2018 Santos Tour Down Under (World Tour), Australia

Stage 1, Tuesday, January 16, 2018

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Tuesday, January 16: Stage 1, Port Adelaide - Lyndoch, 145 km

Race story | Results | Stage 1 photos | Stage 1 map

André Greipel takes the first stage. Photo: Sirotti

The race: Here's the organizer's tellng of the day's racing.

Lotto-Soudal leader André Greipel has won the opening stage of the 20th edition of the Santos Tour Down Under in a thrilling sprint to the line in the Barossa.

The German two-time winner of the Tour burst late to reel in chief rival Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-SCOTT) 50 metres from the line, with Sunday night’s People’s Choice Classic winner Peter Sagan (BORA-hansgrohe) finishing third.

Greipel’s victory – apt given Lyndoch’s is one of the original German settlements of South Australia in the Barossa – was his 17th in the event (he is the stage-win record-holder), and came after he lost teammate Bjorg Lambrecht prior to the start of the race.

Although Quick-Step Floors had the front of the peloton for their leader Elia Viviani, the Italian had to settle for fourth on the line after being at the front early in the final sprint.

For Greipel, the return to Adelaide could not have started better. “It's a nice one,” he said. “It was a pretty fast sprint, but I could wait as long as I wanted.

“It's nice to be back here this way after a few years of absence. Because of the heat, the racing isn't that stressful. We were one guy down [non-starter Bjorg Lambrecht] but my team set the sprint really well. It's also nice to get the ochre jersey.”

The biggest highlight of the day outside of the final sprint was undoubtedly the courageous ride of EF Education First-Drapac's Will Clarke, who claimed both southaustralia.com intermediate sprints at Cockatoo Valley and continued to battle for the lead until late in the race.

In the team’s first race with its new, conspicuously fluoro pink identity, Clarke pressed ahead to lead the race before the peloton caught him 10km from the finish near Williamstown.

He was part of an initial breakaway departing Birkenhead, featuring Nic Dlamini (Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka) and Scott Bowden (UniSA-Australia). The trio forged a near-five-minute lead 8kms into the race and battled for Subaru King of the Mountain honours at Humbug Scrub.

That moment saw Bowden make an early attack on the hill, but was quickly quashed by his counterparts who easily caught him before the line.

Dlamini was a comfortable winner, and will wear the blue polka dot jersey on Wednesday.

As Bowden faded, Dlamini and Clarke continued to press on, but it was the seasoned Clarke – a former stage winner at the Santos TDU – who shook Dlamini with 30km to go and continued to lead the race solo. 

Historic departure:

The exciting start to the Santos Tour Down Under comes in line with its 20th edition setting off from Port Adelaide.

It was the first time the Port had hosted a start of the tour since its inaugural edition, with the riders departing St Vincent Street to the cheers of a passionate local turnout, across the Birkenhead and Diver Derrick bridges before the start of the race.

Tough races for riders:

It was a disappointing afternoon for Irishman Sam Bennett (BORA-hansgrohe), who lost a chain on the final approach into Lyndoch and was absent from the final sprint to the line. Bennett is one of the riders Peter Sagan will be working for, along with Australian Jay McCarthy.

Daniel Hoelgaard (FDJ) also hit the fence on the final sprint to the line.

The peloton will return to the Hilton Adelaide overnight ahead of Wednesday’s Stage 2 from Unley to Stirling, commencing at 11:00am on King William Road.

Complete Results:

145 kilometers raced at an average speed of 37.77 km/hr

1	GREIPEL André	Lotto-Soudal	3hr 50min 21sec
2	EWAN Caleb	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
3	SAGAN Peter	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
4	VIVIANI Elia	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
5	CONSONNI Simone	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
6	BAUHAUS Phil	Team Sunweb	s.t.
7	HAAS Nathan	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
8	MONTAGUTI Matteo	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
9	NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
10	MINALI Riccardo	Astana	s.t.
11	BEVIN Patrick	BMC	s.t.
12	BATTAGLIN Enrico	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
13	IMPEY Daryl	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
14	LAWLESS Christopher	Sky	s.t.
15	PEDERSEN Mads	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
16	WELSFORD Sam	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
17	MCCARTHY Jay	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
18	SELIG Rüdiger	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
19	BEPPU Fumiyuki	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
20	DUCHESNE Antoine	FDJ	s.t.
21	PETERS Nans	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
22	BENNETT George	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
23	BARBERO Carlos	Movistar	s.t.
24	RENSHAW Mark	Dimension Data	s.t.
25	VON HOFF Steele	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
26	OOMEN Sam	Team Sunweb	s.t.
27	PREIDLER Georg	FDJ	s.t.
28	ROUX Anthony	FDJ	s.t.
29	CHÉREL Mickaël	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
30	GESINK Robert	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
31	FERNÁNDEZ Rubén	Movistar	s.t.
32	ULISSI Diego	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
33	WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
34	SABATINI Fabio	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
35	MORABITO Steve	FDJ	s.t.
36	DENZ Nico	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
37	HAMILTON Chris	Team Sunweb	s.t.
38	OWEN Logan	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
39	COSTA Rui	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
40	BERNAL Egan Arley	Sky	s.t.
41	ZAKHAROV Artyom	Astana	s.t.
42	SIEBERG Marcel	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
43	RESTREPO Jhonatan	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
44	CLARKE Simon	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
45	IZAGIRRE Ion	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
46	DOCKER Mitchell	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
47	EDMONDSON Alexander	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
48	DE VREESE Laurens	Astana	s.t.
49	SANCHEZ Luis Leon	Astana	s.t.
50	SLAGTER Tom-Jelte	Dimension Data	s.t.
51	LATOUR Pierre	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
52	MARCATO Marco	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
53	OLIVIER Daan	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
54	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
55	DEBUSSCHERE Jens	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
56	CANTY Brendan	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
57	BOHLI Tom	BMC	s.t.
58	EARLE Nathan	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
59	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
60	BOARO Manuele	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
61	MORI Manuele	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
62	EG Niklas	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
63	MACHADO Tiago	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
64	VANDENBERGH Stijn	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
65	GERRANS Simon	BMC	s.t.
66	GUERREIRO Ruben	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
67	BAK Lars Ytting	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
68	ARASHIRO Yukiya	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
69	AGNOLI Valerio	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
70	DAVIES Scott	Dimension Data	s.t.
71	LADAGNOUS Matthieu	FDJ	s.t.
72	POZZOVIVO Domenico	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
73	DEVENYNS Dries	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
74	MORKOV Michael	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
75	BICO Nuno	Movistar	s.t.
76	SOLER Marc	Movistar	s.t.
77	HANSEN Adam	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
78	DLAMINI Nickolas	Dimension Data	s.t.
79	GONÇALVES José	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
80	MORTON Lachlan	Dimension Data	s.t.
81	O'CONNOR Ben	Dimension Data	s.t.
82	IZAGIRRE Gorka	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
83	FERRARI Roberto	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
84	MAS Enric	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
85	VALGREN Michael	Astana	s.t.
86	DIDIER Laurent	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
87	KOCHETKOV Pavel	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
88	GASTAUER Ben	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
89	DENNIS Rohan	BMC	s.t.
90	LAMMERTINK Maurits	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
91	CLARKE William	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
92	CASTRILLO Jaime	Movistar	s.t.
93	DE KORT Koen	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
94	OLIVEIRA Nelson	Movistar	s.t.
95	SÜTTERLIN Jasha	Movistar	s.t.
96	SCULLY Thomas	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
97	WYNANTS Maarten	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
98	MORENO Daniel	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
99	PUCCIO Salvatore	Sky	s.t.
100	PORTER Alexander	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
101	MEYER Cameron	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
102	DEMPSTER Zakkari	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
103	DOULL Owain	Sky	s.t.
104	ROE Timothy	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
105	DE GENDT Thomas	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
106	BONO Matteo	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
107	BOWDEN Scott	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
108	GATTO Oscar	Astana	s.t.
109	SCOTSON Miles	BMC	s.t.
110	DIBBEN Jonathan	Sky	s.t.
111	KORSAETH Truls	Astana	s.t.
112	CAPECCHI Eros	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
113	KENNAUGH Peter	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
114	VENTER Jaco	Dimension Data	s.t.
115	LEEZER Tom	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
116	TEUNISSEN Mike	Team Sunweb	@ 16sec
117	HOWSON Damien	Mitchelton-Scott	0:18
118	HAYMAN Mathew	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
119	CIMOLAI Davide	FDJ	0:24
120	WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz	Sky	s.t.
121	OSS Daniel	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
122	HAGA Chad	Team Sunweb	0:26
123	ARNDT Nikias	Team Sunweb	0:28
124	FRAME Alex	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
125	BAUER Jack	Mitchelton-Scott	0:55
126	SÉNÉCHAL Florian	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
127	STORER Michael	Team Sunweb	1:48
128	BODNAR Maciej	BORA-hansgrohe	1:57
129	WAGNER Robert	LottoNL-Jumbo	2:13
130	BENNETT Sam	BORA-hansgrohe	3:36
131	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	0:00

GC after Stage 1:

1	GREIPEL André	Lotto-Soudal	3hr 50min 11sec
2	EWAN Caleb	Mitchelton-Scott	@ 4sec
3	CLARKE William	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
4	SAGAN Peter	BORA-hansgrohe	@ 6sec
5	DLAMINI Nickolas	Dimension Data	s.t.
6	HAAS Nathan	Katusha-Alpecin	@ 9sec
7	RESTREPO Jhonatan	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
8	VIVIANI Elia	Quick-Step Floors	@ 10sec
9	CONSONNI Simone	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
10	BAUHAUS Phil	Team Sunweb	s.t.
11	MONTAGUTI Matteo	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
12	NAVARDAUSKAS Ramunas	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
13	MINALI Riccardo	Astana	s.t.
14	BEVIN Patrick	BMC	s.t.
15	BATTAGLIN Enrico	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
16	IMPEY Daryl	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
17	LAWLESS Christopher	Sky	s.t.
18	PEDERSEN Mads	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
19	WELSFORD Sam	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
20	MCCARTHY Jay	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
21	SELIG Rüdiger	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
22	BEPPU Fumiyuki	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
23	DUCHESNE Antoine	FDJ	s.t.
24	PETERS Nans	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
25	BENNETT George	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
26	BARBERO Carlos	Movistar	s.t.
27	RENSHAW Mark	Dimension Data	s.t.
28	VON HOFF Steele	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
29	OOMEN Sam	Team Sunweb	s.t.
30	PREIDLER Georg	FDJ	s.t.
31	ROUX Anthony	FDJ	s.t.
32	CHÉREL Mickaël	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
33	GESINK Robert	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
34	FERNÁNDEZ Rubén	Movistar	s.t.
35	ULISSI Diego	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
36	WÜRTZ SCHMIDT Mads	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
37	SABATINI Fabio	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
38	MORABITO Steve	FDJ	s.t.
39	DENZ Nico	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
40	HAMILTON Chris	Team Sunweb	s.t.
41	OWEN Logan	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
42	COSTA Rui	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
43	BERNAL Egan Arley	Sky	s.t.
44	ZAKHAROV Artyom	Astana	s.t.
45	SIEBERG Marcel	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
46	CLARKE Simon	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
47	IZAGIRRE Ion	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
48	DOCKER Mitchell	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
49	EDMONDSON Alexander	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
50	DE VREESE Laurens	Astana	s.t.
51	SANCHEZ Luis Leon	Astana	s.t.
52	SLAGTER Tom-Jelte	Dimension Data	s.t.
53	LATOUR Pierre	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
54	MARCATO Marco	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
55	OLIVIER Daan	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
56	WYSS Danilo	BMC	s.t.
57	DEBUSSCHERE Jens	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
58	CANTY Brendan	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
59	BOHLI Tom	BMC	s.t.
60	EARLE Nathan	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
61	PORTE Richie	BMC	s.t.
62	BOARO Manuele	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
63	MORI Manuele	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
64	EG Niklas	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
65	MACHADO Tiago	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
66	VANDENBERGH Stijn	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
67	GERRANS Simon	BMC	s.t.
68	GUERREIRO Ruben	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
69	BAK Lars Ytting	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
70	ARASHIRO Yukiya	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
71	AGNOLI Valerio	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
72	DAVIES Scott	Dimension Data	s.t.
73	LADAGNOUS Matthieu	FDJ	s.t.
74	POZZOVIVO Domenico	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
75	DEVENYNS Dries	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
76	MORKOV Michael	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
77	BICO Nuno	Movistar	s.t.
78	SOLER Marc	Movistar	s.t.
79	HANSEN Adam	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
80	GONÇALVES José	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
81	MORTON Lachlan	Dimension Data	s.t.
82	O'CONNOR Ben	Dimension Data	s.t.
83	IZAGIRRE Gorka	Bahrain-Merida	s.t.
84	FERRARI Roberto	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
85	MAS Enric	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
86	VALGREN Michael	Astana	s.t.
87	DIDIER Laurent	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
88	KOCHETKOV Pavel	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
89	GASTAUER Ben	Ag2r-La Mondiale	s.t.
90	DENNIS Rohan	BMC	s.t.
91	LAMMERTINK Maurits	Katusha-Alpecin	s.t.
92	CASTRILLO Jaime	Movistar	s.t.
93	DE KORT Koen	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
94	OLIVEIRA Nelson	Movistar	s.t.
95	SÜTTERLIN Jasha	Movistar	s.t.
96	SCULLY Thomas	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
97	WYNANTS Maarten	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
98	MORENO Daniel	EF Education First-Drapac	s.t.
99	PUCCIO Salvatore	Sky	s.t.
100	PORTER Alexander	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
101	MEYER Cameron	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
102	DEMPSTER Zakkari	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
103	DOULL Owain	Sky	s.t.
104	ROE Timothy	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
105	DE GENDT Thomas	Lotto-Soudal	s.t.
106	BONO Matteo	UAE-Team Emirates	s.t.
107	BOWDEN Scott	UniSA-Australia	s.t.
108	GATTO Oscar	Astana	s.t.
109	SCOTSON Miles	BMC	s.t.
110	DIBBEN Jonathan	Sky	s.t.
111	KORSAETH Truls	Astana	s.t.
112	CAPECCHI Eros	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
113	KENNAUGH Peter	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
114	VENTER Jaco	Dimension Data	s.t.
115	LEEZER Tom	LottoNL-Jumbo	s.t.
116	HOELGAARD Daniel	FDJ	s.t.
117	TEUNISSEN Mike	Team Sunweb	0:26
118	HOWSON Damien	Mitchelton-Scott	0:28
119	HAYMAN Mathew	Mitchelton-Scott	s.t.
120	CIMOLAI Davide	FDJ	0:34
121	WIŚNIOWSKI Łukasz	Sky	s.t.
122	OSS Daniel	BORA-hansgrohe	s.t.
123	HAGA Chad	Team Sunweb	0:36
124	ARNDT Nikias	Team Sunweb	0:38
125	FRAME Alex	Trek-Segafredo	s.t.
126	BAUER Jack	Mitchelton-Scott	1:05
127	SÉNÉCHAL Florian	Quick-Step Floors	s.t.
128	STORER Michael	Team Sunweb	1:58
129	BODNAR Maciej	BORA-hansgrohe	2:07
130	WAGNER Robert	LottoNL-Jumbo	2:23
131	BENNETT Sam	BORA-hansgrohe	3:46

Stage 1 photos by Fotoreporter Sirotti:

Matt Hayman heads to the start

Rohan Dennis

Simon Clarke

Peter Sagan

The race caravan is lined up and ready to go.

A road hazard we don't have here in Oregon

More than a few spectators

The day's break was always kept on a careful leash.

Team BMC

Peter Sagan gets aero on a descent

Nice day for a bike race

Bjorg Lambrecht couldn't race because of some rule complexities, so he put in his kilometers anyway.

As they head to the line, André Greipel (center) looks to have it nailed.

André Greipel is the day's fastest man

Winner André Greipel with racing legend Jens Voigt

Stage 1 map:

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