Stage Six

HTC-Columbia’s Andre Greipel secured his second overall win of the Santos Tour Down Under on Sunday becoming one of only two riders who have won the event more than once.  Greipel won the race on his first attempt in 2008, crashed out in the leaders jersey in 2009 and came back in 2010 to win again, claiming 9 stage wins in Adelaide over the three years.

Greipel’s teammates controlled the fast and furious 90 minute circuit race in downtown Adelaide to ensure overall victory.

“I’m really happy to win again here and to take the ProTour lead,” said Greipel. “Of course I would have liked to have won the stage today because the team worked really hard but I am happy with the overall win.”

“It has been a great week. I really like coming here to race. It’s a nice way to start the season, especially when you win.”

Team Director Allan Peiper was equally pleased with the week of racing.
“It was a fantastic combination of effort and work by everyone in the team who came here,” he said. “The whole team arrived two weeks before to get some solid training in for the race and Andre left his 15 day old baby to make sure he was ready. It all paid off with 3 stage wins and the GC.

“The boys were rock solid and worked really hard the whole week.  It was fantastic racing and they were right on top of every critical moment to protect the race lead. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season.”
 

Stage Five

HTC-Columbia’s Andre Greipel survived the mountain stage at Tour Down Under to keep the race lead going into Sunday final stage in Adelaide.

The team controlled the race from the beginning and finally narrowed the gap to a break of four riders who attacked on the final climb at Willunga, finishing only nine seconds behind the race winner and giving Greipel an 11 second lead in the General Classification at the end of the day.

“I’m so thankful to my team,” said an exhausted Greipel after the stage. “Without them I wouldn’t be in the lead after today.

“All day the team worked at the front to keep the gap low to the first break. Then over the climb they really looked after me and we had to chase really hard all the way to the finish. We didn’t have time to panic. The break had 40 seconds. We just had to start chasing.

“The team has been working hard for me all week so I had to show them that I was thankful by really suffering to stay there on the climb today. Mick Rogers could have gone for his own victory today too but he wanted to stay with me and help me win the Tour.”

Tomorrow is a 90km circuit race in downtown Adelaide. 

Stage Four

HTC-Columbia’s André Greipel took his third stage win of the Santos Tour Down Under on Friday, increasing his overall lead of the tour going into the penultimate stage of racing. On a tough day of racing from Adelaide down to the coastal town of Goolwa, a bunch sprint saw Greipel sprint to victory ahead of Robbie McEwen and Graeme Brown.

“It was a very special day of racing and one that I’ll remember for a long time,” said Team Director Allan Peiper. “It was a day that proved the strength of the team and their ability to work together.”

“They were forced to ride at the front for the first 100km chasing the break,” he added. “Then they took a small rest during the headwind and moved back to the front when RadioShack attacked towards the end. They did all that work and then came together again to do a perfect lead out.”

Greipel was very happy with his third win of the week commending his teammates for their work.

“We knew it was going to be a windy day but I had teammates at the front all day and we were well protected.”

“Before the first sprint we picked up the speed to make sure the break didn’t get too much time,” he explained. “We stopped riding at 50km to go to save some energy and some other teams did some work. RadioShack put it in the gutter with about 10km to go so we went back to the front. With 5km to go we brought them back and stayed at the front until the finish. The guys did the perfect lead out and no-one could come around us.”

“We feel good. Tomorrow will be a hard day but the guys will look after me on the hills and hopefully we can stay in the front group.”

Stage Two

HTC-Columbia’s André Greipel won his second consecutive stage of the Santos Tour Down Under on Wednesday, sprinting into the small German heritage town of Hahndorf for his seventh stage victory of the Tour out of the eleven he has raced over the last three years.

A break of three were away for the majority of the race earning a time gap of 11 minutes but eventually being reeled in by the peloton.

“It was a good day for us because we didn’t need to put a lot of effort in to chase the break down during the race,” explained Greipel. “We wanted to let the break succeed today and save our energy for the harder stages coming up.

“However the other teams were keen to get the break back and did the work so we also helped a little. Towards the end of the race the team came together as a unit for the lead out and Goss did the final pull for me.  It’s nice to win here again.

“The climb during the race was quite difficult, especially because of the heat but the guys looked after me and we stayed in the front over the climb. Tomorrow will be a hard day but we’re ready to give it everything.”

Stage One

HTC-Columbia’s Andre Greipel has repeated his performance of the last two years, winning the first stage and earning the ‘ochre’ leader’s jersey of the Santos Tour Down Under.  Greipel finished off the work of his teammates to win in a bunch sprint at the end of the 141km stage from Clare to Tanunda in South Australia.

“It’s very nice to start the season this way,” said a happy Greipel after the stage. ‘We took control of the race and my teammates did a very good job to get me to the finish in good position.”

“Starting with Grabschy [Bert Grabsch] who did a lot of work to bring the break back during the race and finishing with the rest of the team who set me up for the sprint at the end, it was a very good day,” he added.

“At seven kilometers to go we started to build up for the finish which was a little early so it wasn’t until three kilometers to go that we really started. Matt Goss had a broken spoke so was one of the first in the lead out rather than the last and Bernie [Eisel] kept me out of trouble at the end. Liquigas started the sprint and I waited until the last moment to come around.”

“Tomorrow is another flat stage and could be another sprint,” he added, “but after that we have a few hard stages which will be harder to control. However we have a strong team and we will try our best.”