Cycling: André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) won the opening race of the 2018 WorldTour season. The German defeated Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) in a mass sprint. This means that the 35-year-old will start in the leader's jersey tomorrow.
A debutant conquers the mountain jersey straight away
The 01 WorldTour season got underway in Adelaide at 30:2018 CEST. The pros set off on the 145-kilometre journey to Lyndoch in bright sunshine. With the South African Nicholas Dlamini (Dimension Data) and the two Australians William Clarke (EF Education) and Scott Bowden (UniSA-Australia) three riders broke away from the peloton early. While William Clarke is already contesting his seventh Tour Down Under, the other two youngsters are making their debuts in such a high-class UCI race. In any case, the 22-year-old Dlamini will never forget this debut, because he secured the only mountain classification around 38 kilometers after the start and will therefore continue tomorrow in the mountain jersey at the Tour Down Under.
🤴⛰ What a burst of power from @nich_dlamini to take the first @SubaruAustralia #COM points. @clarkeywilbur nabs 2nd and @scottbowden95 third.#TDU pic.twitter.com/TenJB9MRpE
— Santos Tour Down Under 🐨🚴 (@tourdownunder) 16 January 2018
Katusha-Alpecin paying attention to the intermediate sprints
In addition to the only mountain classification of the day, there were also two sprint classifications along the way. However, these only became interesting for the peloton when Scott Bowden lost touch with his two breakaway colleagues. While up front Dlamini gave his companion Clarke the three bonus seconds both times, there was a hard fight behind for the last remaining bonus second. The Katusha-Alpecin team seemed to be particularly clever. In the first sprint rating, the second snapped Jonathan Restrepo, at the second Nathan Hass. Shortly thereafter, Nicholas Dlamini ended his tour and William Clarke was now in front as a soloist. But Mitchelton-Scott was actively supported in the main draw by Bora-hansgrohe, Quick-Step Floors and Bahrain-Merida. In the end, Clarke was caught a few kilometers before the finish line.
Another decent battle for the third spot in the second https://t.co/XSOEIp5tcO Sprint. @nathanpeterhaas takes the one second, with @clarkeywilbur again taking the max from @nich_dlamini further up the road.#TDU pic.twitter.com/gDbLqVme31
— Santos Tour Down Under 🐨🚴 (@tourdownunder) 16 January 2018
Greipel with the perfect timing
There were no more attacks as far too many teams kept up the pace. Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) should not play a role today as the Irishman suffered a flat tyre. The Quick-Step Floors team took command for the last kilometer Elijah Viviani. The Italian found himself in a perfect position, driving to the left of the road while on the far right Caleb ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) forced the sprint in his typical posture. But positioned in his slipstream André Greipel (Lotto Soudal). At the right moment, the German swerved, pulled into the middle and passed Ewan and Viviani. Came on his rear wheel Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) too late. This is Greipel's 17th victory here in Australia. At the same time, he ended Australia's long streak of twelve consecutive stage wins on the Tour Down Under.
🌈 GREIPEL WINS 🌈@AndreGreipel takes Stage 1, and that's his 17th win in Australia!!! "He hit it spot on," says Phil Liggett!! Did he ever!#TDU pic.twitter.com/RjOdP5vqlh
— Santos Tour Down Under 🐨🚴 (@tourdownunder) 16 January 2018