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2016 Santos Tour Down Under (World Tour), Australia

Stage 1: Prospect - Lyndoch

Back to 2016 Tour Down Under

Stage 1, Tuesday, January 19: Prospect - Lyndoch, 130.8 km

Stage 1 map and profile | Stage 1 video | Stage 1 photos

Caleb Ewan wins stage 1

The Race: The organizers provided this excellent summary: Ewan, who won Sunday’s People’s Choice Classic, again proved he is the form sprinter in the 140 strong bunch overhauling compatriot Mark Renshaw (Dimension Data) with Dutchman Wouter Wippert (Cannondale Pro) crossing in third place.

“I felt good all day and they (Orica-GreenEdge team) backed me right from the start,” said Ewan as he headed to the podium to claim the Santos Ochre Leader’s Jersey. “To win a road race you have to be very conservative during the day, the victory usually goes to the one who's got the freshest legs and the best team in the end.

“I need to thank Simon Gerrans for sharing the team with me (because) if he'd asked for the whole team to ride for him we'd do so,” said Ewan of his team leader who has three times won overall honours in the Santos Tour Down Under. “For a guy like that to tell me you can have your go I'm really grateful.

“It'll be a really proud moment for me to race in the ochre jersey tomorrow,” he said. “I’ve never led a World Tour race before and to do it in my own country means a lot to me.”

For his part, Renshaw was pleased to get a placing. “I haven’t raced as much as the other Aussie guys, and Caleb is hard to beat when he’s going like he is right now,” said Renshaw. “The team did a great job today for me, but my goals come later in the season with Mark Cavendish (for whom he will be a key lead out rider).

“We will keep working for a stage win this week but it was a great start for the team, because this is the first time I’ve really raced with these guys since coming to the team.”

Cannondale’s Wippert was also happy to be in the mix at the finish conceding that Ewan’s top speed is hard to counter.

“The guys did an awesome job to keep me perfectly in front,” said Wippert. “The last five kilometres, it was almost a crash, and sometimes you would lose ten places in 100 metres, and you had to fight back.

“With one kilometre to go, I was pretty far back, and I made the call to go,” he explained.

“Ewan is too good these days to go that far out. Timing is everything with wind like this and I am happy we didn’t crash,” said Wippert who was nonetheless happy to finish in the placings on his first day racing with his new team.

Ewan picked up a time bonus for his win today to give him a four second lead over Renshaw and Gougeard on the overall rankings.

Overcast skies provided some welcome relief from the predicted scorching temperatures as did the occasional smattering of rain drops but it was still a hot, dusty, gusty day in the saddle for the 140 strong peloton who set off from the Adelaide suburb of Prospect to ride the 131 kilometre stage, including four laps through the Barossa towns of Lyndoch, Cockatoo Valley and Williamstown.

Seventy seven thousand came out to support the race and Australian Sean Lake (UniSA-Australia), Frenchman Alexis Gougeard (AG21R-La Mondial) and Dutchman Martijn Keizer (Lotto Jumbo - NL) gave them something to cheer as the trio escaped off the front early in the stage riding clear of the peloton.

As the trio crested the category two climb at Tea Tree Gully 12.8km into the stage it was former rower, Lake, who grabbed the Subaru King of the Mountain points ahead of Keizer with Gougeard third. Forty seconds later Michael Hepburn (Orica-GreenEdge) led the main bunch over for fourth place climber’s points.

“A long ride up the road suits me more than the other guys so it was my job to break away for UniSA,” said Lake who two years ago swapped a career as a lightweight rower to pursue cycling.

He placed third in the time trial at the recent Australian Championships in Ballarat which was enough to earn him selection in the UniSA - Australia team for the opening UCI WorldTour race of the season.

Lake’s effort to be first over the climb gives him the lead in the Subaru King of the Mountain competition.

“I’m absolutely stoked to get the King of of the Mountains jersey,” said Lake. “I gave it all in the climb.”

The breakaway trio also shared the spoils of the two intermediate iiNet Sprints of the day in Cockatoo Valley. The first, at the 60 kilometre mark, went to 22 year old Gougeard ahead of Keizer and Lake. Gougeard took the points again at the 86 kilometre second iiNet sprint, this time ahead of Lake with Keizer third.

The gap to the lead three stretched out to more than two minutes at one stage before the work began in the bunch to reel them in. But Lake wasn’t done yet with the debutant trying his luck again.

“I saw the two Europeans were sort of struggling with the heat so I went for a solo time trial,” said Lake who stayed clear on his own until five kilometres from home. “It's always possible to get a stage win like this but not today.”

Back in the bunch Hepburn rode off the front giving Orica-GreenEdge a tactical advantage and forcing the teams of the other sprinters to commit to the chase.

Gougeard was named the Alpecin Most Competitive Rider of the Day for his role in the breakaway. “I was briefed for breaking away in case there would be more riders up the road,” said the Frenchman. “It was a good test. I don't have great feelings yet but I had good legs today, certainly better than one year ago in this same race.

“Physically I feel good, mentally too and we'll try to do a good job for (teammate Domenico) Pozzovivo on GC (overall).”

Tomorrow’s Staging Connections Stage 2 sets off from cosmopolitan Unley for a 132 kilometre stage through the picturesque Adelaide Hills which includes five passes through the eventual finish line in Stirling.

Complete results: 38.430 km/hr

1	Caleb Ewan	Orica–GreenEdge	3hr 24min 13sec
2	Mark Renshaw	Dimension Data	s.t.
3	Wouter Wippert	Cannondale	s.t.
4	Marko Kump	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
5	Adam Blythe	Tinkoff	s.t.
6	Giacomo Nizzolo	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
7	Ben Swift	Team Sky	s.t.
8	Steele von Hoff	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
9	José Joaquin Rojas	Team Movistar	s.t.
10	Greg Henderson	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
11	Brenton Jones	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
12	Enrico Battaglin	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
13	Patrick Bevin	Cannondale	s.t.
14	Aleksejs Saramotins	IAM Cycling	s.t.
15	Arman Kamyshev	Astana	s.t.
16	Davide Martinelli	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
17	Roger Kluge	IAM Cycling	s.t.
18	Koen De Kort	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
19	Alexey Tsatevitch	Team Katusha	s.t.
20	Anthony Giacoppo	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
21	Yoann Offredo	FDJ	s.t.
22	Gediminas Bagdonas	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
23	Juan José Lobato	Team Movistar	s.t.
24	Anthony Roux	FDJ	s.t.
25	Michael Albasini	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
26	Simon Gerrans	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
27	Tobias Ludvigsson	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
28	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Dimension Data	s.t.
29	Dmitriy Gruzdev	Astana	s.t.
30	Patrick Shaw	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
31	Federico Zurlo	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
32	Alberto Bettiol	Cannondale	s.t.
33	Luka Pibernik	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
34	Adam Phelan	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
35	Lieuwe Westra	Astana	s.t.
36	Nathan Haas	Dimension Data	s.t.
37	Julian Arredondo	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
38	Kiel Reijnen	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
39	Rafael Valls Ferri	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
40	Laurens De Vreese	Astana	s.t.
41	Simon Clarke	Cannondale	s.t.
42	Cameron Meyer	Dimension Data	s.t.
43	Luke Rowe	Team Sky	s.t.
44	Jarlinson Pantano	IAM Cycling	s.t.
45	Luis Leon Sanchez	Astana	s.t.
46	Davide Malacarne	Astana	s.t.
47	Egor Silin	Team Katusha	s.t.
48	Martin Velits	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
49	Jascha Sütterlin	Team Movistar	s.t.
50	Carlos Verona	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
51	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	s.t.
52	Oscar Gatto	Tinkoff	s.t.
53	Steve Morabito	FDJ	s.t.
54	Jay McCarthy	Tinkoff	s.t.
55	Sergio Henao	Team Sky	s.t.
56	Manuele Boaro	Tinkoff	s.t.
57	Ruben Fernandez	Team Movistar	s.t.
58	Floris Gerts	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
59	Diego Ulissi	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
60	Nelson Oliveira	Team Movistar	s.t.
61	Pim Ligthart	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
62	Matteo Montaguti	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
63	Murilo Fischer	FDJ	s.t.
64	Samuel Spokes	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
65	Michael Gogl	Tinkoff	s.t.
66	Daryl Impey	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
67	Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	s.t.
68	David Tanner	IAM Cycling	s.t.
69	Louis Meintjes	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
70	Bram Tankink	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
71	Tiago Machado	Team Katusha	s.t.
72	Michael Valgren Andersen	Tinkoff	s.t.
73	Lucas Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
74	Rohan Dennis	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
75	Nathan Earle	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
76	Lars Ytting Bak	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
77	David De La Cruz	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
78	Marcus Burghardt	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
79	Peter Velits	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
80	Richie Porte	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
81	Adam Hansen	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
82	Ruben Zepuntke	Cannondale	s.t.
83	George Bennett	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
84	Maarten Tjallingii	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
85	Rory Sutherland	Team Movistar	s.t.
86	Primoz Roglic	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
87	Peter Stetina	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
88	Jesús Herrada	Team Movistar	s.t.
89	Bert-Jan Lindeman	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
90	Alexis Gougeard	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
91	Lars Boom	Astana	s.t.
92	Georg Preidler	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
93	Michael Woods	Cannondale	s.t.
94	Ivan Rovny	Tinkoff	s.t.
95	Domenico Pozzovivo	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
96	Cyril Gautier	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
97	Leigh Howard	IAM Cycling	s.t.
98	Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
99	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
100	Petr Vakoc	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
101	Salvatore Puccio	Team Sky	s.t.
102	Gavin Mannion	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
103	Songezo Jim	Dimension Data	s.t.
104	Danilo Wyss	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
105	Gert Dockx	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
106	Maxim Belkov	Team Katusha	s.t.
107	Patrick Lane	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
108	Sean Lake	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
109	Moreno Moser	Cannondale	s.t.
110	Carter Jones	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
111	Chris Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
112	Lachlan Norris	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
113	Vladimir Isaychev	Team Katusha	s.t.
114	Rein Taaramäe	Team Katusha	s.t.
115	Johan Le Bon	FDJ	s.t.
116	Ryder Hesjedal	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
117	Laurent Pichon	FDJ	s.t.
118	Christophe Riblon	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
119	Jack Bobridge	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
120	Pieter Serry	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
121	Jesse Sergent	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
122	Manuele Mori	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
123	Thomas De Gendt	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
124	Jaco Venter	Dimension Data	s.t.
125	Benoit Vaugrenard	FDJ	s.t.
126	Sergey Lagutin	Team Katusha	s.t.
127	Graeme Brown	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
128	Boy Van Poppel	Trek–Segafredo	@ 19sec
129	Bert De Backer	Giant–Alpecin	0:00:22
130	Luke Durbridge	Orica–GreenEdge	0:00:40
131	Alessandro De Marchi	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
132	Simon Geschke	Giant–Alpecin	0:00:48
133	Tyler Farrar	Team Dimension Data	@ 1min 1sec
134	Mathew Hayman	Orica–GreenEdge	0:01:05
135	Ian Stannard	Team Sky	s.t.
136	Cheng Ji	Giant–Alpecin	0:02:46
137	Marcel Aregger	IAM Cycling	0:05:29
138	Matteo Pelucchi	IAM Cycling	s.t.
139	Martijn Keizer	LottoNL–Jumbo	0:05:32
140	Michael Hepburn	Orica–GreenEdge	0:07:56

GC after stage 1:

1	Caleb Ewan	Orica–GreenEdge	3hr 24min 13sec
2	Mark Renshaw	Dimension Data	@ 4sec
3	Alexis Gougeard	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
4	Wouter Wippert	Cannondale	0:00:06
5	Sean Lake	UniSA-Australia	0:00:07
6	Marko Kump	Lampre–Merida	0:00:10
7	Adam Blythe	Tinkoff	s.t.
8	Giacomo Nizzolo	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
9	Ben Swift	Team Sky	s.t.
10	Steele von Hoff	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
11	José Joaquin Rojas	Team Movistar	s.t.
12	Greg Henderson	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
13	Brenton Jones	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
14	Enrico Battaglin	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
15	Patrick Bevin	Cannondale	s.t.
16	Aleksejs Saramotins	IAM Cycling	s.t.
17	Arman Kamyshev	Astana	s.t.
18	Davide Martinelli	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
19	Roger Kluge	IAM Cycling	s.t.
20	Koen De Kort	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
21	Alexey Tsatevitch	Team Katusha	s.t.
22	Anthony Giacoppo	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
23	Yoann Offredo	FDJ	s.t.
24	Gediminas Bagdonas	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
25	Juan José Lobato	Team Movistar	s.t.
26	Anthony Roux	FDJ	s.t.
27	Michael Albasini	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
28	Simon Gerrans	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
29	Tobias Ludvigsson	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
30	Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg	Dimension Data	s.t.
31	Dmitriy Gruzdev	Astana	s.t.
32	Patrick Shaw	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
33	Federico Zurlo	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
34	Alberto Bettiol	Cannondale	s.t.
35	Luka Pibernik	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
36	Adam Phelan	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
37	Lieuwe Westra	Astana	s.t.
38	Nathan Haas	Dimension Data	s.t.
39	Julian Arredondo	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
40	Kiel Reijnen	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
41	Rafael Valls Ferri	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
42	Laurens De Vreese	Astana	s.t.
43	Simon Clarke	Cannondale	s.t.
44	Cameron Meyer	Dimension Data	s.t.
45	Luke Rowe	Team Sky	s.t.
46	Jarlinson Pantano	IAM Cycling	s.t.
47	Luis Leon Sanchez	Astana	s.t.
48	Davide Malacarne	Astana	s.t.
49	Egor Silin	Team Katusha	s.t.
50	Martin Velits	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
51	Jascha Sütterlin	Team Movistar	s.t.
52	Carlos Verona	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
53	Geraint Thomas	Team Sky	s.t.
54	Oscar Gatto	Tinkoff	s.t.
55	Steve Morabito	FDJ	s.t.
56	Jay McCarthy	Tinkoff	s.t.
57	Sergio Henao	Team Sky	s.t.
58	Manuele Boaro	Tinkoff	s.t.
59	Ruben Fernandez Andujar	Team Movistar	s.t.
60	Floris Gerts	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
61	Diego Ulissi	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
62	Nelson Oliveira	Team Movistar	s.t.
63	Pim Ligthart	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
64	Matteo Montaguti	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
65	Murilo Fischer	FDJ	s.t.
66	Samuel Spokes	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
67	Michael Gogl	Tinkoff	s.t.
68	Daryl Impey	Orica–GreenEdge	s.t.
69	Peter Kennaugh	Team Sky	s.t.
70	David Tanner	IAM Cycling	s.t.
71	Louis Meintjes	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
72	Bram Tankink	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
73	Tiago Machado	Team Katusha	s.t.
74	Michael Valgren Andersen	Tinkoff	s.t.
75	Lucas Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
76	Rohan Dennis	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
77	Nathan Earle	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
78	Lars Ytting Bak	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
79	David De La Cruz	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
80	Marcus Burghardt	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
81	Peter Velits	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
82	Richie Porte	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
83	Adam Hansen	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
84	Ruben Zepuntke	Cannondale	s.t.
85	George Bennett	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
86	Maarten Tjallingii	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
87	Rory Sutherland	Team Movistar	s.t.
88	Primoz Roglic	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
89	Peter Stetina	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
90	Jesús Herrada	Team Movistar	s.t.
91	Bert-Jan Lindeman	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
92	Lars Boom	Astana	s.t.
93	Georg Preidler	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
94	Michael Woods	Cannondale	s.t.
95	Ivan Rovny	Tinkoff	s.t.
96	Domenico Pozzovivo	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
97	Cyril Gautier	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
98	Leigh Howard	IAM Cycling	s.t.
99	Tsgabu Gebremaryam Grmay	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
100	Guillaume Van Keirsbulck	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
101	Petr Vakoc	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
102	Salvatore Puccio	Team Sky	s.t.
103	Gavin Mannion	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
104	Songezo Jim	Dimension Data	s.t.
105	Danilo Wyss	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
106	Gert Dockx	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
107	Maxim Belkov	Team Katusha	s.t.
108	Patrick Lane	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
109	Moreno Moser	Cannondale	s.t.
110	Carter Jones	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
111	Chris Hamilton	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
112	Lachlan Norris	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
113	Vladimir Isaychev	Team Katusha	s.t.
114	Rein Taaramäe	Team Katusha	s.t.
115	Johan Le Bon	FDJ	s.t.
116	Ryder Hesjedal	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
117	Laurent Pichon	FDJ	s.t.
118	Christophe Riblon	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
119	Jack Bobridge	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
120	Pieter Serry	Etixx–Quick-Step	s.t.
121	Jesse Sergent	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
122	Manuele Mori	Lampre–Merida	s.t.
123	Thomas De Gendt	Lotto Soudal	s.t.
124	Jaco Venter	Dimension Data	s.t.
125	Benoit Vaugrenard	FDJ	s.t.
126	Sergey Lagutin	Team Katusha	s.t.
127	Graeme Brown	Drapac Pro Cycling	s.t.
128	Boy Van Poppel	Trek–Segafredo	s.t.
129	Bert De Backer	Giant–Alpecin	0:00:19
130	Luke Durbridge	Orica–GreenEdge	0:00:22
131	Alessandro De Marchi	BMC Racing Team	0:00:40
132	Simon Geschke	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
133	Tyler Farrar	Dimension Data	0:00:48
134	Mathew Hayman	Orica–GreenEdge	@ 1min 1sec
135	Ian Stannard	Team Sky	0:01:05
136	Cheng Ji	Giant–Alpecin	s.t.
137	Marcel Aregger	IAM Cycling	0:02:46
138	Matteo Pelucchi	IAM Cycling	0:05:29
139	Martijn Keizer	LottoNL–Jumbo	s.t.
140	Michael Hepburn	Orica–GreenEdge	0:08:06