Tour Down Under: Simon Gerrans takes big win over Andre Greipel

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Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) has taken a fast sprint finish ahead of Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) on the road into Angaston to take control of the Tour Down Under. Gerrans had sprinted to third place on the second intermediate sprint point to gain a one second bonus which proved to be symbol of his intent. Gerrans has five second lead over Greipel but importantly is 11 seconds ahead of rivals Cadel Evans (BMC) and Robert Gesink (Belkin).

"I guess I've surprised a few, myself included. Obviously André is one of the fastest sprinters around. It was a tough finale and everyone was tired. I had to sprint really late because of the head wind," Gerrans said after the race.

"Looking towards the end of the week, it might have been better if André had the lead but we've seen in the past few years that this race is won or lost by seconds, so you have to take every opportunity. Every second counts. I hope it's not too early to hold the jersey but we have a fantastic squad here, so I'm optimistic for keeping the lead till the end."

While Menglers Hill forced a selection, there were still around 50 riders who made it over the climb together and while the Europcar duo of Bjorn Thurau and Yukiya Arashiro tried their best to snare a win, it was inevitable that the stage would be decided in a sprint.

Gerrans proved that his now trademark kick can even beat one the fastest men in the peloton with a well timed sprint he started the Tour Down Under in the best way possible.

From the moment that the gun was fired Will Clarke (Drapac) and Neil van der Ploeg (UniSA) attacked as they built a lead that hovered around the 3:30 minute mark as the peloton was initially happy to let the two teams take the spotlight before the television coverage started.

"I was hoping for a lead of six or seven minutes but we didn't even reached four minutes. Possibly some teams remembered that I won in Stirling two years surviving such a breakaway."

van der Ploeg was swallowed up by the chase while Clarke tried to keep away for several more kilometres but also was caught. The duo had shared the spoils of the sprint points and were rewarded with eight bonus seconds each for doing so.

Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEdge) was doing his best on the front of the main group to reduce the lead the break had built up and found a common ally with Bernie Eisel as the two shared a coke while bringing it all back together.

With the realisation that the distance to the day's climb was forever decreasing, most teams stated to move up to the front so it was no surprise there was a touch of wheels on the base of the climb which saw Frank Schleck get caught up.

On the climb up Menglers Hill, Team Sky lead the peloton up the early slopes but it was Nathan Hass (Garmin-Sharp) who shot to the front to set something up for teammate Rohan Dennis and possibly Steele von Hoff as well. Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol) lead the reduced group of riders who could handle the pace of Haas over the summit and will wear the green polka dot king of the mountains jersey tomorrow.

"Garmin-Sharp and Sky were pulling in the climb but I was in a very good position, so I decided to have a go and see what happens. But I went alone, there was a big group behind and I was never expecting to win," Hansen said who continued to attack on the descent.

"I didn't know until the bottom of the downhill that André Greipel was in the group. It's a bit of a shame because I could have saved some energy. King of the Mountains, it's a nice jersey to have but I don't think I'll fight to defend it. Our main goal remains to win a stage and I'll work for that as a priority."

In the final few kilometres an upset win by Thurau or Arashiro was looking possible with little cohesion in the chase. Arashiro couldn't sustain the pace and dropped back to the chase group were a crash took down several riders including David Tanner (Belkin) with a suspected broken collarbone.

Rory Sutherland tried his best to get away to no avail and when Greipel launched his sprint Gerrans was sitting on his wheel and came around him to record the win. Steele von Hoff came in third while GC favourites Evans and Gesink did their chances no harm with top ten placings.

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