Cardoso claims Footon's first ProTour win

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It could have been a scene from an Ardennes Classic: a tough circuit, a hilly finale and Alejandro Valverde head-to-head with World Champion Cadel Evans. The only difference was that today's race was in Australia, in January and neither of these two stars won.

That honour went to Portuguese national champion Manuel Cardoso, however.

Bursting forth from a Caisse d'Epargne-controlled peloton, Cardoso held off Valverde and Evans in the closing metres of a hilly 132km romp from Unley to Stirling to open Footon-Servetto's ProTour victory account for 2010 and record his first win as a ProTour rider.

In the process he poured rain over the sprinters' parade on a day when the Mercury touched 40 degrees Celsius, the hottest day of this year's Santos Tour Down Under and an element that played its part in the stage result.

"I was extremely happy to have won the tough stage to Stirling," said Cardoso after the finish. "Once the attack had been closed Caisse d'Epargne did a lot of work on the front in preparation for the finish but I was able to make a big move in the final kilometre."

The attack he spoke of came in the final third of the stage, when a dangerous move featuring Simon Clarke (UniSA-Australia) and Karsten Kroon (BMC Racing) got away after 70km before the duo was joined by Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Doimo), Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) and Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Transitions).

The break animated the run in to Stirling before Caisse d'Epargne took over the duties of peloton patrol during the final lap around the leafy town in an attempt to set up one of its three-pronged attack force: Alejandro Valverde, the proven Ardennes Classics performer and Vuelta a España champion, Jose Rojas, who has a track record of performing well at the Tour Down Under and Luis Leon Sanchez, the 2005 Tour Down Under champion.

Whilst the team's toil didn't net the victory Neil Stephens' men had hoped for, it did bring Valverde and Evans into play and relegated the sprinters to also-rans.

"Coming into the last kilometre it was like riding a race in slow motion, everyone was so exhausted," explained Evans. "When I saw that it looked like they had the leadouts going - Sky, Rabobank... when they started to accelerate they blew.

"I was just following the wheels through [the group] and it looked like Caisse d'Epargne had enough guys left to follow close to Cardoso but obviously not and I couldn't come round him," he added.

"I was on Graeme Brown's wheel with 700m to go and he's just gone out into the wind and just stopped completely - for a lot of the sprinters here it's a little bit different and of course it changes. It's not often I get into the last kilometre with Robbie McEwen... in fact, never! It was a tough little race, early in the season."

Valverde had been tipped by some to take the win in today's stage and admitted after the finish that having been protected well by his teammates during the finishing circuits around Stirling, a moment's hesitation cost him line honours. "It was great, they worked really hard," he said. "It was a little complicated towards the finish and it was a really good finale for me but Cardoso went...

"I was on Cadel Evans' wheel and I thought he was going to go but I had a moment of doubt and I couldn't catch up to him [Cardoso] although I was able to get second."

The Spaniard is one of the race's star attractions and lived up to that billing today but isn't making grand predictions about his next move. "At the moment we're really happy that we've been able to come here and do a good block of work - the form's coming on well now so let's just take things day-by-day," he explained.

But fortune favours the brave, and Cardoso showed plenty of ticker in the final kilometre to have the locals guessing who the victor was in the Portuguese national champion's jersey. "It was really important for me - it's my first pro race, first pro team, first ProTour victory for me and the team, so it's a very important win," he said.

"Muy caluroso..." ["Very hot"]

With the ocean beckoning to the right of the riders, today's stage got off to a choppy start with a flurry of breaks taking flight before returning just as quickly as the peloton rode away from Adelaide on the Southern Expressway.

A group of nine went clear, but five sat up after the first intermediate sprint, leaving only Sebastien Rosseler (Team RadioShack), Juan Ripoll Horrach (Katyusha), Perget Mathieu (Caisse d'Epargne) and Peter McDonald (UniSA) off the front.

Mathieu Perget (Caisse d'Epargne) and Mikel Nieve (Euskaltel - Euskadi) bridged to the group at the base of the King of the Mountains climb, where the race took on a different shape. Thomas Rohregger (Team Milram) and Luke Roberts (Team Milram) surged through the lead group and up the road to win the KOM sprint, before sitting up.

Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d'Epargne) and Cameron Meyer (Garmin Transitions) were the next leaders down the road as a chase group that went in search of the pair brought about its demise while the peloton’s reaction closed down both moves.

A break formed by Simon Clarke (Team UniSA) and Karsten Kroon (BMC Racing Team) was quickly joined by Jack Bobridge (Garmin-Transitions), Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Doimo) and Jens Voigt (Team Saxo Bank). The quintet maintained a lead into the first lap of the Stirling finishing circuit, where both Wes Sulzberger (Française des Jeux) and Baden Cooke (Team Saxo Bank) suffered ill-timed mechanical issues.

As Caisse d'Epargne put the hurt on back in the peloton, Matthew Lloyd (Omega Pharama – Lotto) joined a reduced lead group of Bobridge and Clarke and as Bobridge fell by the wayside, the peloton opened the throttle with the Spanish squad at its head.

RadioShack showed its cards inside the final 500 metres but like the HTC-Columbia's lone rider in the finale, made the move too early. Cardoso was first across the line in the uphill sprint that curves to the right, with Valverde and Evans putting on a show for the minor placings.

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