Team GreenEdge not so impressive after the first stage at the Santos Tour Down Under 2012
Shayne Bannan’s team could not live up to the expectations as the Australian team struggled during its first stage at the Santos Tour Down Under 2012.
The team struggled right from the start as none of its cyclists really took the challenge.
Simon Gerrans and Matt Goss were the only two cyclists in the top hundred. Gerrans finished at the 35th position while Goss secured the 99th spot.
Luke Durbridge and Stuart O’ Grady were exhausted early on whereas the other teams concentrated on being hydrated for the 149 kilometre stage 1 of the Santos Tour Down Under 2012.
Robbie Mcewen, Leigh Howard, Cameron Meyer, Stuart O’Grady and Luke Durbridge all failed to finish amongst the top 100 during the first stage.
German cyclist, Andre Greipel dominated the first day with his astonishing win during the first stage of the Santos Tour in Adelaide, Australia.
He briefed on winning the race, "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”.
Stuart O’ Grady also commented on the crash during the first stage, "There were a lot of tired guys out there. It really does have a lot of effect on guys, the heat and it causes slow reactions and you can see a crash is always going to happen".
A total number of 19 teams participated in the event, with Team GreenEdge finishing at the 18th position.
Team Sky Procycling occupied the first place with Lotto-Belisol, AG2R La Mondiale, Katusha and Team Rabobank at the second, third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
Marcello Pavarin won the King of Mountains overall classifications. Rohan Dennis, Tom Palmer and Michael Matthews were the top three young riders on day 1.
It will be interesting to see how the Australian squad lines up for the 148 kilometres stage 2, between Lobethal and Stirling.
It will be hard to contain Andre Greipel of Team Lotto-Belisol as the German seemed to have found the missing ingredient, Greg Henderson, for his perfect winning recipe.
Tags: