André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) continues to show he's in good shape. After having won the People's Choice Classic, the German sprinter now also took the victory in the first stage of the Tour Down Under 2013, between Prospect and Lobethal today.

Will the Tour Down Under 2013, known for its sprint finishes, will again bring a chain of victories for the German rider, like in 2010 and 2012 when he took 3 stage victories?

The summary of the first stage of the Tour Down Under 2013: Prospect > Lobethal

132 riders started today in the 15th edition of the Tour Down Under, which since 2008 is part of the UCI WorldTour.

After having first tried to get away with two other riders, Jordan Kerby (UniSA Australia) decided to start a solo adventure and the peloton let him rapidly go away. His gap reached its maximum value after 21 kilometers when it passed 7 minutes!

It was thus not surprising to see the young Australian rider arrive first on top of Checkers Hill, a 600 meter ramp at 13%, followed at 4'30" by the peloton. On top, his compatriote Jack Bobridge (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) attacked at the head of the peloton to take the points for the second place.

While approaching the first sprint, it was Jens Voigt (Radioshack-Leopard-Trek)'s turn to attack and take the points behind Kerby but before he reached the sprint, the German rider was already taken back and Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) crossed the line in second position, ahead of Simone Ponzi (Astana). At the second crossing of this line, Thomas de Gendt (Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team) took the second place, ahead of Jérôme Pineau (Omega Pharma-QuickStep).
The last mentioned rider continued on from there and took back Kerby at 40 kilometers from the finish.

Pineau rapidly created a gap, up to 1'20" when he crossed the finish line at one lap from the finish, but while approaching the last intermediate sprint the peloton dangerously comes back on him and Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team), who attacked just before they reached the sprint, managed to win this sprint.

Several attacks followed but they all turned out to be unfruitful. A grouped peloton thus went off to the finish line and thanks to the work of his team mates it was again André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) who won this first stage of the Tour Down Under 2013 in a sprint. On the finish lean he managed to beat the French sprinter Arnaud Démare (FDJ) and Mark Renshaw (Blanco Pro Cycling Team).

The classifications

The classification of the first stage of the Tour Down Under 2013

Here's the top 5 of the classification of this first stage:

1/ André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) - 3h35'24"
2/ Arnaud Démare (FDJ)
3/ Mark Renshaw (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
4/ Simone Ponzi (Astana)
5/ Steele Von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp)

General classification after the first stage

The general classification after the first stage is slightly different from the stage classification due to the bonus seconds the riders took in the sprints:

1/ André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) - 3h35'14"
2/ Arnaud Démare (FDJ) - +0'04"
3/ Mark Renshaw (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) - +0'06"
4/ Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEDGE) - +0'07"
5/ Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing Team)

King of the Mountains classification

The King of the Mountains classification is the same as the order in which the riders arrived on top of Checkers Hill since this was the only climb of this first stage:

1/ Jordan Kerby (UniSA Australia) - 10 points
2/ Jack Bobridge (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) - 6 points
3/ Manuele Boaro (Saxo-Tinkoff) - 4 points
4/ Graeme Brown (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) - 2 points

Sprint classification

Here's the top 5 of the sprinters:

1/ André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) - 15 points
2/ Simone Ponzi (Astana) - 14 points
3/ Arnaud Démare (FDJ) - 14 points
4/ Mark Renshaw (Blanco Pro Cycling Team) - 13 points
5/ Steele Von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp) - 11 points

Best young rider

In the best young rider classification, Arnaud Démare (FDJ) is leading:

1/ Arnaud Démare (FDJ) - 3h35'24"
2/ Ion Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
3/ Tom-Jelte Slagter (Blanco Pro Cycling Team)
4/ Stefano Agostini (Cannondale Pro Cycling Team)
5/ Arnaud Courteille (FDJ)

>> Click here to see 8 photos of this stage

door Thomas Vergouwen
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this publication is published in: Tour Down Under | Tour Down Under 2013

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