An attention of fans is still focused to Australia where the real season starts with Santos Tour Down Under anually. For this year big stars of cycling excluding Mark Renshaw don´t participate. Then it will be a opportunity for other riders to show their power.
Squad
Rory
Sutherland
Leader
Daniele
Bennati
Sprinter
Marko
Kump
Team mate
Jonathan
Cantwell
Team mate
Jay
McCarthy
Team mate
Michael
Mørkøv
Team mate
Jesús
Hernández
Team mate
Goals
We send to Australia a strong team. Daniele Bennati will have four rider to help him in mass sprints. Without big names we expect that he will fight for a victory in every flat stage and he could gain a points jersey.
Rory Sutherland, new Australian national champion, will struggle to win this race. Sutherland will have to hand Jesús Hernández but in a decisive stage he can rely on a whole team.
First stage of 2013 Santos Tour Down Under starts in Prospect and leads to Lobethal. The opening stage is 134.2 kms long and without a big climb so we can except a mass sprint.
120 kms to go
Assan Bazayev, Jakob Rathe, Gaetan Bille and Jens Voigt formed a breakaway today. They created a maximum margin of 6 minutes but with teams Blanco, Sky, Euskaltel and Ag2r there was any chance to success.
90 kms to go
Assan Bazayev from Pro Team Astana defeated Jakob Rathe (Garmin-Sharp) on the only one mountain premium. Bazayev also got 12 points on two sprint premiums and he secured both mountain and points jersey for himself.
10 kms to gokms to go
The breakaway was caught 15 kms to the finish line. With 10 kms to go we set our sprint train for Daniele Bennati. Due to our high pace the peloton divided into two big groups. Second group lost 1´15 so it means that riders as Spilak, Kiryienka, Nocentini and other favourites lost chance to win the race.
Finish
Our sprint train wasn´t perfect but it was the only one. Daniele Bennati made together with Alexander Serebryakov a beautiful fight for a victory and Bennati captured a glory today.
Results
1
Daniele Bennati
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
3h24'57
2
Alexander Serebryakov
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
3
Kenny Van Hummel
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Mark Renshaw
Blanco Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
5
Luka Mezgec
Team Argos - Shimano
s.t.
6
Christopher Sutton
Sky Procycling
s.t.
7
Fabio Sabatini
Cannondale Pro Cycling
s.t.
8
Andrew Fenn
Omega Pharma - QuickStep
s.t.
9
Jure Kocjan
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
10
Lloyd Mondory
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
General classification
1
Daniele Bennati
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
3h24'47
2
Alexander Serebryakov
Euskaltel - Euskadi
+ 4
3
Kenny Van Hummel
Vacansoleil - DCM Pro Cycling Team
+ 6
4
Mark Renshaw
Blanco Pro Cycling Team
+ 10
5
Luka Mezgec
Team Argos - Shimano
s.t.
6
Christopher Sutton
Sky Procycling
s.t.
7
Fabio Sabatini
Cannondale Pro Cycling
s.t.
8
Andrew Fenn
Omega Pharma - QuickStep
s.t.
9
Jure Kocjan
Euskaltel - Euskadi
s.t.
10
Lloyd Mondory
AG2R La Mondiale
s.t.
Points classification
1
Assan Bazayev
Astana Pro Team
12
2
Jakob Rathe
Garmin - Sharp
12
3
Jens Voigt
RadioShack - Leopard
8
4
Daniele Bennati
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
8
5
Alexander Serebryakov
Euskaltel - Euskadi
6
Mountain classification
1
Assan Bazayev
Astana Pro Team
16
2
Jakob Rathe
Garmin - Sharp
12
3
Jens Voigt
RadioShack - Leopard
8
4
Gaetan Bille
Lotto Belisol
6
5
Alessandro De Marchi
Cannondale Pro Cycling
4
Young rider classification
1
Luka Mezgec
Team Argos - Shimano
3h24'57
2
Andrew Fenn
Omega Pharma - QuickStep
s.t.
3
Taylor Phinney
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
4
Marko Kump
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
s.t.
5
Leigh Howard
Orica - GreenEdge
s.t.
Team classification
1
Euskaltel - Euskadi
10h14'51
2
Team Saxo - Tinkoff
s.t.
3
Blanco Pro Cycling Team
s.t.
4
Omega Pharma - QuickStep
s.t.
5
BMC Racing Team
s.t.
Word from directeur sportif
"We are happy with a victory today. We know that our sprint train wasn´t perfect but any other team set his own so it was easier for us. Tomorrow we will try to hold a leader jersey and repeate a success from today," said Team Saxo-Tinkoff´s directeur sportif Philippe Maduit.
Edited by JSF on 09-04-2013 20:53