Tinkoff-Saxo played a big part in today’s final stage of Tour Down Under. The 90km city circuit in Adelaide hosted a fast and exciting race, where Tinkoff-Saxo’s Manuele Boaro and later Chris Juul-Jensen were out front in the breakaways. The attempts were eventually brought back in before the final sprint in which Pavel Brutt powered his way to 4th, while Wouter Wippert (Drapac) won the stage.
 
“We expected a bunch sprint today but our guys were strong and we decided to try to create the race and go for the win in the breakaway. Manuele Boaro rightly won the prize as the most competitive rider, as he animated the stage by being in both of the two breakaways of the day for about 70km of the race. Then Chris Juul joined him, when we set up the second breakaway”, comments Lars Michaelsen, sport director of Tinkoff-Saxo.
 
Sunday’s final stage had the riders circling a 4.5km urban course 20 times for a total of 90 kilometers. After one lap, Manuele Boaro went away with four riders and kept the chasing peloton at bay never getting more than a 30 second lead. After being caught before the intermediate sprint, Boaro attacked again this time together with Chris Juul-Jensen in a six-man group. With 36km to go, the breakaway had 1:15 due to a persistent effort.
 
“I’m satisfied with what I saw today. We went out there and created the race that we wanted to ride. Sometimes these attempts make it to the finish line, and that’s why you got to keep trying”, adds Lars Michaelsen.
 
Pavel Brutt 4th
With two laps to go the breakaway finally succumbed to the efforts of the chasing peloton. However the race rhythm was soon disrupted as a large crash and pile-up about 30 riders deep split the peloton. Team captain Michael Rogers was caught behind together with 75 riders, while the sprinter’s teams drove up the pace at the front. Rogers lost 01:14 and slips to 14th overall.
 
However, Russian powerhouse Pavel Brutt avoided the crash and took up a good position in the lead-out train ahead of the final burst for the line. He finished 4th on the stage a few bike lengths off stage winner Wouter Wippert. Rohan Dennis (BMC) kept his ocher-colored leader’s jersey and wins Tour Down Under.
 
“Pavel did a good job in positioning himself on the last laps. In the finale he was without a lead-out of his own but did well in finishing 4th showing that he has a lot of power on hectic stages like today”, concludes Lars Michaelsen.
 
Tinkoff-Saxo will soon see action again as the team travels to United Arab Emirates for the fast-paced Dubai Tour.