A little more than a week after winning his national championships, Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) showed his intentions of also conquering the biggest Australian race when he won the first stage of the Tour Down Under. Having made the elite selection on Mengler's Hill, he defied expectations by beating Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol) and Steele von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp) in the sprint to secure a few bonus seconds and become the first leader of the first WorldTour race of the season.

 

In 2012 Simon Gerrans got his time as an Orica-GreenEDGE rider off to the perfect start when he won his national championships road race and went on to conquer his second Tour Down Under two weeks later. After ending his 2013 season early due to a broken hip sustained in the Vuelta a Espana, he has made it clear that he plans to repeat the feat in 2014 and by winning the green and gold jersey one week ago, he has already ticked off one of the boxes.

 

Today he got his quest to also add a record breaking third Tour Down Under crown to his palmares off to the best possible start when he won the opening stage of the race. Being up against Andre Greipel in the final sprint, the Australian champion faced an uphill battle but the slightly uphill gradient and the headwind suited him perfectly and he had enough left in the tank to come around one of the fastest sprinters in the world just before the line.

 

Prior to the stage, everybody was talking about the impact that the 2,7km Mengler's Hill would have on the stage. Coming just 11,7km from the finish, its average gradient of 8,1% was expected to send most of the sprinter out the back door while the GC contenders could be keen to test their condition on the first serious climb of the season.

 

Sky tried to keep things under control for Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas who didn't want any unpleasant surprises on the opening day and were later replaced by Garmin-Sharp who were working to set things up for von Hoff. Their fierce pace reduced the main peloton to just around 50 riders but the American team was unable to get rid of Greipel.

 

Adam Hansen (Lotto Belisol) attacked over the top of the climb to become the first leader of the mountains classification but was quickly brought back. The Europcar duo Bjorn Thurau and Yukiya Arashiro gave it a go on the downhill run to the line and at one point had built up a 20 second advantage but when Lotto Belisol got organized the sprint finish was inevitable.

 

With most sprinters having been left behind, Greipel was the odds-on favourite and when he opened his sprint, another win for the German appeared to be the outcome. However, Gerrans timed his sprint to perfection to win a stage in the race for the second year in a row.

 

Having also secured a bonus second in the second intermediate sprint, Gerrans is the first leader of the race. He takes a 5-second advantage over Greipel into tomorrow's second stage which finishes with the traditional uphill sprint in Stirling. While the stage is not expected to produce any time gaps between the overall contenders, everyone has to be on their toes as gaps will open up on the finishing straight and the time bonuses on offer could be crucial in determining the overall winner of the race.

 

Stage to proceed as planned

The 135 kilometre stage began in the town of Nuriootpa and wound its way through the Barossa winegrowing region to the nearby town of Angaston. The stage had been in doubt due to a bushfire at Eden Valley, 18km south of Angaston that had been burning since Friday, but after getting the all clear from the Country Fire Service and South Australian Police the 138 world class cyclists lined up to kick off the 2014 WorldTour. They were greeted enthusiastically by an estimated 88 thousand fans who flocked to the area to support both the event and the local economy.

 

"We'd like to say thanks to all those who came out today and at this difficult time would like to especially thank the locals for their support," said Race Director Mike Turtur. "The riders really appreciate it and we hope the race going ahead today has provided a boost for the region."

 

The race consisted of two identical laps on a mostly flat circuit and a slightly modified final lap that included the Mengler's Hill 11,7km from the finish. The climb was expected to take out most of the sprinters from contention, with a sprint from a reduced group the likely outcome.

 

The first attack is the right one

Surprisingly, there was no big aggression in the early part of the stage and it was the first attack that was the successful one. William Clarke (Drapac) and Neil van der Ploeg (UniSA) attacked as soon as the flag was dropped and they were allowed to gradually build up a gap of 4 minutes before the peloton reacted.

 

Unsurprisingly, it was the Orica-GreenEDGE team of Gerrans that first started to chase and they got a bit of assistance from Robert Gesink's Belkin team. The two squads stabilized the advantage between the 3 and 3.30 minute marks and were later joined by Trek who had Fabio Felline as a potential stage winner.

 

Eisel and Durbridge lead the chase

Belkin and Trek quickly disappeared from the front and left it to Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEDGE) to do the bulk of the work. Sky has made it clear that they are in Australia to win with either Porte or Thomas and were always visible near the front, even asking Bernhard Eisel to lend Durbridge a hand.

 

The Australian-Austrian duo were in control of the stage for most of the day, bringing the gap down to 2.20 before again allowing it to grow to more than 3 minutes. Up ahead, Clarke and van der Ploeg shared the sprint points, with the former winning the first intermediate sprint and the latter taking the second.

 

Gerrans and Geschke take bonus seconds

The battle for the remaining bonus second was more exciting, with Simon Geschke (Giant-Shimano) proving that he is targeting the GC by finishing 3rd in the first sprint. In the second one, Gerrans showed his intentions by picking up the remaining second, albeit not after being challenged by Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) and Danilo Wyss (BMC) who were keen to prevent the race favourite from gaining time on Javier Moreno and Cadel Evans respectively.

 

As the peloton approached Mengler's Hill, the battle for position intensified as more teams came to the fore. Sky dominated the pace-setting but were later overtaken by Belkin, Cannondale and Tinkoff-Saxo.

 

Back together

Van der Ploeg was unable to keep up with Clarke and fell back to the peloton. The lone Drapac rider was picked up with 15km to go but earned the award as the most aggressive rider of the day.

 

At the bottom of the climb, a crash brought down several rider including Frank Schleck (Trek) who did his first UCI race after returning from suspension. Luckily, the Luxemburger managed to rejoin the peloton before the finish and didn't lose any time.

 

Haas sets the pace

Sky hit the front from the bottom of the climb but were later replaced by Garmin-Sharp. Nathan Haas did the majority of the work as he tried to set up teammate von Hoff for the win.

 

Hansen launched an attack over the top of the climb to become the first leader of the mountains classification but was quickly brought back. Instead, it was Thurau and Arashiro who went off the front and managed to build up a 20-second advantage.

 

The chase gets organized

Sky's Philip Deignan started to chase while Lotto Belisol got organized after making sure that Greipel had survived the climb. The Belgian team first brought Arashiro into the fold and a little later it was also over for Thurau.

 

Rory Sutherland (Tinkoff-Saxo) gave it a go near the finish but was quickly reeled in. Another crash happened in the hectic finale, bringing down David Tanner (Belkin) who suffered a suspected broken collarbone.

 

When the riders powered onto the uphill finishing straight, all eyes were on Greipel but the German champion came up short against Gerrans in the headwind, with the Australian champion continuing his dream start to the season.

 

Result:

1. Simon Gerrans 3.20.34

2. Andre Greipel

3. Steele Von Hoff

4. Diego Ulissi

5. Maxime Bouet

6. Francesco Gavazzi

7. Simon Geschke

8. Rafael Valls

9. Cadel Evans

10. Robert Gesink

 

General classification:

1. Simon Gerrans 3.20.23

2. Andre Greipel +0.05

3. Steele Von Hoff +0.07

4. Simon Geschke +0.10

5. Diego Ulissi +0.11

6. Maxime Bouet

7. Francesco Gavazzi

8. Rafael Valls

9. Cadel Evans

10. Robert Gesink

 

Points classification:

1. Simon Gerrans 17

2. Andre Greipel 14

3. Steele Von Hoff 13

4. Diego Ulissi 12

5. Simon Geschke 11

 

Mountains classification:

1. Adam Hansen 16

2. Axel Domont 12

3. Laurent Didier 8

4. Robert Gesink 6

5. Rory Sutherland 4

 

Young Rider Classification:

1. Carlos Verona 3.20.38

2. Julian Alaphilippe

3. Kenny Elissonde

4. Luca Wackermann

5. Danny Van Poppel

 

Teams classification:

1. Lampre-Merida 10.01.46

2. Orica-GreenEDGE +0.04

3. BMC

4. Lotto-Belisol

5. Astana