Simon Gerrans wins the 2016 Tour Down Under

Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) safely negotiated the final stage of the Tour Down Under to claim an unprecedented fourth overall title while his team also celebrated the stage victory with Caleb Ewan. The win was the sixth from six stages for Australian riders in the sole Australian WorldTour race.

Ewan was the first to launch his sprint on the finish straight as he powered away in his low aero position for his second, and Orica-GreenEdge’s fourth, stage of the race. Mark Renshaw (Dimension Data) held off Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) for second place as Gerrans crossed the line in 11th place.

“It obviously wasn’t just a good week for me, the team showed this week that they are by far the strongest,” Ewan said immediately after winning the stage. “Going into the race with two ambitions of trying to win sprint stages and the GC with Simon but I think he did it perfectly and I am so happy we came away with four stage wins and overall.

Ewan started the sprint in less than ideal position but once he launched, there would be no stopping the 21-year-old.

“I actually got caught a fair way back coming down here, ideally I wanted to be in the first eight wheels but I was way back in the bunch and had to dive in inside the corner, I locked up a few times and it was a bit sketchy but luckily I got into position that I wanted to and my team came up in the end to help me and they placed me behind Sky which was the perfect place to be.”

For Gerrans, a fourth overall win ten years on from his first was built on the back of wins on stage 3 and 4 to see the 35-year-old also take the lead in the WorldTour standings.

“I couldn’t have asked for any more of the guys this week, they really did a sensational job this week. They kept me up the front and out of trouble this week and we tried to get Caleb the best run to the line that we could but what a fantastic week we’ve had.

"We are so lucky to have this race here in Australia, its fantastic to the race the Santos Tour Down Under with Orica-GreenEdge, an Aussie team wining the only WorldTour race we have in Australia, the opening WorldTour race of the season. It’s just awesome, a great way to star the season

How it unfolded

A five-man break of Laurens De Vreese (Astana), Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Carlos Verona (Etixx-Quick Step), George Bennett (Lotto Jumbo) and Adam Phelan (Drapac) managing to get 20 seconds clear at maximum but they were brought back on lap 5.

Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) and Maarten Tjallingii (LottoNL-Jumbo) jumped away following the catch on lap 6 with Sam Spokes (Drapac) trying to bridge across. Nathan Earle continued Drapac’s aggressive approach to the stage as he jumped off the front in pursuit of De Gendt and Tjallingii.

On lap 7, Cannondale and Tinkoff moved riders forward to try and bring back De Gendt and Tjallingii ahead of the intermediate sprint point. Tjallingii rolled across for the maximum points as Tinkoff lead out Jay McCarthy for the one bonus second, challenged by Cannondale who were looking after Michael Woods, but it was Daryl Impey stealing in for third place.

A crash at the back of the peloton brought down Floris Gerts (BMC) and Anthony Roux (FDJ) on lap 10 as De Gendt rode over Montefiore Hill to claim maximum points with the breakaway’s advantage reaching 30 seconds at the half-way mark of the stage, which averaged 46.6kmh for the first hour.

Trek-Segafredo and UniSA-Australia sent Peter Stetina and Pat Lane, respectively, to control the pacemaking ahead of the second intermediate sprint point. On the approach to the finish, Johan Le Bon (FDJ) jumped clear to try and join the two-leaders as De Gendt won the sprint point without contest. The IAM Cycling-led peloton crossed the line 30 seconds down as Le Bon was shortly back in the bunch.

On Lap 15 the peloton had trimmed the breakaway’s advantage to leave it around 20 seconds. Tjallingii was awarded the combative rider prize as he crested Montefiore for the second KOM prize. On lap 16 Astana attacked the peloton via Laurens De Vreese and Lieuwe Westra as Tjallingii rode away from De Gendt.

Tjallingii was then joined by Westra on lap 17 with Drapac and Lotto Soudal at the front of the race. Dimension Data and Tinkoff came through to up the pace and caught the two leaders on lap 19.

Coming though on the bell lap, the Lotto Soudal and Tinkoff teams lead on other side of the road. Team Sky and Dimension Data moved forward while Luke Durbridge then upped the pace for the final climb over Montefiore Hill. Into the final kilometre and it was a foregone conclusion, with Ewan launching his sprint and simply powering away to claim his seventh win of 2016 by several bike lengths.

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