap is back to 3’47 and will remain there over the next two climbs.
Chad Haga, born 1988 in Collin County – Texas, only win was the prologue in Tour of Elk Grove 2013
Km: 7.5 km
On the penultimate and possibly hardest climb today, Team Sky takes over in the peloton setting 6 riders in front and turn up the throttle, reducing the distance to 1’30 over the top.
Benjamin King makes a final move, but it is over at the foot of the final climb.
As soon as the break was reeled in, attack between the favourites. It is Gianluca Brambilla (Trek), Diego Rosa (Sky) and a little further back José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar Team)
José Joaquin Rojas exploded before the top falling back fast, but Rosa and Brambilla keep up a small gap. Meanwhile the peloton completely fractalized, the first pursuit group is Vuillermoz, Lambrecht, Impey, Calmejane, Vakoc and Gesink, another about 20” further back Hansen, Ulissi, Battaglin, Cort and Storer
Diego Rosa lead the attack with just 7.5 downhill km to the line, his best result was winning Milano – Torino in 2015
Km: 0.0
The 2nd pursuit catches the 1st pursuit and with a little less than 2 km to the line also Rosa and Brambilla, it comes to a reduced sprint between the 13 riders, the next group have lost about 45”
Daryl Impey wins Great Ocean Road Race, his 5th win of the season taking 3 stages and the GC in Indonesia.
Petr Vakoc 2nd in front of Bjorg Lambrecht 3rd.
34 years old South African Daryl Impey most prominent win was Tour Down Under last season
Astana Pro Team
Magnus Cort 7th was acceptable and within the low end of expectations, the team did nothing too noteworthy and struggled to keep things organized in some situations.
@sutty68/VoetsT
Yes we are ok with the result, it was more the fact that Lutsenko/Sánchez etc was not there to help Magnus, that was a bit frustrating, we lost Sánchez way too early, must have had a very bad day
Winners
28/1 – Nicolas Roche – Tropicale Amissa Bongo
28/1 – Danilo Celano – New Zealand Clasic
30/1 – Rok Korošec – Internationals des Zibans
30/1 – 3/2 Herald Sun Tour (2.1)
Stage 1:
First stage is a flat 8.6 km prologue
1
Jonathan Castroviejo
Team Sky
10'25
2
Nikias Arndt
Team Sunweb
+ 2
3
Dmitriy Gruzdev
Astana Pro Team
+ 3
Stage 2:
On paper a hilly stage, but will normally not be hard enough to split the peloton.
7 riders in the breakaway, they are caught on the penultimate climb. Julien El Fares (Delko) wins the KoM and will be first KoM leader.
More than 100 riders make it to the sprint.
1
Fabio Jakobsen
Deceuninck-Quick Step
3h12'02
2
Daryl Impey
Mitchelton-Scott
s.t.
3
Jonathan Hivert
Direct Energie
s.t.
…to be continued in February
31/1 Trofeo Ses Salines (1.1)
A rather weak breakaway of four gets caught just at the foot of the final climb, Tim Wellens very agressive at the beginning of the climb, but never get away, it comes to a photo-finish between Sam Oomen and Michael Woods.
Best from Astana Jan Hirt 19th in the same time as the winner.
