Alejandro Valverde wins the fifth stage of the Santos Tour
Alejandro Valverde won the fifth stage of the Santos Tour Down Under to claim his first victory of the season. He crossed the finish-line in a total time of 3:45:48 and shattered GreenEdge’s dreams of getting its first Word Tour stage win.
The final sprint was between Movistar’s rider, Valverde and Simon Gerrans of Team GreenEdge.
The Spaniard had just enough strength in his legs to defeat the Australian at the 151.5 kilometre pursuit to Old Willunga Hill.
Tiago Machado, Michael Rogers, Rohan Dennis and Edvald Boasson Hagen claimed the third, fourth, fifth and sixth positions, respectively.
Alejandro received a huge support by his team, which resulted in an ultimate stage win at the Adelaide, Race.
He was overwhelmed with the victory and thanked the whole Movistar squad for its contributions towards his win.
Valverde briefed, “It's a really emotional moment for me. This win is for all those who have supported me during my time off the bike. The stage suited me - we put the team at the front, and to finish it off - it's a perfect comeback for me".
Valverde secured important 15 points to his credit after winning the stage, with Gerrans adding 14 points to his total.
Rohan Dennis of Team UNI SA-Australia is now leading the young rider’s classification, while Edvald Boasson Hagen of Sky Procycling Team is 5 seconds behind, at the second spot.
Simon Gerrans might have missed the stage win by half a wheel but his overall performance at the Adelaide race has won him the leader’s jersey.
A historical day for Australian cycling after Gerrans claimed the Ochre jersey at the UCI inaugural event.
Gerrans briefed, "It’s such a big deal for GreenEdge to take the lead into the last stage in their first world tour outing so I’m thrilled and really wrapped with the whole team’s performance, they have really supported me all week so I really can’t thank
the guys enough".
With one more stage to go at the Santos Tour, all eyes are on the Gerrans as he is a big hope for the debut squad, Team GreenEdge.
The Australian needs to keep a close eye on Alejandro Valverde, Tiago Machado, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Martin Kohler and Michael Matthews on the 90 kilometer stage 6 of the Tour Down Under 2012.
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