HELL OF A START
25 January 2016
ORICA-GreenEDGE has concluded the 2016 Santos Tour Down Under in spectacular style, taking out the final stage and overall title in Adelaide.
21-year-old sprinter Caleb Ewan delivered for the third time this past week by winning the final stage ahead of Mark Renshaw (Team Dimension Data) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo).
Meanwhile, 35-year-old former Australian champion Simon Gerrans safely defended his overall lead to become the first rider in history to win four Santos Tour Down Under titles.
“This one feels just as good as the first one did,” Gerrans said. “I had to keep my wits about me, I was fully concentrated there for the full 90km but it certainly feels good now that it’s over and done with and I’ve secured the win.”
“It’s a race of such a high caliber these days and it feels like the level of racing increases every year. This fourth one, even though I think it was my largest winning margin, it was still less than ten seconds so it’s a closely fought race.”
Gerrans congratulated his teammates in Ewan, Michael Hepburn, Luke Durbridge, Michael Albasini, Mathew Hayman and Daryl Impey for their extensive work throughout the week in order to deliver team success.
“Everyone really had to step up to the plate this week with two objectives in the race,” Gerrans said. “Often you see teams that want too much and come away with nothing so it was a bit of a risk but everyone did exactly what was asked of them, and then some.”
“We saw some fantastic riding by Heppy (Hepburn) and Durbo (Durbridge) on the front, Albasini as well. Mat Hayman was protecting us really well in the bunch and Daryl Impey was doing some sensational lead outs both on the hillier stages and on the flat stages.
“Everybody really lifted their game this week and it’s really nice to be able pay the guys work back with such a successful week.”
ORICA-GreenEDGE leaves the Santos Tour Down Under with the overall title (Gerrans), sprint classification (Gerrans), four out of six stage victories (Ewan – stages 1 & 6, Gerrans – stages 3 & 4) and the People’s Choice Classic (Ewan).
Sport director Matt White said the team’s performance at their only home WorldTour race was an overwhelming success.
“We had difficult circumstances this week with a crash but we turned it around and the week was an incredible team effort finished off with some leaders in very good shape,” White said.
“Caleb clearly showed he was the fastest guy here and it’s an exciting sign for things to come this season. And it was no surprise that Simon won but after last season it would have been such a relief for him after all of the hard work that he has done.
“We were definitely the most complete, motivated and strongest team and we wanted it more than any other team and that’s the difference.”
Photo Credits : TDWSport.com
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