Santos Tour Down Under - Stage 3: Unley - Stirling, 129 km

[steve]

Santos Tour Down Under - Stage 3: Unley - Stirling, 129 km Much safer finish than yesterdays stage, the team who can control the things over the few km's should claim the win.


Date: Thursday 20 January 2011 Start and Finish: Unley to Stirling Start Time: 11am (King William Road, Unley) Skoda King of the Mountain: Germantown Hill Jayco Sprint Locations: McLaren Flat and Echunga Feed Station: Stirling Oval Finish Time: 2.34pm ETA Race Distance: 129km Stage 3 Profile Final 3km of Stage 3
Stage 3 Map

Same Stage in 2010

General Classification before stage 3 1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Radio Shack 6:44:42 2 Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad 3 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling 4 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:04 5 Mitchell Docker (Aus) UNI SA - Australia 6 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team 0:00:06 7 David Tanner (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard 8 Mathieu Perget (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:07 9 Miguel Minguez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 10 Simon Zahner (Swi) BMC Racing Team 11 Yuriy Krivtsov (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:08 12 Romain Feillu (Fra) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:10 13 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre - ISD 14 Denis Galimzyanov (Rus) Katusha Team 15 Allan Davis (Aus) Astana 16 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar Team 17 Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Procycling 18 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 19 Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 20 Fabio Sabatini (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 21 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team 22 Kristof Goddaert (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale 23 Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team 24 Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 25 Luke Roberts (Aus) UNI SA - Australia

 

[steve]

Stage 3 Results 1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team 3:11:47 2 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto 3 Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad 4 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling 5 Luke Roberts (Aus) UNI SA - Australia 6 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar Team 7 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 8 Allan Davis (Aus) Astana 9 Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 10 Simone Ponzi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 11 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team 12 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Katusha Team 13 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre - ISD 14 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 15 Davide Vigano (Ita) Leopard Trek 16 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 17 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Radio Shack 18 Ben Hermans (Bel) Team Radio Shack 19 Baden Cooke (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard 20 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 21 Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Procycling 22 Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Movistar Team 23 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling 24 Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 25 David Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:07
Stage 3 General classification 1 Matthew Goss (Aus) HTC-Highroad 9:56:25 2 André Greipel (Ger) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:00:02 3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Radio Shack 0:00:04 4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Rabobank Cycling Team 5 Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling 6 Allan Davis (Aus) Astana 0:00:14 7 Francisco Ventoso (Spa) Movistar Team 8 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre - ISD 9 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) BMC Racing Team 10 Greg Henderson (NZl) Sky Procycling 11 Luke Roberts (Aus) UNI SA - Australia 12 Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 13 Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 14 Simone Ponzi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 15 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 16 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Sky Procycling 17 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 18 Davide Vigano (Ita) Leopard Trek 19 Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Spa) Movistar Team 20 Julien Loubet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 21 Ben Hermans (Bel) Team Radio Shack 22 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 23 Baden Cooke (Aus) Saxo Bank Sungard 24 Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel) Katusha Team 25 Mitchell Docker (Aus) UNI SA - Australia 0:00:15

 

[steve]

Stage 3 News
Mark Cavendish continues to struggle Down Under Mark Cavendish's miserable Tour Down Under continued today after Australian police mistakenly reopened the route to traffic before he had finished stage three of the race. The Isle of Man sprinter, who has won 15 stages on the Tour de France, took to the 129-kilometre course between Unley and Stirling still sporting cuts and bruises from a crash yesterday, and was so far back on Thursday's stage that police escorting the last three riders reopened the route, forcing Cavendish to dodge cars before finishing the race in 130th place, leaving him 131st and last overall. A statement from race organisers read: "During the Stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under the green light vehicle, which signals all riders have completed the race, moved ahead of the trailing three riders." Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jan/20/mark-cavendish-struggle-down-under Cav fumes as roads reopened to traffic before he finishes stage Michael Matthews of Rabobank has won Stage 3 of the Santos Tour Down Under, but the big talking point of the day relates to events that took place minutes after that trio crossed the line, with police reopening the roads to traffic before cyclists including HTC-Highroad sprinter Mark Cavendish had completed the 129.7km stage from Unley to Stirling, which concluded with three laps of a 21km circuit. Cavendish, batterered and bruised from a crash towards the end of yesterday’s Stage 2, came home 12 minutes 29 seconds after Matthews had crossed the line, with the Manx rider, together with Movistar’s Jose Vincente Garcia and Lampre-ISD’s Matteo Bono, forced to dodge traffic which by now had been let onto the race route. Link: http://road.cc/content/news/29723-santos-tour-down-under-stage-3-cav-fumes-roads-reopened-traffic-he-finishes-stage McEwen in three way tie at the top Veteran Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen (Radio Shack) has taken over the lead in the 2011 Santos Tour Down Under in a countback to split a three-way tie after an incident packed second stage into Mannum on the banks of the River Murray. The 146km IG Markets Stage 2 was won by Britain's Ben Swift (Sky Procycling) in a time of 3:27:44 ahead of McEwen with Sydney's Graeme Brown (Rabobank) third. Link: http://corporate.olympics.com.au/news.cfm?ArticleID=11037 Matthews wins sprint, Goss takes lead Down Under (Reuters) - Michael Matthews won the sprint finish to claim the third stage of the Tour Down Under, while fellow Australian Matthew Goss reclaimed the overall leader's orange jersey on Thursday. The 20-year-old Matthews, considered one of the peloton's most promising riders, finished ahead of last year's champion Andre Greipel and Goss after a 129-km ride from Unley to Stirling, south of Adelaide. "It's unbelievable, Rabobank's Matthews told reporters. "With one kilometer to go, I was on Matt Goss's wheel, an extraordinary position to be in and he made the mistake of attacking too early, 300 meters from the line. Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70J1YG20110120 Mark Cavendish unhappy at Tour Down Under road traffic Mark Cavendish was forced to finish stage three of the Tour Down Under among road traffic. The incident occurred after police opened up road to the public after the main peloton had passed. "I did the whole last lap on open road, you had to stand on all sides of the thing and stop for traffic," said British sprint ace Cavendish. Asked if he had to negotiate much traffic, he said: "Quite a bit. More than you want in a professional race." Cavendish suffered damaging cuts and bruises after a fall near the end of stage two of the Australian event and his travails on Thursday did not help his mood. Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/cycling/9367693.stm Matthews wins stage, Goss leads Rabobank's Matthews outsprinted defending champion Andre Greipel of Omega Pharma-Lotto and HTC-Highroad's Goss - who recovered from a late puncture - in an uphill finish to the 80-mile stage from Unley to Stirling in Adelaide. RadioShack's Lance Armstrong rode well for the third day running, controlling the peloton and finishing in the main pack, three minutes 11 seconds behind the winner. Link: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/20012011/58/matthews-wins-stage-goss-leads.html Matthews shines in Stirling The world U23 road race champion - who won a stage at the Bay Classic series and finished third at the Australian Time Trial Championships earlier this month - burst ahead of the bunch on the final uphill drag in Stirling and was already celebrating his victory when André Greipel and Matt Goss sprinted it out for second and third place respectively. Earlier in the day, Aleksandr Kuschynski, Luis Pasamontes, Luke Durbridge and Thomas De Gendt had brought the 129km stage to life by jumping clear soon after the riders had exited Unley and the quartet's lead was allowed to stretch to five minutes before race leader Robbie McEwen's RadioShack team roused the peloton into action. Link: http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12040_6677774,00.html Goss leads Down Under, Matthews wins stage HTC-Highroad's Matthew Goss reclaimed the leader's ochre jersey at the Tour Down Under as fellow Australian Michael Matthews romped to victory in stage three. Goss on Thursday started the 129-kilometre (80-mile) stage from Unley to Stirling in the Adelaide Hills on the same time as but behind overnight leader and Australian compatriot Robbie McEwen of RadioShack. And despite suffering a puncture 10 km from the finish line, the Tasmanian battled 40 degree Celsius (101 Fahrenheit) temperatures and a tough circuit to regain the lead he took after winning stage one on Tuesday. "I only just got back at the bottom of the climb with about 4km to go so it was a very hard way to get the jersey back but I'm very happy to be in it now," said Goss, who now leads defending champion Andre Greipel by two seconds. Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gPM4nhBReZ07DmozEXUrcNruKkAQ?docId=CNG.733350afdbf556b78605f05aee0f52f1.5f1 Mark Cavendish's struggles at Tour Down Under continue The incident occurred after police opened up road to the public once the main peloton had passed. "I did the whole last lap on open road, you had to stand on all sides of the thing and stop for traffic," said Cavendish. Stage three included a rolling 12 mile circuit the riders had to negotiate three times and Cavendish, patched up after his crash on stage two, trailed in 12 minutes behind winner Rabobank's Michael Matthews. Simon Gerrans of Team Sky finished fourth. Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/8271192/Mark-Cavendishs-struggles-at-Tour-Down-Under-continue.html Sutton pulls out of Tour Down Under Australian cyclist Chris Sutton is out of the Tour Down Under because of injuries he suffered in the stage two crashes. Sutton suffered a nasty gash to a knee and several other cuts near the end of stage two on Wednesday at Mannum. He was among a dozen riders who were injured in two crashes, one with four kilometres left and the other at the start of the home straight. Link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/20/3117237.htm Lance Armstrong hit by new drug allegations at Tour Down Under The final international race of Lance Armstrong's 19-year career was intended to be a relaxed swan song in the Australian sun in front of adoring crowds, but the seven-times Tour de France winner was today forced to swat away new allegations that he may have used performance-enhancing drugs. A lengthy investigation published in the American magazine Sports Illustrated included claims that he had been found to have higher than usual testosterone ratios in 1993, 1994 and 1996, and suggested that his teams had maintained links with his controversial trainer Dr Michele Ferrari. Armstrong has always denied using drugs and his spokesman Mark Fabiani called the allegations "old news from the same, old discredited sources". Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jan/19/lance-armstrong-drug-tour-down-under

 

[limerickman]

Cav is having a miserable TDU.

Great to see Robbie back to his winning ways. He looks rejuvenated.