Tour Down Under 2014 - Stage 6
The 2014 Tour Down Under concluded today with a 95 kilometre criterium stage around the city of Adelaide. Simon Gerrans entered the stage with a one second lead, so naturally Orica-GreenEDGE were apprehensive about getting the two time winner around the circuit for his third victory. Whether Cadel Evans would challenge him or not remained to be seen.
The length of the stage and the fact that it was a sprinter's criterium meant that breakaways found it hard to get away, but a trio did sweep up the bonus points on offer, then Orica-GreenEDGE began to escort Gerrans to the finish. A crash in the first lap involving Katusha and Europcar riders hadn't disrupted the race, and after a while of Orica being on the front, Cannondale and Giant-Shimano began to move forward.
Elia Viviani and Marcel Kittel had desires to win the stage, but they were up against Andre Greipel's Lotto-Belisol team, who were fresh from a victory on stage four. It was indeed Lotto-Belisol who took control in the closing stages, and when Andre Greipel was launched with 200 metres to go there was little doubt on who would win the stage.
Omega Pharma-Quickstep filled the other two podium steps, with Mark Renshaw and Andrew Fenn taking second and third respectively. Simon Gerrans finished safely in the peloton to take his third Tour Down Under title, a record which will be difficult to match. Andre Greipel had also extended his record of most stage wins in the race, he now has sixteen.
Cadel Evans of BMC Racing finished second, and Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), who had been a consistent performer throughout the week, finished third overall. Gerrans also won the points classification; Adam Hansen of Lotto-Belisol took out the King of the Mountains, whilst Uni-SA's Jack Haig was the best young rider. Perhaps fittingly, Orica-GreenEDGE won the best team classification.
Another year in Australia is over, and it was a tense, exciting week of racing. The Tour Down Under is getting bigger every year, and has once again proven why it kicks off the UCI World Tour.