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RACE REPORTS: TOUR DOWN UNDER: CRASHES MAKE THE DAY
Road Bike Action and AFP
January 19, 2011
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Mark Cavendish shows the results of the Stage Two finish sprint.
Photo: Yuzuru Sunada
Team Sky sprinter Ben Swift claimed his first major win of the season after surviving the crash-marred finale to the second stage of the Tour Down Under on Wednesday.
British tyro Swift was one of the few sprinters to emerge unhindered in the final few hundred metres of the 146-kilometre stage from Tailem Bend to Mannum after a series of late spills caused mayhem in the peloton.
Swift finished ahead of Australian pair Robbie McEwen (RadioShack), in second, and Rabobank's Graeme Brown, who was third.
McEwen took the overall race leader's ochre jersey from overnight leader Matthew Goss, who slipped to second overall with Swift moving up to third.
The Australian veteran, who has recently moved to Lance Armstrong's RadioShack team, admitted that winning a stage was still his priority.
"Obviously I'm happy to take the leader's jersey, but my number one priority here is to win a stage," said McEwen.
"Swifty rolled me, I just ran out of legs completely. I went kind of early to try and get the jump.... but with all the carnage I had to come from quite a way behind. I tried for the win and came up just a little bit short."
Swift admitted he had not been Team Sky's designated sprinter, but after teammates CJ Sutton and Greg Henderson disappeared amid the chaos he had no hesitation when asked by Geraint Thomas to give it his all.
"It's incredible, to get it in a WorldTour event as well, I'm really surprised but really happy," said Swift.
Two-time overall champion Andre Greipel of Omega-Pharma avoided crashing, the German overcoming a flat in the final 6km - and a late bike change - to keep in contention in fourth at 4secs adrift.
After seeing Goss add victory on stage one to Sunday's win in a pre-race criterium, HTC-Highroad were brought crashing down to earth.
Goss crashed in the final kilometres but only had scrapes to complain of as British teammate, star sprinter Mark Cavendish, came off much worse off with cut above his eye and scrapes over his body.
McEwen said he was sickened after seeing one HTC-Highroad rider, believed to be Cavendish, being hit from behind.
"There was just so much gravel on the sides of the road and after one particular left-hand corner there was actually gravel in the middle of the road," McEwen told AFP.
"Somebody hit it with a front wheel and just went arse-up, took everyone down. I don't know if it was Gossy or Cav, I saw one of the HTCs go down and someone just ran straight into the back of their neck.
"It looked sickening, it looked horrible."
Cavendish is expected to saddle up for Thursday's third stage from Unley to Stirling. So far the only major casualty was UniSA rider Bernard Sulzberger, who has been ruled out with a broken collarbone.
Despite his own spill with 4km to race, Goss managed to get back in contention but was delayed further as more crashes ensued on the technically difficult finale.
In the end he finished 47th but in the same time as Swift to stay in contention.
Goss refused to blame the gravel or the course, claiming "the course is only as dangerous as the riders make it".
"It's hard to make sure everything's spot on but if everyone's paying attention it's not too bad but everyone seemed a little bit crazy today," he said.
RACE DIRECTOR DEFENDS THE COURSE
Tour Down Under race director Mike Turtur angrily played down suggestions Wednesday that poor course planning caused a series of crashes during a dramatic second stage finale.
Tour de France sprint king Mark Cavendish was among around a dozen riders caught up in at least three crashes inside the final five kilometres of the 146 km stage from Tailem Bend to Mannum.
Young Australian Bernard Sulzberger was ruled out of the race after he suffered a broken collarbone and compatriot Chris Sutton, of Team Sky, is uncertain to start Thursday after suffering a knee injury.
Cavendish suffered cuts above his left eye and abrasions over his body after he came down moments after negotiating a tight left-hand bend around four kilometres from the finish line.
After crashing, another rider - suspected to be teammate Matthew Goss - rode into the back of his head.
According to officials from his HTC-Highroad team the Isle of Man rider is expected to start Thursday's third stage, from Unley to Stirling in the Adelaide hills.
Further crashes ensued as the teams in the peloton prepared to wind up their top sprinters for the finish, with some riders later complaining of treacherous patches of gravel on the road and a finish that was too technically demanding.
Crashes are commonplace in many bike races, especially when a bunch finish is anticipated just before the finish line and riders touch elbows and get thrown off course as they jostle for position.
Turtur said it was simply part of the racing. "Everyone is running around blaming the gravel - they'd been on that road for three and a half kilometres, they'd seen the road surface, you race the conditions," Turtur said. "Having said that, the conditions of the road did not cause the crash. The run in the main straight was your typical pile-up in a sprint, with guys switching wheels. This is fierce sprinting at its best, these things happen... guys are going at 100 miles an hour, they want to win. I'm shattered, I hate seeing riders crash, I just want to see a good race, but it's part of the sport."
Australia's Robbie McEwen took over the leader's jersey from Aussie compatriot and HTC-Highroad rider Mathew Goss after finishing second in the sprint behind Britain's Ben Swift.
Tour Down Under Results
Stage
1. Ben Swift (GBR) Team Sky 3hr 27min 44sec, 2. Robbie McEwen (AUS) s.t., 3 Graeme Brown (AUS) s.t., 4. Romain Feillu (FRA) s.t., 5. Jurgen Roelandts,(BEL) s.t., 6. Francesco Chicchi (ITA) s.t., 7. Michael Matthews (AUS) s.t., 8. Denis Galimzyanov (RUS) s.t., 9. Francisco Ventoso (ESP) s.t., 10. Allan Davis (AUS) s.t., 11. Kristof Goddaert (BEL) s.t., 12. Manuele Mori (ITA) s.t., 13. Fabio Sabatini (ITA) s.t., 14. Mark Renshaw (AUS) s.t., 15. Gorka Izagirre (ESP) s.t.
Selected: 42. Lance Armstrong (USA) s.t., 47. Matthew Goss (AUS) 76. Andre Greipel (GER) s.t., 129. Tyler Farrar (USA) 3:42, 130. Mark Cavendish (GBR)
3:47
General Classification
1. Robbie McEwen (AUS) RadioShack 6hr 44min 42sec, 2. Matthew Goss (AUS) same time, 3. Ben Swift (GBR) s.t., 4. Andre Greipel (GER) at 04secs, 5. Mitchell Docker (AUS) same time, 6. Graeme Brown (AUS) 6, 7. David Tanner (AUS) s.t., 8. Mathieu Perget (FRA) 7, 9. Miguel Minguez (ESP) s.t., 10. Simon Zahner (SUI) s.t., 11. Yuriy Krivtsov (FRA) 8, 12. Romain Feillu (FRA) 10, 13. Manuele Mori (ITA) s.t., 14. Denis Gelimzyanov (RUS) s.t., 15. Allan Davis (AUS) s.t.
Selected: 60. Lance Armstrong (USA) s.t |
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