Saturday, January 26, 2008
German rider Greipel wins stage (2:21 p.m.)
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) - German cyclist Andre Greipel took the
overall lead in the Tour Down Under when he won Saturday's stage,
breaking away from a bunch sprint at the finish.
Greipel has four wins this week - three in the Tour and one in
the Down Under Classic exhibition race last Sunday.
He took the race leader's ochre jersey from Australian Mark
Renshaw, who missed the crucial break up the decisive Willunga Hill
climb near the end of the 147-kilometer (91-mile) stage south of
Adelaide.
The German now has an unofficial seven-second lead over
Australian Allan Davis ahead of Sunday's final stage, an
88-kilometer (54-mile) street race in Adelaide's East End.
Davis finished second in Saturday's stage.
Greipel and several Team High Road teammates were in the break of
more than 20 riders which had formed by the top of Willunga Hill. In
the next 20 kilometers to the finish, Greipel's teammate and
Australian time trial champion Adam Hansen worked at the head of the
break to make sure Renshaw's group could not bridge the gap.
Greipel also won Friday's fourth stage, as well as stage two.
Australian Robbie McEwen won four stages of the Tour in 2002.
Meanwhile, injured Australian cyclist Mat Hayman said he held no
grudges against Italian Elia Rigotto, who was disqualified from the
race after knocking Hayman from his bike on Friday.
Hayman suffered a broken left collarbone and had a plate and
screws inserted Friday night, but he was discharged from hospital in
Adelaide on Saturday.
"I haven't seen the footage, I've seen a couple of
photographs," Hayman said. "For me it felt like he came from out
of nowhere."
"It's scary at the time, but he's probably feeling pretty bad at
the moment too, that's up to the commissaires to pull him out of the
race."
Rigotto told Italian media that the incident was accidental and
went to Hayman's Rabobank teammate, fellow Australian Graeme Brown,
to apologize.
Rigotto wanted to finish the race.
"I was behind Hayman, he stopped, I had my head down and when I
looked up, I was close to him," Rigotto said. "I tried to evade
him and I lost balance, I hurt him."
Hayman said he would be back on his bike in a few days and racing
again in about a month. (AP) |
