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Photo ©: Schaaf

11th Tour Down Under - ProT

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, January 18-25, 2009

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Cancer Council Classic - January 18: Cancer Council Classic, 51 km

No bad luck for McEwen's 13th

Lance in the groove at the back

By Les Clarke in Adelaide, South Australia

An elated Robbie McEwen (Katusha)
Photo ©: Mark Gunter
(Click for larger image)

Robbie McEwen loves a challenge, and after winning tonight's Cancer Council Classic in front of a delighted crowd and with a new team surrounding him, he was full of joy. And rightly so for a number of reasons. "I love a crowd," said McEwen after the finish. "It was a great day out, and it's the first race with my team."

Lance Armstrong finished in the pack in his first professional race back since he retired after the 2005 Tour de France.

After Team Columbia, Saxo Bank, UniSA-Australia and Rabobank showed their hand at the front of the race in the closing laps, it was the 36-year-old Queenslander with 12 wins to his name at the Tour Down Under that proved there's plenty of speed in his legs. Coming down the left side of the finishing straight he overpowered the likes of Baden Cooke, Allan Davis, Graeme Brown and André Greipel with his trademark drag to the line.

"I've worked fairly hard over the summer for this race," said McEwen, who celebrated this win with possibly more emotion than any of his previous victories at this event. "I thought if I get one win over the week it'd be fantastic. And we've got it – it's a great start to the year and I couldn't be happier with it. It's unreal."

Lance Armstrong concentrating
Photo ©: Mark Gunter
(Click for larger image)

In addition to being the first ProTour race for Russian team Katusha, it was a reunion of old sparring partners McEwen and Gert Steegmans, the duo having enjoyed success during the latter's stay at Predictor-Lotto [now Silence-Lotto]. "It didn't go like we wanted it to, but it's almost never like we want to," said Steegmans after the finish.

"The other guys are also new and they don't have the experience with Robbie. The only problem was that at certain moments we were a little short on people on the front, because we have a lot of young guys. Then it was just a matter of being on the front later and making sure he stayed out of the wind."

Despite a few teething problems, Steegmans praised the efforts of the team and explained that the new squad was satisfied. "We're also happy, because with the new team there's always a lot of pressure. ... It was the reason we came here with the sprint team – to get a victory as soon as possible – and now in Russia I hope they're satisfied so they don't say we're a bad team."

How it unfolded

With the Cancer Council the title sponsor of the evening's race, Armstrong was again the centre of attention before the start. His presence was soon shelved – albeit for a short time – as those with ambitions of victory made their intentions known and went on the attack.

The first to attack were Jack Bobridge (UniSA-Australia) and Liquigas' Maciej Bodnar, who got away during the second lap. They contested the first and second primes, both of which were taken out by Bobridge, with Alexandr Pliuschin joining the duo on the sixth time around the 1.7km circuit.

André Greipel (Columbia)
Photo ©: Mark Gunter
(Click for larger image)

Behind this trio Team Columbia was looking after the interests of André Greipel and Mark Renshaw. Bernhard Eisel, Adam Hansen and Michael Rogers kept these two sprinters, who have enjoyed success in this race before, secure in the bunch.

"This was more of a warm up race really," said Rogers after the finish. "It suited the sprinters rather than an endurance-style [rider] like me; I probably suffered more than the fast guys. We have a super team this week. We really showed what we had out there tonight. We led the thing from a few laps out and unfortunately André [Greipel] could not finish it up. That is the way it is; the most important thing is we got together and got the team to the front."

Ahead of the yellow-clad team the advantage of the break were limited. By the third prime, they had been reeled in and the intermediate sprint went to Jeremy Roy (Française des Jeux). The French team was amongst the money again when New Zealander Tim Gudsell slipped away to take the fourth and final prime. Gudsell nearly lasted a lap in front

Robbie McEwen (Katusha)
Photo ©: Mark Gunter
(Click for larger image)

Stuart O'Grady continued to ride himself into form on the front of the group with the aim of getting young sprinter Matt Goss to the front and keeping him there. Super-domestic Mathew Hayman did likewise for Graeme Brown, while Garmin-Slipstream made its presence felt with the likes of Chris Sutton.

Coming into the final lap the massive crowd of 138,000 didn't know what to expect from the sprint finale, with McEwen, Cooke, Davis, Greipel, Brown and Rojas all in the hunt. They couldn't match McEwen's blistering pace in the final metres. After moving to the left, he held on to show that the doubters better revise their expectations of him in 2009.

"I don't know if the doubters fire me up – there will always be doubters," said McEwen. "The thing is that I've just done my thing, kept training worked towards this point pretty solidly, and here I am first across the line. That's all that matters.

"The guys did a great job considering it's their first race of the season; they haven't got any race fitness but they came out and gave it their all. We got organised, we had a good chat before the start and worked out a bit of a tactic. I also just said to them, 'Listen fellas, there's no pressure. We'll do it and if it works that's great, but if you haven't got the legs it's the first race of the year and there are plenty to go.'

"The last big race I won was Paris-Brussels in the middle of September. It's something special to win in your own country, in the biggest race in the country. In front of all these people – it was a special atmosphere.

"We got win number one, so we're the happiest team here at the moment."

Photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by Mark Gunter/www.pbase.com/gunterphotograph

Images by Roberto Bettini/www.bettiniphoto.net

Results

1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha              1.04.32
2 Wim Stroetinga (Ned) Team Milram                  
3 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank                          
4 Andre Greipel (Ger) Team Columbia-High Road          
5 Jose Rojas (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne                    
6 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step                         
7 Baden Cooke (Aus) UniSA                              
8 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas                     
9 Hilton Clarke (Aus) Fuji-Servetto                0.01
10 Chris Sutton (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream                
11 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team Columbia-High Road          
12 Nicholas Roche (Irl) Ag2R La Mondiale           0.02
13 Sebastien Hinault (Fra) Ag2R La Mondiale            
14 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C             
15 Rony Martias (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom            
16 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi               
17 Andrea Grendene (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C            0.03
18 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Team Katusha               0.05
19 Aliaksandr Usau (Blr) Cofidis                   0.06
20 Julien El Fares (Fra) Cofidis                       
21 Markel Irizar (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi             
22 Mikael Cherel (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux              
23 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) Ag2R La Mondiale       0.07
24 Alexandre Pichot (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom        
25 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux            
26 Cameron Meyer (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream               
27 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Ag2R La Mondiale           0.08
28 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team Saxobank                    
29 Timothy Gudsell (NZl) Francaise Des Jeux            
30 Kasper Klostergaard (Den) Team Saxobank             
31 Luca Barla (Ita) Team Milram                        
32 Aaron Kemps (Aus) UniSA                         0.09
33 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick Step                     
34 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram                   
35 Greg Henderson (NZl) Team Columbia-High Road        
36 Josu Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi               
37 Jos Van Emden (Ned) Rabobank                        
38 Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Liquigas                 0.10
39 Yoann Offredo (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux          0.11
40 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi             
41 Frank Hoj (Den) Team Saxobank                   0.12
42 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Team Katusha                   
43 Guillaume Blot (Fra) Cofidis                    0.15
44 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quick Step                 0.16
45 Cladio Corioni (Ita) Liquigas                   0.17
46 Nicki Sorensen (Den) Team Saxobank                  
47 Olivier Kaisen (Bel) Silence-Lotto              0.18
48 Mickael Buffaz (Fra) Cofidis                    0.19
49 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Slipstream              
50 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank                    0.21
51 Kurt Hovelijnck (Bel) Quick Step                0.22
52 Jonas Ljungblad (Swe) Silence-Lotto                 
53 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse D'Epargne           0.23
54 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Team Milram                  
55 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne                
56 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxobank                  
57 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia-High Road       
58 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team Columbia-High Road        
59 Michael Schar (Swi) Astana                          
60 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne                
61 Aliaksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas                 
62 Mathieu Claude (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom          
63 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne            
64 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana                        
65 Florent Brard (Fra) Cofidis                         
66 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Astana                        
67 Steve Morabito (Swi) Astana                     0.24
68 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana                          
69 Francesco Reda (Ita) Quick Step                     
70 Vitaliy Buts (Ukr) Lampre - N.G.C                   
71 Travis Meyer (Aus) UniSA                            
72 Davide Malacarne (Ita) Quick Step                   
73 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux          
74 Markus Eichler (Ger) Team Milram                    
75 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Fuji-Servetto                
76 Vincent Jerome (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom          
77 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Caisse D'Epargne               
78 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxobank                      
79 Anders Lund (Den) Team Saxobank                 0.25
80 Perrig Quemeneur (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom        
81 Kenny De Haes (Bel) Team Katusha                    
82 Juan Horrach (Spa) Team Katusha                     
83 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana                      
84 Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank                         
85 Hubert Schwab (Swi) Quick Step                      
86 Aitor Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi           
87 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Team Milram                  0.26
88 Rene Mandri (Est) Ag2R La Mondiale                  
89 Glenn D'Hollander (Bel) Silence-Lotto               
90 Vladmir Efimkin (Rus) Ag2R La Mondiale              
91 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Team Katusha            0.27
92 Sergio De Lis (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi             
93 Sergey Klimov (Rus) Team Katusha                    
94 Ivan Dominquez (USA) Fuji-Servetto                  
95 Ermanno Capelli (Ita) Fuji-Servetto                 
96 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank                           
97 Simon Clarke (Aus) UniSA                            
98 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana                        
99 Gianni Da Ros (Ita) Liquigas                    0.28
100 Andoni Lafuente (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi          
101 Emanuele Bindi (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C                
102 Javier Megias (Spa) Fuji-Servetto                  
103 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Ag2R La Mondiale           
104 Frederick Willems (Bel) Liquigas                   
105 Timmy Duggan (USA) Garmin-Slipstream               
106 William Walker (Aus) Fuji-Servetto                 
107 Trent Lowe (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream                 
108 Martin Muller (Ger) Team Milram                0.29
109 Adam Hansen (Aus) Team Columbia-High Road          
110 Mario Aerts (Bel) Silence-Lotto                    
111 Kai Reus (Ned) Rabobank                            
112 Christian Meier (Can) Garmin-Slipstream            
113 Jack Bobridge (Aus) UniSA                          
114 Volodymyr Zagorodniy (Ukr) Lampre - N.G.C          
115 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Silence-Lotto                  
116 David Loosli (Swi) Lampre - N.G.C                  
117 Jeremy Roy (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux                
118 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C                   
119 Matthew Lloyd (Aus) Silence-Lotto                  
120 Scott Davis (Aus) UniSA                            
121 Tom Stubbe (Bel) Silence-Lotto                     
122 Matthew Wilson (Aus) UniSA                         
123 Remy Di Gregorio (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux          
124 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom    0.30
125 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Liquigas                       
126 Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis                        
127 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom        
128 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis                      
129 Pablo Lastras (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne           0.31
130 Davide Vigano (Ita) Fuji-Servetto              0.43
131 Julian Dean (NZl) Garmin-Slipstream            0.45
DNF Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia-High Road       
DNF Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank                          

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