Published January 17, 2012 11:59AM
Tour Down Under | Stage 1 - What A Scorcher!
It was a scorcher out there today and it’s one of those few times where I don’t envy professional cyclists. The temperature on the road was 42C at 11am with a hot northerly wind that sucked the life out of you.
The riders averaged only 32.7km/hr for 149kms into a headwind from Adelaide to the wine region of the Clare Valley. Some guys went through as many as 16 waterbottles throughout the race. Team SKY made up 80 bottles for the team and they ran out. There were a few fines handed out for the “non-regulation supply of refreshments #24”. 50CHF to Matty Lloyd, Greg Henderson and Francesco Masciarelli and 200CHF to their teams. However, this had to do more with the commissaires clamping down on sticky bottles rather than allowing them to get refreshments from their cars within the regulations (sorry InnerRing – you’ve got me hooked on reading the rulebook):
Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit cooler and it’s a fantastic stage to watch out in Stirling. If you brought your bike to Adelaide, there are some wonderful rides out to Stirling and if you stick around for a few minutes after the stage you’ll get to ride home with the pros. Always a unique experience to the Tour Down Under.
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Gallery
Stage 1 Results
1. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol 4:33:40
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre – ISD
3. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ – BigMat
4. Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas – Cannondale
5. Daniele Bennati (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
6. Christopher Sutton (Aus) Sky Procycling
7. Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Team Saxo Bank
8. Xavier Florencio Cabrè (Spa) Katusha
9 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Rabobank
10. Manuel Belletti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
General classification:
1. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol 4:33:30
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-ISD 0:04
3. Martin Kohler (Sui) BMC
4. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ-BigMat 0:06
5. Rohan Dennis (Aus) Uni SA 0:07
6. Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha 0:08
7. Marcello Pavarin (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM 0:09
8. Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:10
9. Daniele Bennati (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
10. Chris Sutton (Aus) Sky
full results