Spyns Tour de France — Andre Greipel of Germany won the first stage of the Tour Down Under on Tuesday, while Lance Armstrong finished among the peleton in 46th place after a "fairly uneventful day." Greipel won here in 2008, but his promising 2009 campaign ended after only three of six stages when he was seriously injured in a collision with a parked police moto
rbike. The worst of Greipel's various injuries was a broken collarbone which kept him out of competition for four months, severely damaging his 2009 season. Greipel said he no longer thinks about the crash after he broke from a bunched sprint Tuesday to win a 141-kilometre stage between the rural towns of Clare and Tanunda north of Adelaide.
rbike. The worst of Greipel's various injuries was a broken collarbone which kept him out of competition for four months, severely damaging his 2009 season. Greipel said he no longer thinks about the crash after he broke from a bunched sprint Tuesday to win a 141-kilometre stage between the rural towns of Clare and Tanunda north of Adelaide.He later praised the work of fellow riders in his U.S.-based Team Columbia for his win, which left him with the tour leader's orange jersey and a four-second advantage on general classification.
"It was a good finish and a good warmup for the team," he said. "We took responsibility for the whole stage. The team made the difference. We started as a team and finished as a team."
Gert Steegmans took second place for Armstrong's new Radioshack Team - which made its official ProTour debut Tuesday - while Steegman's Belgian compatriot Jurgen Roelandts was third.
"It was a good finish and a good warmup for the team," he said. "We took responsibility for the whole stage. The team made the difference. We started as a team and finished as a team."
Gert Steegmans took second place for Armstrong's new Radioshack Team - which made its official ProTour debut Tuesday - while Steegman's Belgian compatriot Jurgen Roelandts was third.
Tens of thousands of spectators watched Tuesday's stage, lining the streets of small townships or waiting patiently outside remote homesteads for riders to pass. Armstrong raced among the peleton for most of the stage, which undulated through some of Australia's richest wine-growing country and finished in the pack, credited with Greipel's winning time of three hours 15 minutes 30 seconds. "I feel pretty good, but it was not an easy day. It was very up and down," Armstrong said. "Overall, it was a fairly uneventful day." Armstrong dodged a crash only 300 metres after the start which brought down almost 60 of the 132 riders, among them two-time Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia who had to replace a broken shoe.
"It was a quick bit of work with the electrical tape and it was all right," said Evans, who quickly caught the bunch and finished 50th to sit 53rd overall.
Much of the stage was dominated by a breakaway involving young Australian Timothy Roe, a member of Armstrong's development squad, Switzerland's Martin Kohler and France's Biel Kadri. The breakaway group led by as much as nine minutes 45 seconds, but came back to the peleton less than 20 kilometres from the finish. Kohler won the two intermediate sprints Tuesday to lead the sprint classification while Roe was first over the top of steep Menglers Hill to win the King of the Mountain jersey.
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