Tour Down Under – Stage 3

Tour Down Under 2012

January 19, 2012

Photography:

Veeral Patel

It was a disappointing day for Rabobank who are still trying to nail their leadout. The stage was for Matthews to win with Leezer, Brown and Renshaw trying to launch him to the finish in a bunch kick.

Matthews was visibly disappointed with not being able to hold the wheel on his own train. I spoke with Matthews yesterday and he says his confidence is still lacking after a bad crash he had at the ToC last year during a large sprint finish. He admits he’s much more confortable in the smaller sprints where he doesn’t need to fight for wheels. Alex Hinds wrote a good article on cyclingnews about how it didn’t go to plan for Rabobank today.

Tomorrow will be a big day of riding for the spectators on bikes. We head all the way up to Menglers Hill near the finish at Tanunda which will be a great place to watch. I’m going to keep this post short and sweet and get some sleep. Good luck to ~7000 people riding the Bupa Challenge on the race course tomorrow.

Results

Stage 3 Results: 134.5km, Unley – Victor Harbour

1. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol 3:21:55
2. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) FDJ-BigMat
3. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
4. Mark Renshaw (Aus) Rabobank
5. Robbie McEwen (Aus) GreenEDGE
6. Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana
7. Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Garmin-Barracuda
8. Daniele Bennati (Ita) RadioShack-Nissan
9. Manuel Belletti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
10. Chris Sutton (Aus) Sky

General Classification After Stage 3

1. Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto-Belisol 11:54:52
2. Martin Kohler (Sui) BMC 0:00:08
3. Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank 0:00:12
4. Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil -DCM 0:00:14
5. Simon Gerrans (Aus) GreenEDGE 0:00:16
6. Jan Bakelants (Bel) RadioShack-Nissan
7. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Sky Procycling
8. Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha
9. Rohan Dennis (Aus) UNI SA 0:00:17
10. Xavier Florencio Cabre (Esp) Katusha 0:00:20

full results




SIMILAR ENTRIES

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  • Vinchan

    I wonder if Tsuji Kei ever takes his cap off?

  • justanotheropinion

    After seeing the helicopter footage of the run in to the finish I am amazed that there was not a prang on any of those numerous roundabouts and corners. The pelotons speed looked to be high and movement chaotic. 
    I am not surprised that Mathews lost his lead out man. I am sure most teams plans were not played out as they  wanted them to.

  • justanotheropinion

    After seeing the helicopter footage of the run in to the finish I am amazed that there was not a prang on any of those numerous roundabouts and corners. The pelotons speed looked to be high and movement chaotic. 
    I am not surprised that Mathews lost his lead out man. I am sure most teams plans were not played out as they  wanted them to.

  • 20at6pc

    The cyclingnews article talks about the need for Renshaw and Matthews to practice, but in reality how often will Renshaw be his leadout man? Renshaw is only playing leadout because he is a GC contender, but that won’t be the usual case, and Renshaw will himself be led out – the whole point of the team change.

    He’s so strong it  looked as though he could have just kept the afterburners on for a few more seconds and taken the stage himself.

  • http://twitter.com/yosoypatrick Patrick Smith

    Veeral, your photos are going from strength to strength! The portraits of the Rabobank guys post-race are brilliant illustrations of the inevitable lows that can come in this great sport.

  • Anonymous

    not a good sign for Rabo if tempers were flaring at the first race of the season – any more detail on this from those that are there? Brownie involved by any chance?

    Would love to see it click for Renshaw, but he does seem to lack the kick that gets the best sprinters the wins – early days though.

  • Ssanchez

    magnificent shots again from Veeral. Love the peloton snaking down the road..

  • Guest

    How good does that bike track look at the side of the freeway. It actually looks like a road, unlike those crappy paved concrete ones we get here.

  • jules

    it’s sprinting, you’d expect adrenaline to flow and tempers to flare. matthews needs to get better at following his wheel. although i suspect renshaw had a quiet smile to himself about riding his own teammate off it.

  • GMC Topkick Bike

    In my search for a decent starter bike, I came across the GMC Topkick Bike.

  • Wish I was on the bike…

    Thanks CT. Great coverage as usual! 

    O’nev, those portrail pics are really great!  The Rabobank ones really tell the story.

    Many thanks for the fantastic insight to this race!

  • Ally_D

    That’s what we call the S.E.x.y (Sth Eastern express way) veloway, it’s a great ride and joins into multiple offshoots eventually taking you all the way to McLaren Vale.

  • Ally_D

    That’s what we call the S.E.x.y (Sth Eastern express way) veloway, it’s a great ride and joins into multiple offshoots eventually taking you all the way to McLaren Vale.

  • http://www.facebook.com/pmark1bike pmark1bike

    Rode it today nearly all the way to Willunga, fantastic

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