Andre Greipel claimed his third stage victory at the Santos Tour, winning the final stage
Andre Greipel took his third stage win at the Tour Down Under, at the 90 kilometre stage 6 of the race. The cyclist had a perfect start to his season and won three stages at the Australian race, also claiming the Down Under Classic.
His first victory at the tour came at the opening 149 kilometre stage of the race after a photo-finish victory over Alessandro Petacchi.
Andre’s second win at the race came during the third stage, when he reached Victor Harbour in a fastest time of 3:21:55.
Yauheni Hutarovich finished second, with Edvald Boasson Hagen occupying the third spot during the stage.
The German sprinter was leading the general classifications with an 8 seconds lead over Team BMC’s rider, Martin Kohler.
Michael Matthews of Team Rabobank secured the third spot, whereas Thomas De Gendt of Vacansoleil-DCM Team and Simon Gerrans of Team GreenEdge achieved the fourth and fifth spots, respectively.
Greipel was also leading the Jayco Sprints Overall Classifications by the end of stage 3, with 30 points to his credit.
Yauheni Hutarovich, Edvald Boasson Hagen and William Clarke finished at the second, third and fourth positions, with 27, 24 and 21 points to their credit.
Andre struggled during the fourth and fifth stages of the race and lost his overall dominance. He started the final stage of the race with only one target in his mind and finally managed to achieve it by winning the stage.
The 29-year-old outsprinted Mark Renshaw and Alessandro Petacchi to bag his third stage win.
He was over the moon after the victory and thanked his teammates for their support throughout the race.
Greipel explained, "What can I say," said Greipel. "Lotto-Belisol has just been amazing in leading me out to my third win of the week. It looks easy but it’s not. I was nowhere in the front on GC this year but I’m happy with the sprint finishes".
He further added, "It’s an early start to the season and to be on top form now is difficult. I’m happy to be on okay form but I can still get better".
Andre finished the race at the 73rd position overall and failed to claim a podium spot. The cyclist however, bagged three stages at the six-day race, which is a big achievement in his young career.
He also claimed the second position at the Jayco Sprints Overall Classifications, bagging 50 points for himself.
Simon Gerrans of Team GreenEdge won the Santos Tour Down final general classifications to score the first ever World Tour win for the Australian team.
The cyclist thanked the entire GreenEdge squad for its efforts during the six days of racing.
Alejandro Valverde secured the second spot with Tiago Machado, Michael Rogers and Rohan Dennis finishing third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
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