Lance Armstrong marked his return to professional cycling firmly entrenched in the peloton, safely surrounded by his Astana teammates as he completed his first pro cycling race in 3 1/2 years.
Meanwhile home-country hero Robbie McEwen won the Cancer Council Classic on Sunday, the fifth time the cyclist has won the criterium that introduces Australia's Tour Down Under, which starts Tuesday.
A record 138,000 spectators showed up at Rymill Park in Adelaide to watch the 51km criterium that lasted a little more than an hour. Armstrong's return to pro cycling has been credited with the unprecedented interest in the 11th edition of the Tour Down Under.
Armstrong results
Although he'd been working toward this return to professional cycling since September, the 37-year-old cyclist admitted at a press conference on Sunday that a criterium wouldn't have been his first choice for his first race since 2005.
The crit is a short course with a lot of turns and a tightly packed group of riders. He said that he'd try to stay out of the “drama.”
According to race reports, Armstrong stayed near the front of the peloton, protected by his teammates, in the early part of the race. As the speed picked up, the Astana group drifted further back — a strategy just to get through this first race.
Official results place Armstrong in 64th, 23 seconds behind McEwen. As there were 133 cyclists in the race, Armstrong finished just about right in the middle. See full results at CyclingNews.
Most importantly, Armstrong wasn't involved in a crash and didn't get dropped.
Quotes
Armstrong frequently posts to Twitter. A couple of hours before the race, he wrote:
“In my room (thinking).about to leave for the first race back. There is zero doubt in my mind that I've done the right thing here. I'm ready.”
About a half-hour after the race:
“1st day done. Fast criterium but felt great to be back at it. Legs felt good.”
Meanwhile, former Armstrong teammate and Columbia stalwart George Hincapie (No. 2) was texting before the race:
“About to pin on my first race number for the year. Gonna be a great season i can feel it.”
Sprint
Listening to theradio feed from ABC Local, it sounded like a typical winning sprint for McEwen — “coming out of nowhere.” US-based Team Columbia tried to set up the front of the peloton for team member Andre Greipel of Germany, but McEwen snuck past.
After the race, McEwen, 36, credited his teammates from Russia's Team Katusha; it was their first pro race together.
“They kept me near the front, out of the wind,” he said, adding that Columbia did a good job controlling the race at the end. “I was able to take the wheel of Greibel.”
Finishing second was Willem Stroetinga of Milram and third was Australian Graeme Brown of Rabobank, reported CyclingNews.
Tour schedule
The Tour Down Under begins for real on Tuesday in Australia (7:30 p.m. Eastern time in the US). It runs through next Sunday.
The Versus cable network will broadcast highlights from the criterium from 4-4:30 p.m. (eastern time) today (Sunday).
Check here for real-time and broadcast schedules.
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