The Team Sky team presentation and all buzz preceding this presentation seemed to indicate that Team Sky was about to change professional cycling. What could be a better demonstration than a double win in the first race of the team?

On a 1.7 kilometer circuit around Rymill Park in Adelaide in Australia the 131 riders (Martin Pederson [Footon-Servetto] and Andreas Stauff [Quick Step] didn't start) have done 30 rounds to come to the total distance of 51 kilometers.

As expected the race ended in a sprint, but before that sprint the riders made a nice show of this criterium. The organisation of the Tour Down Under 2010 proudly announced that there are no less than three winners of a Grand Tour at the start: Lance Armstrong (Radioshack), Oscar Pereiro (Astana) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), and not to forget the World Champion -who moreover is Australian as well- Cadel Evans (BMC Racing Team) of course.

At 4.15PM local time the race started under a nice sunny sky with temperatures of about 21°C. Several attempts to escape didn't succeed and were all taken back before the first sprint for which Cameron Meyer (Garmin-Transitions), who very recently became Australian champion time trial, and David Vitoria (Footon-Servetto) showed up front. The last one won the first sprint after 5 rounds on the circuit. The two riders stay ahead, followed by Anthony Roux (Française des Jeux) at a few seconds.

Just before the second sprint they're taken back and it's up to Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d'Epargne) to win the sprint of the 10th round, before Daryl Impey (Radioshack). Several new escape attempts will follow, including one with the World Champion Espoirs, Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi), but not one of them succeeds.
Andriy Grivko (Astana) wins the third sprint before a surprising attack of 5 riders including (and that's what's surprising about it) Lance Armstrong (Radioshack) and Oscar Pereiro (Astana). The three other riders are Mikaël Cherel (Française des Jeux), Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Doimo) and the winner of the Tour du Limousin 2009, Mathieu Perget (Caisse d'Epargne).

When this last leading group has also been taken back the trains for HTC-Columbia, Milram and Team Sky start to get ready at about two rounds from the finish to prepare the sprint. While HTC-Columbia seems to have closed the door for Team Sky, the riders in black with the blue line managed to get back nicely anyway and to win the race with Greg Henderson. Chris Sutton who was part of the train preparing Henderson's sprint was actually in a perfect position to win the criterium. He thus decided to lower his pace and put his hands in the air to let his team mate win while he easily takes the second place before Robbie McEwen (Katusha).

The top 10 of the overall ranking for the Cancer Council Helpline Classic

Below you can find the top 10 of this criterium:
1/ Greg Henderson (Team Sky) with an average speed of 47,405 km/h
2/ Chris Sutton (Team Sky)
3/ Robbie McEwen (Katusha)
4/ André Greipel (HTC-Columbia)
5/ Baden Cooke (Team Saxo Bank)
6/ Graeme Brown (Rabobank)
7/ Allan Davis (Astana)
8/ José Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne)
9/ Anthony Ravard (AG2R La Mondiale)
10/ Manuel Cardoso (Footon-Servetto)

6 riders in this top 10 (all but André Greipel, Allan Davis, José Joaquin Rojas and Anthony Ravard) have participated in the Jayco Bay Classic, also in Australië, which was won by Chris Sutton. When we only look at the results of today's race this seems to be a perfect preparation for the Tour Down Under!

> Click here to download the full classification for the Cancer Council Helpline Classic

The video of the Cancer Council Helpline Classic

Below you can find the official video of this Cancer Council Helpline Classic.

Tuesday the Santos Tour Down Under 2010 really starts

This Tuesday, the Santos Tour Down Under, the first race of the UCI ProTour 2010, really starts with a first stage from Clare to Tanunda.

For all details of the Santos Tour Down Under 2010, you can check out my articles about this South-Australian cycling race:
> The Santos Tour Down Under 2010 route on Google Maps & Google Earth
> Santos Tour Down Under 2010: list of participants / start list with their numbers and a few short movies

All pictures in this article are © Tour Down Under

door Thomas Vergouwen
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