Andre Greipel won the first stage of the Santos Tour Down Under 2012
German cyclist, Andre Greipel won the first stage of Santos Tour Down Under 2012, to mark his first road win of the season. He finished the race in a total time of 4 hours, 33 minutes and 40 seconds, with a lead of 4 seconds over Alessandro Petacchi of Lampre-ISD.
The cyclist started the 149 kilometre race wearing his ochre jersey, which he earned at the Down Under Classic on January 15th, 2012.
He stated, "I’m lucky that I won today. There was a massive crash with 800 metres to go. My pedal got touched and I lost positions from about 5th to 20th. But I managed to bridge the gap”.
Two of Lotto-Belisol’s cyclists crashed as a result of Petacchi’s move across the peloton and Andre criticised him for the same.
He briefed, "[Then] Petacchi went from left to right, he didn’t care about the crash. He’s a big star but he shouldn’t do this. Two of my team-mates crashed as a result. All I care about after winning this stage is how they are".
Petacchi secured the second position with Yauheni Hutarovich, Fabio Sabatini and Daniele Bennati occupying the third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
Greipel earned 15 points during the first stage, whereas 14 and 13 points were awarded to Petacchi and Yauheni, respectively, after the end of stage 1.
Australian cyclist, Tom Palmer won the Young Rider’s Classification at the race, with Michael Matthews at second and Romain Lemarchand achieving the third position.
Not a very good start for the debut squad, Team GreenEdge, with Simon Gerrans claiming the top position for the team.
He finished 35th and was the only cyclist for the Australian team in the top 50’s. In fact, Matt Goss, the second best performer of the team, occupied the 99th spot.
Team GreenEdge finished at the 18th position, with Team Astana standing at the end, after the stage 1 Team’s classifications.
Team Sky Procycling conquered the category and was accompanied by Lotto-Belisol, AG2r La Mondiale, Katusha and Rabobank at the second, third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
Andre is leading the stage 1 general classifications, with a difference of four seconds over Alessandro Petacchi and Martin Kohler.
Marcello Pavarin won the King of Mountains classifications with 3 points to his credit.
Greipel is now targeting the 148 kilometre stage 2 of the Santos Tour Down Under to further increase his overall lead at the inaugural UCI event for the current season.
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