The Tour Down Under will start with a stage to the northeast of Adelaide. The towns of Nuriootpa and Angaston are quite close and the organisers have designed a circuit around them that the riders will tackle 3 times. The last of those will include the climb to Menglers Hill, which top is only 12 kilometers from the finish line. The climb should not be hard enough to make the sprinters drop from the bunch but it will make the preparation of the sprint a bit more chaotic. We should also see a couple of attempts to break away in the last kilometers.
It took a while for the break of the day to settle at the front as a first attempt was reeled in by the group ahead of the first intermediate sprint. A group of 5 then formed, with Borut Bozic (Bora), Michal Kwiatkowski (FDJ), Dylan Groenewegen (Sunweb), Luke Rowe (HTC) and Christophe Riblon (Cofidis) in it. They went through the second sprint, in Bethany, with a gap of 3 minutes over the bunch. Mark Cavendish (IAM) easily took the points in the bunch sprint as there were not many riders interested in sprinting. Movistar and Quickstep were also contributing to setting a pace but with 64 kilometers to go it was not very fast yet.
Euskaltel joined the chase as soon as the pace started to pick up and Juan Antonio Flecha (Euskaltel) was leading the peloton with 31 kilometers to go. We could also see good rouleurs like Ramunas Navardauskas (IAM) and Filippo Pozzato (BMC) taking turns at the front. The gap had fallen down to 2' 20''. A lot of sprinters will be looking to grab the first win of the season and that means that the break would have a very hard time making it to the finish today. Even as the hill in the last few kilometers might discourage some teams there are many sprinters that can handle such a climb.
The break started the climb to Menglers Hill ahead of the bunch and Christophe Riblon attacked almost straight away. Borut Bozic was trying to follow but the gap to the group had decreased to 45 seconds with 13 kilometers to go and a bit less than 2 to the top of the climb. The peloton was being led by Ramunas Navardauskas, while others like Oliver Zaugg (IAM) and Juanjo Lobato (Movistar) were also helping at the front. The candidates to win the stage had to be close to the front in the climb as there could be gaps opening up in the peloton close to the top.
Christophe Riblon was first at the top of Menglers Hill but the joy for the early break finished soon afterwards. A peloton driven by Simon Spilak caught up with them shortly before the 10 kilometers mark and the pace was clearly increased ahead of the final sprint. The peloton was quite stretched but there were no significant breaks and most of the riders could keep up with the pace. Among the sprinters, we could see Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel), Fran Ventoso (Movistar) and Mark Cavendish close to the front of the pack. It is quite clear that there will be a mass sprint in Angaston.
Euskaltel was clearly dominating the last few kilometers of the stage. They had formed a sprint train and kept the pace high enough that no other team could do the same. It looked like Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) would be the last rider leading Alexander Kristoff, while Fran Ventoso had grabbed the wheel of the Norwegian. Among the rest of the sprinters, we could also see Mark Renshaw (BMC), Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) and Michael Matthews (Cannondale) taking good positions close to the front. Euskaltel's control was preventing complete chaos in the preparation for the sprint.
Greg van Avermaet was still leading the peloton as they approached the flame rouge and Alexander Kristoff showed no intention of starting the final sprint. The only important change among the riders at the front was that Mark Renshaw had displaced Fran Ventoso from Kristoff's wheel and had a very good position ahead of the final sprint. Meanwhile, we could see Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan (Sky) both quite far from the front. It would be difficult for them to recover that much space in the last kilometer. It was going to be a very interesting sprint as it would give us a hint as to how the riders arrived in Australia in terms of form.
Alexander Kristoff was really late to start sprinting as he was hidden behind Greg van Avermaet with 600 meters to go. On the other hand, the two Australians, Michael Matthews and Mark Renshaw looked threatening and had started their own sprint. Surely the local crowd would be happy to see two of their own fight for the stages and potentially the overall. Fran Ventoso was also quite close to the front and the 6th place at that point was for Julien Simon (IAM). Surely the French should have been taking care of Mark Cavendish and the British could not be seen among the front riders so far.
Mark Renshaw wins in Angaston! The Australian delivered a very strong sprint to grab the first stage of the season. If Renshaw was criticised last year it was for his small number of wins and he seems to start the year on a different note. Alexander Kristoff had to settle for the 2nd place in the stage after he started his sprint way too late. Francisco Ventoso was third, ahead of Lloyd Mondory and Jure Kocjan (BMC). It was a lost chance for Mondory to add bonus seconds and we know that this race can be decided by tiny margins. The 5 seconds that he has lost already could be a game changer.
Having said that, there is always hope that the puncheurs attack strongly and manage to open gaps in the stages finishing in Campbelltown and Willunga Hill. The fact that the size of the peloton is not big should mean that the control of the race will not be that strong by the peloton and gaps easier to open up. In the meantime, Renshaw has positioned himself strongly ahead of the next stages and he will be looking to add to his win count as early as tomorrow given that the finish in Stirling is not suitable for the pure sprinters.
The Stirling stage is a classic of the Tour Down Under and a very difficult stage to predict. The town is placed at the hills to the east of Adelaide and the riders will have to tackle the uphill section towards the finish line 3 times. However, that climb is not hard enough for the puncheurs to dominate the day and it is more suited to strong complete riders. Nevertheless, a mass sprint was not avoided in the last few years and it is the most likely outcome. Typically, the stage is not one that produces gaps but the riders fighting for the GC should stay close to the front.
The first part of today's stage was very bumpy as the riders climbed from Adelaide onto the hills. A group of 4 took advantage of the terrain to quickly open a gap: Lieuwe Westra (Cannondale), Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Anthony Roux (Cofidis) and Jeremy Roy (FDJ). At the second climb of the day, Checkers Hill, they had a gap of 5' 15'' over the main bunch but there were still 93 kilometers to go in the stage. Meanwhile, Euskaltel was controlling the pace with BMC also showing their face at the front of the group. In the sprint for the KoM, Roux was first and that generated a 3-men tie at the front of the KoM classification.
The second intermediate sprint of the day was placed in Ballhannah, 66 kilometers from the finish line in Stirling. The sprint in the peloton was quite surprising as Julien Simon (IAM) beat Borut Bozic (Bora). Those are not the type of riders that we expected to battle for the points' competition but the pure sprinters were more worried about the stage win. Euskaltel and Movistar were mainly working at the front of the pack and the gap to the early break had come down to 4' 40''. They were very close already to joining the final circuit and there would be little flat terrain to chase once they hit the climbs.
The final kilometers were not peaceful for the peloton. Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) attacked right after the last passage through the finish line and pushed hard in the descent. Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) had already attempted the same move in the previous lap but had been quickly caught back. With 15 kilometers to go, Mondory was still 45 seconds behind the break but the group, led by Michael Albasini (IAM), was 1' 10'' behind the leaders. Mondory's move may not be successful but for sure he shows that the French is very ambitious and looking for the overall win in Australia.
It was very tough to stay at the front of the peloton in the last climb. Anthony Roux and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg were the last riders to survive and they were caught with 7 kilometers remaining. Lloyd Mondory had been reeled in shortly before. The group was already in the final climb towards Stirling so it was expected that someone among the puncheurs would try to surprise the group and grab the win. The hardest part of the climb is the initial part but it is never consistently above a 5% gradient. Therefore, the attacks should happen quite soon.
Joost van Leijen (Sunweb) did not disappoint and his attack was really hard and only followed by Emanuele Sella (Movistar). The Dutch and the Italian had a small 15 seconds advantage but at the pace that the peloton was riding it was going to be a struggle. Euskaltel took the responsibility to bring them back and they put Dani Moreno (Euskaltel) and Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) to lead to group. Meanwhile, there were a few riders dropping out the back of the group and Stefan Schumacher (HTC) crashed. It was a shame as the German could have been one of the riders involved in the GC.
Greg van Avermaet was launching Alexander Kristoff as they approached the final kilometer and his push meant that Joost van Leijen and Emanuele Sella were caught by the main bunch. We could also see Julien Simon trying to get something out of the stage but the IAM rider was dragging Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) and Fran Ventoso (Movistar) behind in an effort that the Spaniards would appreciate. Lloyd Mondory was also very close to the front of the race and could not be discarded in a finish that is slightly uphill, even after his previous attack.
Alexander Kristoff did not make the same mistake as yesterday and started his own sprint quite early. With 600 meters to go, he had opened a considerable gap over the rest of the riders fighting for the stage. The leader, Mark Renshaw (BMC), was leading the chasers alongside Lloyd Mondory but they were still only getting past Greg van Avermaet. Their only hope was that Kristoff ran out of gas as the incline was consistently increasing as they approached the finish line. We could also see Julien Simon and Jose Joaquin Rojas in the mix but it was very unlikely that they managed to win the day.
Alexander Kristoff wins in Stirling! There were no doubts in the final sprint as Kristoff was clearly quicker than the rest of the sprinters today and took the win in the 2nd stage of the Tour Down Under. It was a very good performance by the Norwegian, given that he had attacked a while before, using quite a bit of energy. The second place went to Mark Renshaw, which means that the Australian will keep the leader's jersey, although Kristoff is on the same time as him. The third place was taken by Lloyd Mondory ahead of Jure Kocjan (BMC) and Mauro Finetto (Euskaltel).
The race today followed the same pattern that we had see in previous years. There were a few attacks by puncheurs but as long as the teams of the sprinters are strong the final outcome is a sprint for the line. These results mean that all the classifications are still very tight and even the KoM is quite tight with 3 riders on the same amount of points. The stage tomorrow might make a difference given that the last climb is relatively difficult and placed only a few kilometers from the finish line in Campbelltown.
The Tour Down Under continues with one of the key stages in the route. Today's stage is quite easy in general but the riders will have to handle the climb to Montacute, which top is only 7 kilometers from the finish line. The climb itself is not too long but at an average of 8.3% it has the potential to cause splits in the group. A few of the puncheurs are also expected to attack and try to open a gap on the pure sprinters. Nevertheless, gaps appearing are not guaranteed and we could still see a sprint of a relatively big group in the streets of Campbelltown.
There was no battle at all to get the break of the day formed today. The first attack succeeded and the 3 riders at the front were Dylan Groenewegen (Sunweb), Ramunas Navardauskas (IAM) and Rigoberto Uran (Orica). They quickly built a gap and with 107 kilometers to go they already had 5' 30'' over the bunch. They were coming through the first intermediate sprint, in Kersbrook, with Uran taking the lead and the bonus seconds. Meanwhile, Elia Viviani (Trek) beat Tyler Farrar (Discovery) and Mark Cavendish (IAM) in the sprint of the peloton.
The second intermediate sprint was quite close to the first one, in Williamstown. Elia Viviani was again the quickest in the peloton and the rest of the sprinters could not be bothered to fight for the points, even though the classification might be decided by only a few points. With 92 kilometers to go, Quickstep, Euskaltel and Movistar were leading the main bunch but the gap to the break kept increasing and the clock stopped at 6' 45'' under the sprint kite. They still had a long way to go but the peloton should not let that gap grow bigger even if the break did not look too dangerous.
In the run towards the climb of the day the break was losing ground quite fast. With 39 kilometers to go the 3 riders at the front had seen the gap shrink to 3 minutes. They had to battle a quite strong headwind during many kilometers as they head back in the direction of Adelaide. Meanwhile, the teams in the peloton were using riders like Simon Spilak (Euskaltel), Juanjo Lobato (Movistar) and Maxime Monfort (Quickstep) to step up the chase. Those were in general much stronger riders than the ones in the break and we should see the peloton catching before the climb to Montacute.
The break was finally caught at the bottom of the climb to Montacute, with 9 kilometers remaining. Quickstep had a good presence at the front with riders like Maarten Tjallingii (Quickstep) and Carlos Betancur (Quickstep) but it was Simon Spilak setting a pace. There was a headwind in the climb as well and that would make attacking quite difficult for the puncheurs. Nevertheless, we could see riders like Simon Clarke (HTC) and Michael Matthews (Cannondale) moving towards the front of the peloton. With 1.5 kilometers of climbing to go they were in a standstill.
Mauro Finetto (Euskaltel) was the only rider to try an attack but it was very close to the top of the climb. Nevertheless, it was hard enough to make the group break and there were not that many riders managing to follow the Italian. The first one to do it was Emanuele Sella (Movistar) but most of the riders at the front of the GC were also following him. Among the riders dropping off the group we could see some surprising names like Tom Slagter (Cannondale), Dani Moreno (Euskaltel) and Laurens Ten Dam (Sunweb). It was quite likely that there would be gaps in the finish line seeing the pace of some groups across the top.
A group of 16 riders would battle for the stage win in Campbelltown following the splits in the peloton at Montacute. It included many of the sprinters that have been battling for the stages in these last few days and the group was led by Maarten Tjallingii with 2 kilometers to go. The Dutch was working for Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) but Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) and Mark Renshaw (BMC) had also made it in the front group. Michael Matthews was also very close to the front and ready to sprint for the win. Meanwhile, the gap to the first chasing group was already as big as 1' 05''.
Mark Renshaw was the first to take the lead in the sprint and the Australian was looking good for the win with 700 meters remaining. The road was still slightly downhill so it would be difficult to recover for the rest of the sprinters. Nevertheless, Lloyd Mondory and Alexander Kristoff were chasing hard and those are very dangerous sprinters in stages with hills. Michael Matthews, Fran Ventoso (Movistar) and Filippo Pozzato (BMC) had also joined the final sprint but were too far behind. Pozzato in particular had been working for Renshaw so he was probably preventing the appearance of a gap in the sprint.
Mark Renshaw wins in Campbelltown! The Australian had no rivals in the final sprint today and takes the stage easily ahead of Lloyd Mondory. This is his 2nd win in the Tour Down Under and the amount of bonus seconds that he is getting is starting to be significant. This is a great start of the season and he has already equalled the number of wins that he got in the whole of 2017. As we said, Mondory was 2nd while Michael Matthews was 3rd, proving that the local riders are very committed to doing a good job on home soil. The top 5 was completed by Alexander Kristoff and Fran Ventoso.
The front group had a total of only 16 riders and those should be the ones that will have an option to win the race at Willunga Hill. The first chasing group crossed the line 1' 17'' before, led by Tom Slagter and Anthony Roux (Cofidis). The GC is therefore a lot clearer, with Mark Renshaw starting to build a lead. Considering the small gaps that Willunga Hill will generate, 13 seconds on many of the hills specialists is already a significant margin. Before that, the riders will have another stage for the sprinters finishing in Victor Harbor.
All of the stages so far were battled by the sprinters but had difficulties that meant that the ones that are not good through the hills had a disadvantage. That would not be the case today as the stage is pretty much flat. The riders will go from Unley, in the outskirts of Adelaide, towards Victor Harbor, in the south coast. It will be another opportunity to grab more bonus seconds for the riders leading the GC but they will also have more competition for them. Nevertheless, riders like Mark Renshaw and Alexander Kristoff can also deliver in really flat stages.
The break was once more formed in the first attack, as they climbed out of Adelaide and into Stirling. The group of 5 riders was formed by Borut Bozic (Bora), Julian Arredondo (Orica), Lieuwe Westra (Cannondale), Matti Breschel (Dimension Data) and Peter Kennaugh (Sky). They got to the first intermediate sprint, in Echunga, with a gap of 3 minutes over the bunch but they still had 124 kilometers to go. Bozic was the first in the sprint. Meanwhile, IAM set up the sprint for Mark Cavendish (IAM) to take the most points remaining in the sprint.
The only difficulty of the day was the climb to Myponga Dam, 53 kilometers from the finish line. Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff) jumped from the bunch to take the only KoM point remaining. In the break, Lieuwe Westra took more points and is tied as well in the lead, where 4 riders are together at the front of the classification for the KoM. The gap to the break was starting to come down and was 3' 45'' at the top. IAM, Euskaltel and BMC were working at the front of the peloton. There were not many doubts that the stage would be resolved in a mass sprint.
Borut Bozic had been a few kilometers without relaying at the break only to attack within the last 10 kilometers. However, he was not going anywhere as the gap to the peloton was only 25 seconds. We could see riders like Juanjo Lobato (Movistar), Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel) and Ramunas Navardauskas (IAM) leading the chase. There was quite a strong wind that was hitting the riders sideways but there were no gaps in the peloton so far. IAM looked quite committed to the mass sprint and we could already see their train starting to be formed and bringing Mark Cavendish to the front.
Gregory Rast (IAM) was a very good signing towards preparing the sprints for Mark Cavendish. He could put a pace at the front that meant IAM was controlling the peloton with 3 kilometers remaining. They would have Julien Simon (IAM) leading out Mark Cavendish but the British already had Mark Renshaw (BMC) and Tyler Farrar (Discovery) behind. Meanwhile, Euskaltel had Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) ready to lead Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) and Matthew Goss (Movistar) would be the last rider for Fran Ventoso (Movistar). We could also see Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) and Jure Kocjan (BMC) behind them.
Julien Simon was still leading the way for IAM and he was taking Mark Cavendish very close to the fences on the left-hand side of the road. They were about to reach the flame rouge and IAM was doing a great job. Meanwhile, Movistar was closing the gap with them as Matthew Goss dragged Fran Ventoso. Euskaltel men were lagging behind. However, we could also see Mark Renshaw perfectly positioned behind Cavendish with Tyler Farrar behind him. John Degenkolb (HTC) was the unlikely guest in the party as he was trying to surprise the rest of the sprinters with a rush from very far out.
John Degenkolb was the surprising leader of the sprint with 600 meters to go but his margin was not big at all and he had many among the top sprinters behind. Fran Ventoso took advantage of the great job that Matthew Goss had done for him, while Alexander Kristoff and Jure Kocjan were right behind. However, most of the sprinters were very close and Lloyd Mondory and Mark Renshaw were still within shot of the stage win. The biggest disappointment came from Mark Cavendish. The IAM rider did not take advantage of the great job that the team had done for him.
Fran Ventoso wins in Victor Harbor! Today's sprint was a bit different than the ones in previous days and Ventoso took full advantage of it. The Spaniard only won by a very small margin but Movistar struggled last year and any win that he can get will be very welcome by the team. The second place went to Alexander Kristoff, who cut the lead that Mark Renshaw had in the GC by a few seconds. Lloyd Mondory was third ahead of Mark Renshaw and Jure Kocjan. It was a really tight finish and many riders that were not present in previous sprint joined the fight.
As we said, Mark Cavendish did not find his legs and he could not even get a top 10 finish in the end. He has not had a great race so far and is clearly not in top shape yet. The stage had the pattern that we had expected and it was again a race for the sprinters. However, tomorrow will be a different story with the double climb to Willunga Hill. The puncheurs should try anything to displace the likes of Renshaw and Kristoff from the podium but there are only a few riders within shot of doing it as many riders lost time in the GC.
The fifth stage is the key one in the Tour Down Under. The route is not too long but the riders will have to tackle the climb to Willunga Hill twice in the last 25 kilometers. Given that the finish line is at the top of the climb, it is quite likely that the puncheurs will have an advantage and are able to open small gaps at the finish line. Nevertheless, the sprinters have been able to limit the losses in previous editions of the race so it is quite difficult to anticipate what the final outcome will be in the GC after today.
There was quite a battle at the start of the stage to form the break of the day. In the end, the peloton did only allow a small group of 3 riders to get ahead: Tom Dumoulin (Cannondale), Maxime Monfort (Quickstep) and Alessandro Ballan (Sky). They got to the first intermediate sprint of the day, in Snipper Point, with a gap of 5' 15'' over the bunch. BMC was controlling the pace as there was a lot of wind that even broke the peloton in the early stages of the day. At the sprint, Dumoulin was first but the bonus seconds were more important for Monfort, who is very close to the lead in the GC.
The second intermediate sprint was also placed in Snipper Point, in the third lap around McLaren Vale before tackling Willunga Hill. With 48 kilometers to the finish line, BMC was setting the pace with 5 riders at the front, including good rouleurs like Tom Boonen (BMC), Filippo Pozzato (BMC) and Sylvain Dillier (BMC). That had brought the gap down to 2' 40''. In the sprint of the peloton, Mark Cavendish (IAM) was first but the points he is getting in the sprint are not going to get him anywhere without results in the finish line.
There were a lot more attacks than what was expected in the first climb to Willunga Hill, especially considering the strong headwind they had to endure. A group of 4 riders was leading the race at the top once the break was overtaken: Rinaldo Nocentini (Bora), Julien Simon (IAM), Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff) and Thibaut Pinot (Dimension Data). They had 50 seconds over a group of 13 riders including Emanuele Sella (Movistar), Mauro Finetto (Euskaltel) and Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel). The peloton was 1' 30'' behind the leaders but BMC was not panicking at all yet.
BMC imposed themselves in the latter part of the climb but there were a couple of riders still ahead after the descent. Rinaldo Nocentini was leading the race and digging deep to hold on to his lead. Bora would be delighted with a stage win in their first race ever but probably satisfied that they are getting the TV time. He had 40 seconds on Thibaut Pinot and 1' 35'' over Ramunas Navardauskas, who had just jumped from the bunch with 9 kilometers remaining. None of them was dangerous for the leader as they had lost time in previous stages but Nocentini was getting close to being the virtual leader on the road.
Laurens Ten Dam (Sunweb) had taken over the lead of the group at the start of Willunga Hill and the gap to those in front was coming down quite fast. They had few chances of making it to the finish line but the headwind was making it even more difficult for them. With 3 kilometers to go Rinaldo Nocentini was still in the lead but Thibaut Pinot was about to be caught by the bunch. The presence of Ten Dam in the lead should mean that Joost van Leijen (Sunweb) would be attacking in the climb sooner than later. It is a climb that suits him very well. He already won the TDU by winning here in 2015.
Joost van Leijen launched a very hard attack that finished the chances of the riders that were ahead. However, he could not open a gap and there were counter-attacks. The first of those came from Juanjo Cobo (HTC) with 2 kilometers to go. He was quickly followed by Jonathan Hivert (Sky) and Emanuele Sella. Alexander Kristoff was one of the riders that responded to Van Leijen's attack, which is quite surprising. The Norwegian may end up paying for those efforts even if this is a relatively short climb. Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) was also a bit far from the front of the group.
The riders that attacked did manage to open a gap and they entered the last kilometer with a 20 seconds gap over the main group. As they started the sprint it was clear that Emanuele Sella was the strongest among them. He was also among the riders that were very close to Mark Renshaw (BMC) in the GC. Jonathan Hivert and Juanjo Cobo were trailing Sella in the sprint with 700 meters remaining. Meanwhile, the group was being led by Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery), Tejay van Garderen (Trek) and Michael Matthews (Cannondale). It is always difficult to predict a winner in Willunga Hill.
Mauro Santambrogio (Sky) wins in Willunga Hill! It was an amazing final kilometer from the Italian to grab his first win of the season. He had been hidden the whole day and not really one of the top favorites for the stage but clearly had enough in his tank to get ahead of Emanuele Sella in the closing meters of the stage. It is quite possible that the headwind that the riders endured in the final climb made things more difficult for those that attacked but the last move by Santambrogio allowed him to leave the main group behind.
Both Italians managed to put 10 seconds between them and the main group, which was led across the line by Mauro Finetto ahead of Mark Renshaw and Tom Slagter (Cannondale). That gap, combined with the bonus seconds, means that Sella and Renshaw are tied in time ahead of the last stage. The Australian will retain the leader's jersey due to the better placings he has had in the stages. He is also the favorite to win the race tomorrow given that it is much more likely for him to grab any bonus seconds than it would be for Emanuele Sella.
The last stage in the Tour Down Under is little more than a criterium in downtown Adelaide. In principle it should be a stage that does not run for much longer than 2 hours as the circuit does not pose any difficulty for the riders. Nevertheless, the GC is so tight that the stage will be quite interesting. The top 3 riders are still within a shot of winning the overall and both Mark Renshaw and Alexander Kristoff will have a decent chance of getting bonus seconds at the finish line. The locals should be out in full force cheering for the former.
The break of the day was quite large for a stage that short but strangely the peloton was fine with it. The group of 7 included riders like Rigoberto Uran (Orica), Lieuwe Westra (Cannondale), Pieter Weening (Tinkoff), Luke Rowe (HTC) and Lars Bak (Dimension Data). The first intermediate sprint was placed 65 kilometers from the finish line and their gap was 2' 30'', which was manageable by the bunch. Uran was the only rider interested in the bonus seconds but he was a bit more that 2 minutes behind in the GC. In the peloton, Euskaltel riders were very much showing themselves at the front of the pack.
Mark Renshaw hit the ground with 48 kilometers to go and the Australian had to abandon the race! It looked like quite a harmless crash for the BMC rider but as he was about to get back on his bike he realised that there was something very wrong. This is a major surprise as he was on his way to potentially winning the Tour Down Under. The crowds in downtown Adelaide have been left speechless by the crash and there was actually a void as to who was controlling the pace in the main bunch and whether they would have to wait for Renshaw. Nevertheless, once they realised that the BMC rider was not coming back things went back to normal and at the 2nd intermediate sprint the gap to the break was down to 1' 45''.
The front group was riding hard and still as a unit as they crossed the 10 kilometers to go kite. BMC was obviously not working anymore, although Jure Kocjan (BMC) was still an option for them in the final sprint. However, it was riders like Tony Gallopin (IAM), Juan Antonio Flecha (Euskaltel) and Ramunas Navardauskas (IAM) working at the front of the peloton. IAM is showing a lot of faith in Mark Cavendish (IAM) even if the Brit has proven not to be in top shape this early in the season. They may have had a better chance of getting results via breakaways.
Michal Kwiatkowski (FDJ) attacked from the break but was finally caught shortly after entering the last kilometer. Therefore, the stage would be decided in a mass sprint. It was quite crowded at the front of the pack as we had 3 sprint trains:
- IAM had Julien Simon (IAM) working for Mark Cavendish, with Tyler Farrar (Discovery) right behind.
- Euskaltel would again have Greg van Avermaet (Euskaltel) leading Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel), who was dragging Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep) behind.
- Movistar had one of the local riders, Matthew Goss (Movistar), ahead of Fran Ventoso (Movistar), while Jure Kocjan was right behind.
We could also see Elia Viviani (Trek) and Michael Matthews (Cannondale) ready to join the party.
The three teams were still really close. The short stage means that everyone reached the last part of the stage with a lot of energy and there were many riders trying to fight for the stage. Greg van Avermaet was narrowly leading the pack. Euskaltel was obviously not thinking only on the stage win but also on the overall. A 2nd position in the stage would be enough for him to take the win provided that it is really hard that Emanuele Sella (Movistar) gets any bonus seconds at the finish line. The Italian was quite far behind to be a threat.
The riders pushed into the last kilometer and it was still really crowded with 600 meters to go. Fran Ventoso was starting to emerge from behind Matthew Goss, who had done an extraordinary lead out for him. The Spaniard was only marginally ahead of Alexander Kristoff but there were many other riders still within a shot at the win, like Michael Matthews, Jure Kocjan, Lloyd Mondory and Tyler Farrar. Mondory had been great in this race in the last couple of years but he did not find the same legs at the start of 2018 season.
Fran Ventoso wins in Adelaide! The Spaniard takes another win in Australia to take his tally to two but it was a very narrow sprint against Alexander Kristoff. The Norwegian will not be too disappointed as the 2nd place was enough to give him the win in the GC thanks to the 3 bonus seconds that he grabbed. It was a very unlikely outcome in the end following the abandon by Mark Renshaw. The third position went to Michael Matthews ahead of Lloyd Mondory and Tyler Farrar, who completed the top 5.
The stage was expected to be a fight between Mark Renshaw and Alexander Kristoff for the bonus seconds that gave them the overall win in the race but in the end it turned out to be a disappointment for the Australian. His crash will have hurt badly both mentally and physically. In the end, Kristoff will be joined in the podium by Emanuele Sella and Fran Ventoso. The Italian managed to get his nose in the final podium but this race is still normally sprinters territory as the only puncheur that managed to win the GC in the last years was Joost van Leijen (Sunweb).
Happy with the Overall win for Kristoff but i think he would have rather have won it himself rather than Renshaw's misfortune. Still, just the team classification let us down for the clean sweep
- Tony Martin (Lotto - Soudal)
- Marcel Kittel (UAE Team Emirates)
- Michael Rogers (Vacansoleil - DMC)
- Fabian Cancellara (Cannondale - Drapac)
Other riders with a shot at the podium are Jerome Coppel (Quickstep Floors), Adriano Malori (Astana Pro Team), Mark Renshaw (BMC Racing Team), Peter Velits and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery Channel) and Tom Dumoulin (Cannondale - Drapac).
There are many good sprinters apart from those that can time trial in Qatar that will fight for many stages, like Lloyd Mondory (Quickstep Floors), Kenny van Hummel (LottoNL - Jumbo), Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Mark Cavendish (IAM Cycling), Ben Swift (Vacansoleil - DMC) and Tyler Farrar (Discovery Channel).
