Andre Greipel claims 15th Tour Down Under stage win

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André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) may have had to wait for his first win at the 2014 Tour Down Under but claimed an emphatic win on Stage 4 into Victor Harbour. On the run in to the climb up Reservoir Rd for the KOM points in Myponga, the speed set by Orica-GreenEdge caused a split with Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano) missing the group to all but ensure the stage for Greipel. The German didn't disapoint as he won by several lengths ahead of teammate Jürgen Roelandts while the second group eventually came in 13:55 minutes behind Greipel.

 "Before today's stage, I thought this would be the first day for a sprint. Coming first and second says enough of the great work our team Lotto-Belisol has done today. It was nervous all along. Orica-GreenEdge had six guys at the front of the bunch but we put pressure on them after the intermediate sprint," Greipel said after the stage win.

"I know the area of Victor Harbour pretty well. I know the last climb too. It's quite open to the wind. The way we rode as a team makes it a well deserved win. I was always confident that I'd win something here. In the inaugural criterium in Adelaide and in Stage 1, I just made mistakes but that can happen in sprinting."

The race appeared set for an easy day for the overall contenders and an opportunity for the sprinters to contest for the sprint after yesterday's race up the Corkscrew. With crosswinds on the road GreenEdge starting to put the hammer down as the peloton approached the cat 2 climb up Reservoir Rd which caused a selection splitting the peloton in half.

The main overall contenders made the break as Gerrans was looking to claim maximum points in the second intermediate sprint of the day where five bonus seconds were on offer.

The plan worked for Gerrans who ended the day just seven seconds behind Cadel Evans who was fortunate not come off his bike at the second sprint point. Evans appeared to have an issue with his gears and missed out on increasing his lead.

Deciding a bike change was necessary, Evans almost had his race ended when getting across the road to the team car. Riders came past not seeing the race leader who was forced to change his line but held it together, showing off his bike handling ability.

Gerrans and GreenEdge made the race, forcing anyone while aspirations for the ochre jersey to stay attentive all day. "Today it went pretty well with the time bonus I was after. Our plan was to chase the first breakaway if it was within reach before the first intermediate sprint, and if not, we'd target the second. We eventually managed to do both. I came first and second, which gives me five seconds bonus," Gerrans on the finishing line.
"With two stages to go, the race for the overall win remains wide open. The race is far from won."

Both Evans and Gerrans insisted that the race could still be decided on the Adelaide city street circuit and will continue to mark each other until the race is over.

Evans maintained the lead and explained post-race it was a hard day but he won't be surrendering the ochre without a fight. "It's been a nervous day with the wind and Orica really took control of the race putting the whole team (on the front) for the intermediate sprints," Evans said.

"Of course to win the race I'm going to have to do something pretty special there but I'm guessing Orica will be looking at the intermediate sprints on the way there first of all. We'll see what happens tomorrow (Saturday) then the last day still because it's not over until it's over."

The day begun with a frenetic pace as some riders, not expecting the early tempo, quickly fell of the back of the main bunch. Several attempts were made to form the break and the amount of riders in skinsuits was a sign of things to come.

The first breaks of the day were never given much time and it was Michael Andersen (Tinkoff-Saxo, Axel Domont (Ag2r), Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) Wesley Sulzberger (Drapac) who were given the go ahead after 30kms of fighting to get free. After 20km, Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) and Axel Domont (Ag2r-La Mondiale) successfully attacked the group.

The duo's gap was slowly whittled down with GreenEdge intent on claiming the bonus seconds for Gerrans and they were caught on the descent. In the final few kilometres of the race, Wurf looked around and then tried again to break free and in doing so won the most combative rider award. Once Wurf was caught Jan Bakelants and Serge Pauwels (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) attacked and gained a small lead with 2km to go and briefly Bakelandts looked likely to repeat his Corsican heroics from last year's Tour de France but the Lotto train weren't going to concede victory and sucked up the duo before delivering Greipel to the win.

In the final 30km the front group drove home its advantage over the second group who were losing hope of latching back on with Lotto, Team Sky and Garmin Sharp controlling the pace on the front and unwilling to let a small group go so close to the finish. 

Wurf was content after his break as teammate Elia Viviani took out third place. "See what happened in the Giro last year: every time I went into a breakaway, Elia Viviani got a good result, so he did today too. I attacked again in the final climb to get the sprint trains disorganised," Wurf said.

"I was hungry today because I was very disappointed yesterday to not get the position I wanted up to Corkscrew Climb. With Jens Voigt, we also have a bit of a competition running for being the rider who attacks the most."

BMC's race director Alan Peiper spoke after the race, reiterating that the race will go down to the wire. "With time bonuses atop Willunga at 10, 6 and 4, it's pretty much wide open. I think a lot of it will come down to intermediate sprints on the road, today and Sunday. It's going to be an exciting for the race," Peiper said.

Contained with the large group of riders who lost nearly 14 minutes were the majority of the young riders which meant for Jack Haig (UniSA) took almost unassailable lead in the competition. His nearest rival for the white jersey is Carlos Verona (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) who is 1:19 behind and the closest rider after that is Kenny Elissonde at 13:38.

"[When] the bunch split and I was the only young rider up there I think. Anyway the kid from FDJ [Kenny Elissonde] wasn't there so I take the jersey over from him. I have a really good chance to win this jersey tomorrow because I'm a good climber. This is my first Santos Tour Down Under. It's amazing," Haig said.

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