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7th Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under - 2.HC
Australia, January 18-23, 2005
Main Page Results Stage Details Live report Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 2 - January 19: Salisbury to Tanunda, 150 km
Robbie on a roll
By Anthony Tan in Tanunda, with additional reporting by Gabriella Ekström
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Although downplaying his form leading into the national road championships and the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, Robbie McEwen has not lost a trick yet: today on the road to Tanunda, the newly crowned national champion took his second consecutive stage of the tour, and in doing so, extended his overall lead in the race over Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros Team) and Mickael Delage (FDJeux.com).
A dangerous four-man break flew the coup at the 11 kilometre mark and stayed away for almost the entire race, but McEwen's Davitamon-Lotto team turned on the screws right when it was needed, bringing the race back for a second sprint finish in as many days. With a slightly downhill, non-technical finishing straight, pundits were leaning towards a Baden Cooke (FDJeux.com) or a Jaan Kirsipuu (Crédit Agricole) victory, but with McEwen on song, no-one was able to match Rockin' Robbie's two-wheeled karaoke display.
"My guys were up the front all day; they did all the hard work and really deserve this win - I was glad he could repay the team for all the hard work, because it's the first race of the season and they were up the front for 100k's," said the smiling McEwen straight after the race finish. "I don't think I'm necessarily the strongest in the field, but today, I just left it late and got it right."
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However, the stage was not without incident. Henk Vogels was forced to return home today, sick as the proverbial dog, and will undergo blood tests tomorrow for glandular fever after running a high temperature following last night's criterium, according to The Australian's Peter Kogoy.
Then, in the finishing sprint, McEwen faced a tougher-than-usual sprinters' tussle with a few blokes from the Ceramiche Panaria-Navigare squad, who were leading out for Paride Grillo. The Queenslander complained afterwards of receiving "a hard time" and found himself dangerously close to the barriers, but with one of the best bike-handling skills in the peloton, 32 year-old McEwen somehow managed to get himself around the other side for a last-leap victory.
Said McEwen to Cyclingnews, "The Panaria guys were giving me a hard time; they were giving number 98 [Grillo] a lead-out and I got squeezed into the barriers - so I had to back off [his wheel] and come round him again."
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Boasting two wins in two days, McEwen leads both the overall and sprint classifications, while 19 year-old neo-pro Mickael Delage (FDJeux.com) looks like becoming yet another of FdJ directeur-sportif Marc Madiot's finds in the vein of Philippe Gilbert, the Frenchman leading both the mountains and young riders' competitions after his efforts in today's main escape. Also in the move was Irishman David O'Loughlin (Navigators Insurance), who was rewarded with the most aggressive rider jersey, but when Cyclingnews spoke with him post-race, the rider was disappointed not to have come away with the win.
"I was basically out in the break to win the stage, so this jersey doesn't mean a great deal to me, but it's a good consolation after a hard day working in the sun," said O'Loughlin. "I will be under attack the coming days if I [am given] a free hand."
How it unfolded
With Vogels out of action, 94 riders from 12 teams took to the start line amid cloudy skies in Salisbury at 11am this morning. The threat of rain was looming over the northern Adelaide suburb and the expected maximum of 36 degrees Celsius appeared unlikely; for the Europeans at least, it was a blessing in disguise.
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Despite cooler temps and the late morning start, however, it took a good half-hour before the peloton arose from its slumber, dawdling along the flat before any real action occurred. That action was in the form of a four-man escapade at the 11 kilometre mark, with four teams represented: Credit Agricole (Lazlo Bodrogi), (Mickael Delage), Navigators Insurance (David O'Loughlin) and United Water (David McKenzie). As none of the quartet presented any real threat to the overall classification, the peloton was content to let them go, and by km 29, their lead had amassed to more than five and half minutes.
Adelaide boy Russell Van Hout (Uni SA) did try and bridge across, but with four working smoothly in sync, Russ stood little chance of catching the leaders, and was forced to return to the comfort of the bunch before the first sprint prime in Williamstown (km 46.8). Roughly 20 kilometres later at KOM of Smith Hill (km 64), Hungarian Bodrogi found himself dropped, but the chrono man dug deep and was back in the break shortly thereafter.
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By the second sprint at Mt Pleasant (km 85), the break's lead was hovering at a tenuous 1'30, with McKenzie strangely sitting up after taking maximum points. However, the gap remained this way for virtually the next 30 kilometres, and it was thought that maybe, just maybe, the remaining three had a fighting chance. But within the next 10 clicks, Davitamon-Lotto buried the idea and the break vanished, as if by magic...
... which is about the only way to describe Robbie McEwen's sprinting performance this afternoon - at first looking boxed in with nowhere to go, then suddenly leaping off Paride Grillo's (Ceramiche Panaria-Navigare) wheel like a rabbit out of a hat, with the Italian second and Liberty Seguros' Allan Davis third.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Mark Gunter/Cyclingnews.com
- Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis) signing autographs this morning
- Michael Rogers (Quick.Step) at the sign on area
- The peloton cruised along at first which gave time for a chat
- The peloton on a warm day
- A four man breakaway occurred not long into the race
- Russell Van Hout (UniSA) tried to bridge the gap to the breakaway, but to no avail
- The peloton amongst South Australia
- The peloton on its way through the town of Gawler
- Davitamon-Lotto worked hard to catch the four man breakaway
- Approaching Smith Hill
- ...the time gap was 4'30
- Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto) once again worked well with his team
- David McKenzie (United Water) leads the breakaway up Smith Hill
- David McKenzie (United Water) battles it out with Mickael Delage (FDJeux.com)
- The peloton reaches the top of Smith Hill
- Kevin DeWeert (Quick.Step) loads up with supplies
- Karaoke Saturday night
- Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) has a drink on a humid day
- The pace picks up and the breakaway is eventually reeled in
- The large crowd in Tanunda waits anxiously for the riders
- Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) wins again
- Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) is swamped by the media
- Tanunda was full of people and colour
- The podium girls were in usual good form today
- Mickael Delage (FDJeux.com) wore the U23 jersey
- Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) reclaimed the sprinters jersey
- Incentive to win
- Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) thanks his teammates
- David McKenzie (United Water) relaxes in his hotel room
Results
1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon - Lotto 3.43.28 (40.5 km/h) 2 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 3 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros Team 4 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 5 Erki Putsep (Est) Ag2R - Prevoyance 6 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux 7 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 8 Hilton Clarke (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 9 Giosuè Bonomi (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 10 Matthew Rex (Aus) Uni SA 11 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 12 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quickstep 13 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Liberty Seguros Team 14 David Loosli (Swi) Lampre - Caffita 15 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 16 Siro Camponogara (Ita) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 17 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2R - Prevoyance 18 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Crédit Agricole 19 Guillermo Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 20 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R - Prevoyance 21 Gene Bates (Aus) Uni SA 22 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep 23 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R - Prevoyance 24 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 25 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 26 Baden Cooke (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux 27 Cyrille Monnerais (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 28 David McPartland (Aus) United Water 29 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 30 Graeme Brown (Aus) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 31 Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 32 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Quickstep 33 Christopher Sutton (Aus) United Water 34 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Quickstep 35 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 36 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep 37 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) Uni SA 38 David Betts (Aus) United Water 39 Sebastien Joly (Fra) Crédit Agricole 40 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 41 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 42 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 43 Javier Ramirez Abeja (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 44 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Ag2R - Prevoyance 45 Ian McLeod (RSA) Francaise Des Jeux 46 Inigo Chaurreau Bernardez (Spa) Ag2R - Prevoyance 47 Juan Manuel Fuentes Angullo (Spa) Lampre - Caffita 48 Corey Sweet (Aus) Uni SA 49 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 50 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 51 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon - Lotto 52 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 53 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Crédit Agricole 54 Benoit Poilvet (Fra) Crédit Agricole 55 Mario Aerts (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 56 Ashley Humbert (Aus) United Water 57 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Liberty Seguros Team 58 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 59 Fortunato Baliani (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 60 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 61 Scott Davis (Aus) United Water 62 Russell Van Hout (Aus) Uni SA 63 James Hannam (Aus) Uni SA 64 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R - Prevoyance 65 Frederic Finot (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 66 David McKenzie (Aus) United Water 67 Sebastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole 68 Mirko Allegrini (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 69 Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Uni SA 70 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Quickstep 71 Isidro Nozal Vega (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 72 Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 73 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) United Water 74 Nick Gates (Aus) Davitamon - Lotto 75 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 76 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 77 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 78 Robert McLachlan (Aus) United Water 79 Adrian Laidler (Aus) Uni SA 80 Matthew White (Aus) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 81 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 82 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 83 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 84 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 85 Christophe Oriol (Fra) Ag2R - Prevoyance 86 Ciaran Power (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 87 Matthew Wilson (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux 0.19 88 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 0.21 89 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 0.41 90 Jans Koerts (Ned) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 1.03 91 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 1.48 92 Kirk O'Bee (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 2.29 93 Dario Pieri (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 94 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 5.09 DNS Henk Vogels (Aus) Davitamon - Lotto Points 1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon - Lotto 8 pts 2 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 6 3 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros Team 4 Sprints Queen St, Williamstown - 46.8 km 1 Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 6 pts 2 David McKenzie (Aus) United Water 4 3 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 2 Main St, Mt Pleasant at Convenience Store - 85 km 1 David McKenzie (Aus) United Water 6 pts 2 Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 4 3 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 2 Climbs Smith Hill, Norseworthy Rd near Forreston - 64.0 km 1 Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 16 pts 2 David McKenzie (Aus) United Water 12 3 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 8 4 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 6 5 Gene Bates (Aus) Uni SA 4 General classification after stage 2 1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon - Lotto 4.44.01 2 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros Team 0.06 3 Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 0.07 4 David McKenzie (Aus) United Water 5 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 0.08 6 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 0.10 7 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 8 Giosuè Bonomi (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 0.12 9 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 10 Dimitri De Fauw (Bel) Quickstep 11 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Liberty Seguros Team 12 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2R - Prevoyance 13 Guillermo Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 14 Erki Putsep (Est) Ag2R - Prevoyance 15 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 16 Baden Cooke (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux 17 Gene Bates (Aus) Uni SA 18 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux 19 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 20 Siro Camponogara (Ita) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 21 David Loosli (Swi) Lampre - Caffita 22 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Ag2R - Prevoyance 23 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Quickstep 24 Graeme Brown (Aus) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 25 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 26 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep 27 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Ag2R - Prevoyance 28 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 29 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quickstep 30 Sébastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep 31 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 32 David McPartland (Aus) United Water 33 David Betts (Aus) United Water 34 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 35 Cyrille Monnerais (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 36 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 37 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Ag2R - Prevoyance 38 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2R - Prevoyance 39 Russell Van Hout (Aus) Uni SA 40 Hilton Clarke (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 41 Sebastien Joly (Fra) Crédit Agricole 42 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 43 Javier Ramirez Abeja (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 44 Robert McLachlan (Aus) United Water 45 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Crédit Agricole 46 Sebastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole 47 Christopher Sutton (Aus) United Water 48 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 49 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Liberty Seguros Team 50 Matthew Rex (Aus) Uni SA 51 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Crédit Agricole 52 Corey Sweet (Aus) Uni SA 53 Mario Aerts (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 54 Inigo Chaurreau Bernardez (Spa) Ag2R - Prevoyance 55 Benoit Poilvet (Fra) Crédit Agricole 56 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon - Lotto 57 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 58 Stephen Cunningham (Aus) Uni SA 59 Scott Davis (Aus) United Water 60 Ashley Humbert (Aus) United Water 61 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 62 Fortunato Baliani (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 63 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Quickstep 64 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 65 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Quickstep 66 Matthew White (Aus) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 67 Juan Manuel Fuentes Angullo (Spa) Lampre - Caffita 68 Isidro Nozal Vega (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 69 Mirko Allegrini (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 70 Ian McLeod (RSA) Francaise Des Jeux 71 Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Uni SA 72 Frederic Finot (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 73 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 74 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 75 Nick Gates (Aus) Davitamon - Lotto 76 Nathan O'Neill (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 77 James Hannam (Aus) Uni SA 78 Paolo Fornaciari (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 79 Christophe Oriol (Fra) Ag2R - Prevoyance 80 Adrian Laidler (Aus) Uni SA 81 Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio (Mex) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 82 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) United Water 83 Ciaran Power (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 84 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 85 Sergiy Matveyev (Ukr) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 86 Peter Farazijn (Bel) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 87 Matthew Wilson (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux 0.31 88 Brett Lancaster (Aus) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 0.33 89 Arnaud Coyot (Fra) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 0.53 90 Jans Koerts (Ned) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 1.15 91 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 2.00 92 Kirk O'Bee (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 2.41 93 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 5.21 94 Dario Pieri (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 8.35 Points classification 1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon - Lotto 16 pts 2 Gene Bates (Aus) Uni SA 12 3 Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 10 4 David McKenzie (Aus) United Water 10 5 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros Team 10 6 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 6 7 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 4 8 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 4 9 David Betts (Aus) United Water 4 10 Russell Van Hout (Aus) Uni SA 4 11 Matthew Rex (Aus) Uni SA 2 12 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Davitamon - Lotto 2 Mountains classification 1 Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 16 pts 2 David McKenzie (Aus) United Water 12 3 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 8 4 Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) Crédit Agricole 6 5 Gene Bates (Aus) Uni SA 4 U23 classification 1 Mickael Delage (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 4.44.08 2 Samuele Marzoli (Ita) Lampre - Caffita 0.05 3 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Liberty Seguros Team 4 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Crédit Agricole 5 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Liberty Seguros Team 6 Cyrille Monnerais (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 7 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux 8 Christopher Sutton (Aus) United Water 9 Matthew Rex (Aus) Uni SA 10 James Hannam (Aus) Uni SA 11 Jonathan Clarke (Aus) United Water Most aggressive rider classification 1 David O'Loughlin (Irl) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Teams classification 1 Liberty Seguros Team 14.12.39 2 Lampre - Caffita 3 Ag2R - Prevoyance 4 Cofidis - Le Credit Par Telephone 5 Quickstep 6 Ceramiche Panaria - Navigare 7 Francaise Des Jeux 8 Crédit Agricole 9 Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 10 Uni SA 11 United Water 12 Davitamon - Lotto
