Santos Tour Down Under 2012

January 20, Stage 4: Norwood - Tanunda 130km

Freire back in the winner's circle with Tour Down Under victory

By:

Jane Aubrey

Published:

January 20, 04:22,

Updated:

January 25, 22:22

Greipel down over seven minutes as Kohler regains ochre jersey

Oscar Freire (Katusha) from Spain wins stage 4 of the 2012 Tour Down Under on January 20, 2012

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Oscar Freire has claimed his first win in his new Katusha kit, taking out the furious sprint finish into Tanunda on Friday's fourth stage of the Santos Tour Down Under.

RadioShack-Nissan's persistent work on the front of the bunch was rewarded with Daniele Bennati pipping Gerald Ciolek (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) for third place.

The second KOM of the day on Mengler Hill brought an end to Lotto Belisol sprinter Andre Greipel's latest stint in the ochre jersey - the German giving up the chase of the lead group of around 40 riders on the descent. Greipel lost around seven minutes with Martin Kohler (BMC) back in the race lead having relinquished it to the German on Thursday.

"I didn't expect to be back in the lead but we dropped Andre Greipel in the climb and then we were riding hard to make the gap bigger," said Kohler. "Tomorrow there will be 10 or 15 riders contesting the win at the top of Willunga Hill. It's going to be very hard and I don't know if I can keep this lead or not but I'm already happy with what I'm doing here. Our team BMC feels at home with all the support we get but of course we are the team of Cadel Evans."

Today's win was Freire's first solo victory since Stage 5 of Ruta del Sol in February 2011.

"It was a difficult finale. I knew I had a really good chance to win," said the Spaniard following the win. "The race was hard, it was better for me. I'm happy to score the team's first victory of the year after joining Katusha."

Of the challengers heading into a decisive stage 5 with a first-ever hilltop finish on Saturday's queen stage, Michael Matthews (Rabobank) is next best behind Kohler, two seconds back along with Freire. The Australian indicated he would be going full tilt on Willunga for the overall lead.

"The jersey I want is Ochre," he proclaimed. "I'll try to get it tomorrow. It's unfortunate that I missed it today by only two seconds. Not having the jersey today takes a lot of pressure off you but it's also better to be ahead of everyone else."

Kohler and his BMC team however will certainly be putting up a fight, having spent the week placing themselves very strategically in the lead up to the stage race's conclusion.

"[The deciding point] was maybe thirty kilometres to go when we came close to the climb. We sped up and GreenEdge sped up and we were just all in the front and suffering in the climb and there was a big split in the group and I don't know how many guys were in front, maybe 40."

"Yes, it was excellent work by [the team], they were looking for us to have a good position into the climb and in the end it was Mathias [Frank] riding. Alessandro [Ballan] and me, we were riding in the last kilometre but we were both too early, maybe could be better but we have the jersey again and tomorrow is a new day."

"It's an unbelievable feeling [to ride with Ballan], it's extra motivation and extra power for my legs and I hope I can pay respect with a good result."

How it unfolded:

Small skirmishes marked the opening kilometres but the race was together for the opening sprint of the day at Kersbrook with ochre jersey wearer Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) across the line with Michael Matthews (Rabobank) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) seconds and third respectively.

It took just 28 kilometres for the main break of the day to form with Jay McCarthy (UniSA), Gatis Smukulis (Kathusa) and Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) gaining a small advantage. Joined by Blel Kadri (AG2R-La Mondiale) not long after it was McCarthy, who led the group over the opening KOM of the day, the Cat. 2 Smith Hill at the 30.8 kilometre mark, followed by Perez, Kadri and then Smukulis.

The break reached its peak at 4:05 and was gradually whittled down with Perez, Kadri and McCarthy the order for the second sprint at Mt Pleasant with their advantage at 2:55.

With 50 kilometres left to race at Williamstown the gap was at 1:45 with the peloton's agenda firmly set on making life difficult for Greipel, with a win to him today possibly too close for comfort for anyone with general classification aspirations.

GreenEdge did the work and just before the Cat. 1 climb at Mengler Hill and 29 kilometres out from Tanunda, the bunch was caught.

An attack from Rohan Dennis (UniSA) netted him 16 points for being first over the KOM and the lead in the classification. Movistar's Javier Moreno was next across the line, followed by Simon Gerrans (GreenEdge), Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan), Jack Bauer (Garmin-Barracuda) and Linus Gerdemann (RadioShack-Nissan) in the battle for the points.

It was a group of around 50 riders which put the hammer down and effectively ended Greipel's run for the overall in 2012, the two-time winner's prediction correct that Willunga on Stage 5 would rule him out proven a day early. He eventually crossed the finish line escorted by lieutenant Greg Henderson 7:45 back on the lead group of riders in Tanunda.

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